Penn women’s lacrosse has been perched atop the Ivy League throne for so long that it’s the only view any player on the current roster has known in her collegiate career.
It’s mind-boggling to look at the Quakers’ continued string of success. There are any number of statistics that could quantify Penn’s complete and utter dominance over all other Ivy programs in recent memory, but one number easily manages to stick out above all the rest: eight. As in eight straight titles.
Just to put that in perspective, Penn men’s basketball currently sits at seven wins overall. With only three games left, it is a very real possibility that the team doesn’t reach eight wins on the season. And yes, right now, the Red and Blue are eighth in the Ancient Eight.
It’s a completely different story for women’s lacrosse, which — unlike men’s hoops — looks fully prepared to take home the Ivy League title once again after having won it eight years in a row.
Once again the most highly ranked Ivy squad in the preseason, the Red and Blue have looked solid in the early stages of the season. In fact, with two tough victories in their first two contests over respectable Delaware and Vanderbilt squads, the Quakers have gotten off to their best start since their 2010-11 campaign.
Business as usual, right?
Wrong.
It goes without saying that nobody has meant more to the program over its astonishing title run than coach Karin Corbett — the former National Coach of the Year’s resume speaks for itself. But there is one other individual in the same ballpark: former Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky.
For each of the past eight years, if women’s lacrosse was the royal family sitting atop the Ivy throne, Bilsky was the trusted advisor standing behind it. He was the man responsible for the long-term success or failure of the program, the man to whom Corbett had to answer.
In other words, he was the program’s safety net.
But all of that’s in the past now. Bilsky’s out, and first-year Athletic Director Grace Calhoun has replaced him.
Calhoun inherited an athletic department in an unenviable position, one in which its two flagship programs — football and men’s basketball — were both set up for historically poor seasons (at least in recent memory) and followed through with appropriate results in their respective seasons.
That’s not to say that she hasn’t overseen her fair share of success in her first year in charge of Penn Athletics: Gymnastics and women’s squash both won team Ivy titles in the winter season.
Unfortunately for Calhoun, a significant number of Penn students aren’t even aware that those team exist, let alone care enough to discuss them on Locust Walk.
If the stars align, women’s basketball could still take home the title, but with Princeton still undefeated, it’s looking pretty unrealistic.
That leaves Calhoun heading into the bulk of the spring season without an Ivy title from a recognizable program.
She will have several shots at changing that this spring, as softball, baseball and men’s and women’s lacrosse were all ranked highly amongst their competition in the preseason. However, neither softball nor baseball are defending Ivt titles, and men’s lacrosse has sputtered out of the gates. An Ivy title for either is far from the expectation.
Meanwhile, at this point, anything less than an Ivy title would be an objective failure for women’s lacrosse.
The program is used to defending titles, and with a veteran squad led by seniors Tory Bensen and Meg Markham, the Quakers can rely on plenty of experience. But until this year, they have never been looked upon to redeem an entire year for Penn Athletics.
That’s an awful lot of pressure for any program, but as it has demonstrated for eight consecutive years, Penn women’s lacrosse is no ordinary program. It’s an Ivy institution, and it just might be the bridge between Bilsky’s past successes and Calhoun’s successes in the future.
The pressure’s on — now it’s time to watch the throne.
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