As alumni flocked back to campus and students proudly donned their red and blue, Penn athletes geared up for an action-packed weekend. From football to soccer, here is how Penn teams fared this Homecoming.

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On Friday, Nov. 15, the weekend kicked off at Rhodes Field, where then top-seeded Penn men's soccer took on No. 4 Brown in the second annual Ivy League Tournament. The Quakers struggled with possession in the first half, and a few early defensive mistakes allowed the Bears to have multiple open-goal opportunities. They capitalized on one of those attempts to put the first point on the board. At the end of the half, the score was 1-0 in favor of Brown.

Towards the start of the second half, sophomore midfielder Jack-Ryan Jeremiah converted a penalty kick, tying the game at one apiece. The Quakers' defense locked in and managed to hold the Bears scoreless the rest of regulation play, with two standout saves from sophomore goalkeeper Phillip Falcon III and senior defender Leo Burney. At the end of regular play, the score was tied, and the game went to sudden-death overtime. Just four minutes into the high-stakes play, junior defender Oliver Pratt managed to find the back of the net in his second attempt at the shot, securing the Quakers a spot in the championship on Sunday, Nov. 17.  

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An hour after the kick-off at Rhodes Field, women’s basketball tipped off at the Palestra, taking on St. Joseph's, marking its first game against a Big 5 team this season. Struggling from the start, Penn could not seem to outperform the Hawks, who secured the necessary rebounds to put second-chance points on the board. Despite a strong push from senior guard Stina Almqvist, who put up 21 points, the Quakers fell by a score of 68-57.

Men’s basketball shared a similar fate as the women’s basketball as it too competed against the Hawks on Friday night. From the tip-off, the Hawks led on offense and also managed to dominate in rebounds. While the score was close in the first half, the Hawks left the Quakers behind during the third and fourth quarters, finishing the game, 86-69, and leaving Penn with another loss. After a tough Friday in the Palestra, all eyes were on Franklin Field.

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With almost 3,000 more people in attendance than last year's Homecoming football game, fans filed into Franklin Field to watch Penn take on No. 1 Harvard after the Quakers recorded a historical win last weekend against Cornell. Early in the game, Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig was stretchered off the field, leaving both teams without their starting quarterbacks named in the beginning of the season. Senior quarterback Aidan Sayin left the field in Penn's game against Yale on Oct. 25 and has not played since.

Penn managed to get out to an early lead with junior quarterback Liam O’Brien finding junior wide receiver Bisi Owens streaking across the middle for a touchdown pass to put the first points up on the board. Harvard responded, scoring a touchdown of its own, but Owens once again managed to haul in the ball in the end zone, giving the Red and Blue a 14-7 lead at halftime.

At the top of the third quarter, Penn once again found themselves in the end zone to increase the lead to 21, but Harvard struck back even harder, scoring two back-to-back touchdowns to tie the game. In the final minutes of the game, the Quakers found themselves attempting a field goal but were pushed back after a false start. Junior kicker Sam Smith's 46-yarder was no good, giving Harvard a crucial opportunity to score. Harvard quickly drove the ball down to the Quakers 5-yard line, and was set up for a walk off field goal. And it seems that no matter how much school spirit Office of Fraternity/Sorority Life and Penn Traditions tried to manufacture, it still wasn’t enough as the Crimson scored that tie-breaking field goal in the final two seconds to win the game.

Despite football’s loss the day before, the Quakers' spirit was high at Rhodes Field on Sunday afternoon as men’s soccer took on No. 3 Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament final. Princeton managed to score early on in the game, giving the Tigers an early lead in a half where the Quakers struggled to find and keep the ball. After a few close goals on both sides, the half ended, 1-0, Princeton. Hope was still intact, however, as people waited for a second half comeback performance similar to the semifinal.

At the start of the second half, dreams of a comeback faded as Penn struggled to get the ball out of the backfield. The Tigers eventually found themselves scoring another two goals by the 76th minute, putting the score at 3-0 with only 14 minutes left to play. Burney managed to put one into the net, but it was far too late for a Quakers comeback. Princeton won by a score of 3-1, taking home the Ivy League Tournament trophy and leaving the Quakers needing an at-large bid for the NCAA Division I Tournament.