Quakers shooting for consistency

Blink, and you might miss Molly Weir.

But if you take a closer look at the women's soccer team's speedy sophomore and Penn's recent performance, you might notice something.

"She needs to learn some composure in and around the box," coach Darren Ambrose said. "As she gets a little older, a little more experienced, she's going to be very effective and a very dangerous forward."

Such has been the story for Penn in recent performances - its young guns are getting opportunities, but they have had problems putting the ball in the net.

After back-to-back losses to underdog Temple, and then-winless Harvard, the Quakers are getting ready to play Cornell on the road this weekend and will hope to get past their shooting woes.

Weir, who Ambrose says is the fastest on the team, should not have to shoulder all of this burden. She's had no trouble creating opportunities near the goal not only for herself, but for her teammates as well. Weir is just one of Penn's talented young players who has been plagued with sporadic play.

"Consistency - that's what we're looking for; that's what we're striving for," Ambrose said.

With such a young team, this uneven play is to be expected, but as far as this season is concerned, the future is not out of sight - the Quakers' fate may rest on their performance tomorrow in Ithaca, N.Y.

After a hot start, Penn is in danger of losing its third consecutive game and starting out its Ivy League schedule in a 0-2 hole. The key will be for role players like Weir to step up and maybe even put one in.

But, above all, the Quakers can't take the first few minutes of the game off, as they have earlier in the season.

"We need to impose ourselves on [Cornell] less than they impose themselves on us," Ambrose said. "We need to be stronger, come out faster and put our style on the game."

Even though Cornell has gone almost a month since its last win - and the Red and Blue shut out the Big Red 2-0 last year - this year's contest won't necessarily be a cakewalk.

As their game against Harvard showed, everything changes when the conference schedule starts, and Penn and Cornell seem like similar teams----- at least on paper.

Besides sporting twin 0-1 Ivy League marks, both have noticeably young rosters, and the Big Red shares the Quakers' inability to score. Despite having lost six games in a row, Cornell has only been outshot by its opponents three times all season.

The Quakers hope to widen that margin, but more than anything, they hope they can find their way onto the scoreboard.

This weekend, the team that gets its first Ivy win will be the team that breaks out of its slump.

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