Six standout players from the fall season

Fall sports have ended, but nonetheless, these Quakers' outstanding seasons are ones to remember, ranging from veteran, senior captains to inexperienced freshmen.

Senior field hockey captain Gracyn Banks represented the Quakers as the only member on the team to earn first team All-Ivy honors, her second All-Ivy accolade. Banks was one of five Ivy League athletes unanimously selected to the first team, the first for Penn since 2016. 

Banks was also named to the Division I first team All-Region by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association, as well as Ivy Defensive Player of the Week twice and Academic All-Ivy. 

Banks started in all 16 games this season, ranked second on the team in points, and led the Ivy League in defensive saves. Banks is now preparing to represent the United States in December at the 2021 Junior World Cup.

Junior outside hitter Autumn Leak earned second team All-Ivy honors this season. Leak led Penn volleyball with 314 kills, and finished third in the Ivy League in overall kills per set. This fall, Leak had 34 blocks, 104 digs, and three double-doubles, as well as 17 matches with a double-digit kill total. She was named MVP of the Sheraton University City Invitational and earned all-tournament recognition at the DePaul Invitational.

With a fourth-best time in program history at the 2021 Ivy League Cross Country Heptagonal Championships, senior captain Ariana Gardizy secured 15th place in the 6K and helped Penn women's cross country take fifth place in the competition. 

At the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship, Gardizy led the Quakers, finishing in 22nd with an All-Region performance. This race also marked a new season-best time for Gardizy, ending two seconds faster than she did at the Ivy Heptagonals.

Freshman defender Leo Burney — the only Quaker on the men's soccer team to earn first team All-Ivy honors — played 1,492 of a possible 1,514 minutes this season. He helped the Red and Blue's defense hold 14 of its 16 opponents to two goals or fewer, and contributed to the team’s three shutouts. 

Burney also scored his first collegiate goal against Dartmouth, an equalizer in the 86th minute of the game, which ended as a win in double overtime. Burney was one of the most constant on-field presences across all of Division I soccer this fall. 

In the 2021 Ivy League Cross Country Heptagonal Championships, senior captain Noah Carey took seventh place with a personal career-best time as well as the second-best time in program history. With this result, Carey also earned his first postseason honor with the first team All-Ivy accolade. 

At the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship, Carey finished third in the 10K, ending with a time just seven seconds behind first place. In his first collegiate NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship, Carey took 119th place out of 253, and missed his career-high mark by just three seconds. With the season concluded, Carey is a first team All-Ivy, Academic All-Ivy, and All-Region honoree.

Senior linebacker Brian O’Neill finished his season as just one of two on the football team to be named first team All-Ivy — his second time earning the accolade. O'Neill had a team-high 59 tackles, and ranked sixth in the Ivy League in total tackles and ninth in tackles per game. 

This season, he had two games with 10 or more tackles, and will graduate with 200 career tackles as a Quaker. In addition, this fall O’Neill showcased his versatility, as the senior had 4.5 tackles for loss, one interception, one fumble recovery, three quarterback hurries, and one pass breakup.