The women's squash team has it all. After winning their first Ivy League title since 2000 and finishing second in the nation, the Quakers return with three All-Americans and plenty of confidence.
"We are good, not to sound cocky," senior co-captain Emily Goodwin said. "We kind of accept the challenge of modesty."
This year's squad, ranked No. 2 overall in the country, is stacked at the top. Nine of the 11 women are upperclassmen, including All-Americans Kristen Lange, junior Sydney Scott and Alisha Turner. Seven current Quakers cracked the top 50 in last year's end-of-season rankings.
"People are definitely looking at us," said Goodwin, who's been nursing a sore back. "We roll in as the Penn squash team and people notice."
Despite these lofty expectations, the team claims it will take the season as it comes.
"Our focus day in and day out is to get better versus the previous day," coach Jack Wyant said. "We don't think much about last year."
The Quakers face a grueling 11-match schedule, as they face each of the other nine teams in the top 10. This includes a Jan. 28 game against rival Princeton, which last season they beat for the first in Wyant's five-year tenure. T
he Red and Blue clinched the Ivy crown, but then lost to the Tigers in the national championship game.
"Princeton is a long way away," Wyant said. "There are a number of teams that we are going to play in January and February that are going to be difficult."
With that schedule on the horizon, the Quakers look to keep improving.
"Everyone on the team has things they can work on," Wyant said. "Collectively as a group we can play better in big matches."
Wyant plans to stay ahead of the opposition by making short-term adjustments - something he began with the Ivy exhibition match in New Haven, Conn., last weekend. After the scrimmage, every player wrote down one area of their game that needs improvement.
"We've been practicing since September training," Goodwin said. "We are really excited to get to the core" of the season.
Indeed, with Saturday's season opener against Cornell, Middlebury and Stanford looming, the team is finally ready to get the goggles back on.
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