After a decade coaching Penn fencing, Andy Ma is the program's heart and soul

June 3, 2020 Leave a comment

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Andy Ma has been the backbone of Penn fencing for the past decade.

His 10 seasons as the head coach of both the men’s and women’s programs have been exceptional, as he has racked up three Ivy League Coach of the Year awards in addition to three conference titles for the men. But most impressive, perhaps, is the man behind the trophies.

“He was the main reason why I came to Penn,” senior foil and women’s captain Nicole Vaiani said. “I thought he was so supportive, and I could tell he really cared about his students. I think of him almost like a mentor figure rather than a coach; I see him as a part of my family.”

Ma’s 11th season at Penn is already looking to be another for the record books. In the season-opening tournament this November, the men’s win over Johns Hopkins gave Ma his 400th career victory.

Ma was reluctant to take all the credit, however.

“[400 wins] means a team effort,” he said. “Of course, it’s on my record, but it’s everyone’s effort. Me, the assistant coaches, captains, and the whole team.”

Ma’s humble attitude toward this milestone isn’t surprising to the athletes that know him best. Senior sabre and men’s captain Adam Green has known Ma since he was 12 years old, competing in Ma’s New Jersey fencing tournaments before he became a full-time coach at Penn.

“We’d just won over [Johns] Hopkins,” Green recounted. “That was his 400th win. I went up to him and I said congratulations, and totally true to form he [said], ‘Thanks, but everybody was a part of it, over all 11 years.’ I think he would want people to understand that that’s been a team effort.”

Ma knows the importance of every member of the team because he has experience in nearly every role. Before launching his coaching career, Ma was a decorated fencer himself, becoming the Chinese Fencing Association’s National Sabre champion in both 1985 and 1988. He was also the Chinese Intercollegiate Sabre champion in 1983 and 1985 and secured Ohio’s sabre title during his time at Ohio State.

Ma’s experience winning high-caliber sabre competitions gives him a unique perspective in the team’s one-on-one weapon practices.

“He does have a really good understanding of the weapon,” Green said. “And also, just of sports,nuing to improve his game.Firmino admits he has seen Mane grow in confidence on and off the pitch since arriving at Anfield.”I always say to (Sadio) that he copies my celebrations, he copies everything that I do!” said Fiirmino.”It’s really funny, we you know, it’s really cyclical. Some days you do really well, some days you don’t do so well, and I think him — having been an athlete in that same position — allows him to understand that and helps him be a better coach for us.”

It’s this understanding that causes athletes to thrive under Ma’s tutelage, and the numbers are there to prove it. In 2017, 11 fencers qualified for the NCAA championships, setting a new school record for Penn.

Last season, however, Penn men’s fencing fell short of a fourth-straight Ivy League title. The Quakers will also lach Pep Ljinders says Trent Alexander-Arnold should forget about playing central midfield.The right-back started out in the position earlier in his career and it has been suggested he could move there in the future.But Ljinders told the Reds’ officiaose key fencers this year to Olympic training, but the athletes know that no matter the outcome, Ma will remain the heart of the team.

“It makes a big difference when you have someone who’s always going to support you, independent of whether you’ve had a good or a bad day,” Green said. “So if I had to point out the number one most important thing about coach Ma, it would be [that] he brings a positivity to the team that I think is absolutely cornerstone.”

And the secret to success in fencing? For Ma, it’s simple — it comes down to the love of the game.

“Number one, you have to have passion,” Ma said. “When I recruit student-athletes, I talk to their coaches, their teammates, their parents, or national coach, make sure I know their character, that they have a passion, not just for one day. They have to be consisster City’s ‘heartbeat’ next season.The Spaniard has already announced his intention to leave City after 10 years at the club.Asked if Foden will be the heartbeat of City’s team from next season, Guardiola said: “That is our wish.”Of course David is tent to continue to fence at least four years for Penn.”

It’s clear that with Ma at the helm, Penn fencing has no shortage of passion.

How headers and set pieces became a not-so-secret weapon for Penn men's soccer

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The set piece is a strong defensively minded team’s best friend.

They provide some of the best opportunities to score in soccer. The incredible amount of precision and detail that goes into these plays is unique on the soccer field; it’s the only time that the ball stops and allows for a reset and change in the play being run. And last season, set pieces proved to be instrumental in the offensive production for the Red and Blue. Coming off of a season where they scored just 12 goals, the Red and Blue have room for improvement this season on the offensive side of the ball.

Shot inaccuracy limited the Quakers, who only managed to shoot 33.5% of their shots on target, compared to their opponents’ 41% shooting accuracy. Penn was outshot in its games 176-205. The greatest bright spot for the Red and Blue, however, was their ability to capitalize on set pieces. Over 30% of the goals scored by the Red and Blue last season were a product of a set piece.A great part of this success came from first team All-Ivy Junior defender Alex Touche, whose 6’4″ frame helped him score four goals off of set pieces. “A big piece of it is everybody knowing their role and being accountable,” Touche said. “You have to switch on, get in your spot, make sure that everybody has their role and executes well.” One issue with set pieces is that they leave the defense vulnerable to counterattacks. As defensemen move up to crowd the box, holes spring up in defensive lines — easily exploited by a counterattacking team. However, Penn’s defensive performance on set pieces has been likewise solid, as they have been successful at reducing the counterattack.ma after victory over Levante.Real were able to defeat Levante 3-2.“All I can say is, I hope he keeps this up,” Zidane said of Benzema. “It’s important for us to have Karim playing like this. We’re pleased, we noticed the fans’ ovation. We need to “It’s easy to look at our set pieces on the attacking side from last year’s team and say that they were pivotal in our ability to get some wins that we got, but I thought that we defended them really well, too, and that kept us in position to be in games later and longer and find ways to win those games,” coach Brian Gill said. “We make sure that we have certain things built in behind the ball to try and hopefully prevent counterattacks.” Although the Quakers did see great production from their set pieces last season, there is still rooiola meet Milan later tonight.“It was a fantastic experience, we won a trophy, which some people conveniently forget,” said Montella, referring to the Italian Super Cup against Juventus.“We didn’t purchase practically any players and still qualifm for improvement. And when the offraine set-up.Yarmolenko started in the Euro2020 qualifier win over Lithuania after missing a year of action with his national team.Speaking after the game, Yarmolenko reflected: “I consider myself a team player. I didn’t score, but the team won, so aense is less than productive in open play, each set piece becomes even more crucial.

When the Red and Blue play as many low-scoring and overtime games as they did last season, each and every goal can mean the difference between a win and a loss. That makes defending set pieces a centerpiece of the team’s focus as well. “We talk a lot about being on the plus side of a plus/negative relationship with the attacking and defending of set pieces,” Gill said “And that continues to be a really important focal point of this year’s team. … It’s one of the most important determining factors in the course of a lot of games.” As the Red and Blue head into this season, they prepare to face Monmouth on the road this Friday in their opener. This matchup last season resulted in a 3-2 overtime win for the Quakers, with each side earning two goals off set pieces, the last of which decided the game’s outcome.

This season, expect more of the same.

Penn men's soccer earns first Ivy League point in 1-1 draw with Yale

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A heated contest against Yale turned into yet another overtime game for Penn men’s soccer.

The Quakers saw a game full of action in New Haven, Conn. on Saturday. In a physical, back-and-forth affair, the the two squads ended the day tied 1-1.

The match was not reminiscent of what Penn (2-4-5, 0-3-1 Ivy) has seen from Yale (6-4-3, 1-1-2) in the past.

“The last two years we had just blown Yale out. They were trying to turn their program around,” junior midfielder Braystal Palace are eyeing Everton striker Cenk Tosun.The Times says Tosun is a transfer target for Crystal Palace.The Turkish striker has failed to make the desired impact at Goodison Park following his £27 million move in 2018.Tosun has had limited gndon Bartel said. “[The Elis have] a very big chance to win the Ivy League. When they’re looking at Penn they’re like we need to get points off them; we need to come out flying.”

The match’s first half was defined by a strong coordination from the Bulldogs, who kept possession out of Penn’s hands with rapid play. Despite playing well defensively, the Quakers came out flat and lacked the coordination needed to sustain any sort of offensive pressure.

With 20 minutes left in have given five potential bidders until 16:00 BST on Wednesday to make their final offers for the League One club.Joint administrator Paul Appleton said they hope a heads of terms agreement could be signed by Friday.”We have made it clear from the o the half, however, Yale broke through with a goal by Kyle Kenagy with an assist from Logan Sullivan. The score remained 1-0 until halftime.

The Quakers’ inability to score in the first half was not due to a lack of effort. Bartel attempted three free kicks in the last 12 minutes of the half, but the Quakers came up empty. The first was met with a header just shy of the goal, the second was saved by Yale sophomore goalkeeper Tom Wallenstein, and the final was sent back by Yale’s defense.

Both teams saw their fair share of fouls, with several players on both sides suffering injuries. Collisions and combativArsenal hero Robert Pires believes the sacking of Unai Emery was inevitable.Pires feels the board had no other choice.He told Canal Plus: “I think sadly yes.”Owing to the bad results, the club was unfortunately on a bad run, both in the league and the Europa League.“So a change was needed and when we speak about changes, it is usually the manager who pays.”e play meant players on both sides had to deal with an interrupted match flow.

In the second half, the Quakers began to apply more offensive pressure. Several shot attempts were made in the beginning of the half, with the majority going long. The physical play continued, with sophomore midfielder Amado Lozano going down five minutes into the half with a hamstring injury that pulled him from the game. A few minutes later, senior defender Erumuse Momoh received the first yellow card of the game after a collision.

The Red and Blue still continued their offensive push, focusing on controlling the ball in the Bulldogs’ half.

“After [the goal] we took a breath and relied on getting the ball into dangerous spaces,” Bartel said. “We really pressed them as a full 11 rather than a couple of individuals.”

The stop-and-start play continued throughout the second half. The Bulldogs were able to stunt Penn’s momentum by kicking the ball out of bounds, even three times in one minute, as Penn slowly progressed up the field.

With less than 10 minutes left in the regulation, the Red and Blue were able to take advantage of these chances. Bartel was afforded another free kick attempt after a foul from Yale midfielder Miguel Yuste. After Bartel sent the ball into a crowd of Penn players, sophomore forward Jake Kohlbrenner was able to find the back of the net and tie the game.

Toward the end of the half, the Bulldogs began to match Penn’s offensive push. Despite several dangerous runs from both teams, no goals were scored in the final minutes and the match proceeded into overtime.

Yale carried this momentum into the first overtime period, maintaining most of the possession. Both teams went the full 10 minutes without scoring, and the game entered its final period.

The Quakers matched this pressure in the second overtime, and kept possession in Yale territory. Again, however, neither team scored and the match ended a 1-1 draw.

Given the pace of play this game, a tie might be good news for Penn.

“For us right now, a tie is a great result for being away on the road,” Bartel said.

Penn will look to carry this momentum into their match against cross-city rival Temple on Tuesday.

Here are the moments that made 2017 a crazy year for Penn Athletics

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When you give 31 varsity teams a full 12 months of competition, some pretty exciting games are bound to pop up. But 2017 has been a walking hyperbole for Penn Athletics.

With various teams engaging in some instant classic battles, the Quakers have given fans a wild range of emotions throughout the calendar year, with the lone constant being thorough entertainment across the board.

Where to even start? First, one can look at men’s and women’s basketball. The entire men’s basketball 2016-17 regular season was in its own right, but the way it clinched its Ivy tournament spot was especially crazy — that is, Jackson Donahue’s three-pointer to clinch a .

And yet what happened once the Quakers got to that tournament was even crazier. Entering as a huge underdog to undefeated Princeton, Penn led by 10 points in the second half before falling victim to the Tigers’ late comeback in a to end its season.

As for the women? Their regular season might not have been as dramatic, but their postseason made history on a national scale. When the Quakers en route to falling to Texas A&M in the first round of March Madness, marking the biggest comeback in the 36-year history of the women’s tournament, one had to acknowledge it was unbelievable, no matter what his or her rooting interests were.

The drama hasn’t stopped for either team in the briechester United winger Tahith Chong.United want to keep Chong, who is off contract in June, but he’s yet to agree new terms and with other clubs circling the lure of Europe is appealing to the winger, says the Manchester Evening News.Inter Milan has bf 2017-18 season. The women slightly atoned for their March Madness result with their own huge comeback, overcoming an and beating Missouri State in November.

As for the men, they battled La Salle to a in the first double-overtime game in the Big 5 since 1983 —and they were just getting started. Not even two weeks later, Penn travelled to Monmouth and played the school’s in 97 (!) years, topping the Hawks in a game that featured Penn blowing a 15-point second half lead, two buzzer-beating shots from Monmouth, and the entire Monmouth Internet collapsing during the third overtime.

Speaking of four overtimes, Penn men’s lacrosse had a similar battle with far higher stakes. Facing conference leader Yale in the Ivy League semifinals, the Quakers played their first four-overtime game in school history, but the team came up agonizingly short in a . That said, the Quakers still pulled off one big upset in an almost-as-wild over No. 6 Virginia in March.

On the women’s side, after yet another Ivy title, Penn earned a first-round NCAA Tournament contest at home. Despite the result — the No. 7 Quakers’ which featured a furious late comeback buoyed by freshmen Gabby Rosenzweig and Erin Barry — it undoubtedly stood as one of the most exciting games the program has seen in recent years.

How about ? Penn’s first two Ivy League games were both decided on the final play, with Dartmouth punching in a one-yard touchdown at the buzzer in a before Columbia overcame a 21-7 fourth-quarter deficit to stun Penn with a 24-yard touchdown pass in overtime for a — the Lions’ first win over Pren this summer.The Liverpool Echo says Liverpool are planning for the new season with Lovren on board.The Croatia centre-back has been linked with a summer move away from Anfield with AC Milan understood to be keen on securing his services.It’s beenenn since 1996.

But the latter part of the season saw some epic games finally go in Penn’s favor. On Homecoming, against rival Princeton, Penn got Will Fischer-Colbrie’s best performance of the season, and the Tigers missed a 31-yard field goal with six seconds left to clinch a for Penn. Two weeks later, backup quarterback Nick Robinson led a late touchdown drive before Penn’s defense stopped Cornell at the one-yard line on the final play of the game, allowing the Red and Blue to end 2017 with a .

For Penn’s other teams, the list goes on and on. No. 2 Penn women’s squash memorably came back from a 3-0 deficit to win its against No. 3 Trinity. Penn wrestling stunned , 19-17, for its first win against a ranked foe in five years. Penn volleyball had a pair of thrilling five-set wins and —the latter of which broke a seven-year losing streak against the Bulldogs. Penn field hockey got arguably its best win in school history when the Quakers , using what was likely the out of Alexa Hoover’s school record 68 goals to break a tie in the final minutes.

Penn Athletics gave its followers some moments to remember for a lifetime in 2017. And as the calendar soon turns to January, fans and athletes alike can reflect on a year that was consistently, both for better and worse, one for the ages. Grimandi has questioned Arsenal’s interest in PSG fullback Layvin Kurzawa.Grimandi is now sporting director at Nice and admits he scouted Kurzawa while the defender was with AS Monaco.”Would I have signed Kurzawa?” Grimandi said on Late Football Clu

Former Penn football star signs with Detroit Lions

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Brandon Copeland is heading to the Motor City.

Following a standout performance at the NFL Veteran Combinein Arizona, the former starPenn footbadiola has thrown down the gauntlet to Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.Guardiola believes Aymeric Laporte, just called into the France squad for the first time, is “the best left-sided centre back at the moment”.Speaking in his press conference ahell defensive end signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Lions late last week. The Sykesville, Md., native will have the opportunity to compete for playing time on special teamswith a squad coming off a 10-6 season and playoff exit during Wild Card weekend.

A three-time first teamAll-Ivy selection during his career with the Quakers between 2009 and 2012, Copeland has spent time on practice squads for the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans since graduating from Penn in 2013. In two seasons in the NFL, the three-time Ivy champion has yet to play a down in a regular season contest.

For Copeland, signing with the Lions made sense because of his connections to various members of the team’s coaching staff. Head coach Jim Caldwell is the Ravens’former offensive coordinator, while defensive coordinatorTeryl Austin coached Baltimore’s secondary while Copeland spent time with the 2013 Super Bowl champiold different teams in two separate competitions within 24 hours after the EFL announced the date of their Carabao Cup quarter-final with Aston Villa will not be changed.The Reds will play at Villa on 17 December at 19:45 GMT and will compete in the Cns.

“I had great visits all over, but with the Lions it really came down to that familiarity with those coaches being from Baltimore,” Copeland told The Baltimore Sun. “I had a great feeling when I left there. I know there are opportunities everywhere, but their Ravens roots gave me a great feeling.

“I’m looking forward to getting started.”

After running the 40-yard dash in 4.52 seconds at the Veteran Combine, as well as posting a 37-inch vertical leap and a 10-foot-7 broad jump in training leading up to the event, Copeland visited with five teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals. He also drew interest from the Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams, among others.

“All of them were great opportunities with great coaching staffs,” Copeland said. “I literally couldn’t have gone wrong. [But] I’m happy I made the decision I made to go to Detroit.”

Adefensive stalwart on Penn’s most recent Ivy League championship squad, Copeland committed himself to losing weight and increasing his agility as he sought a roster spot with a variety of teams over the past few offseasons. He now weighs 246 pounds after playing for the Quakers at 280 pounds, and has slimmed down from 260 pounds from when he first entered the NFL.

“The fire in me is burning even brighter now. I’m more hungry than I’ve ever been. I got the second chance. It’s like life after death. I want to make sure I do everything in my power to makrs blocked him from returning to the club as part of David Moyes’ backroom team.Pearce, a former Hammers player, was previously at the club under Moyes first time around, and he has now revealed the reason he hasn’t joined him this season.Psycho tolde it right this time.”

Penn wrestling finds moderate success at EIWAs day one

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BETHLEHEM, PA. – Penn wrestling went into the first day of EIWAs at Lehigh with some of the highest expectations in the program’s recent history, taking six All-Ivy performers into the conference championship meet.

The Quakers won’t be sending all six to them semi-finals, but they certainly held their own against some of the East Coast’s top grapplers.

“We did OK,” said coach Alex Tirapelle with a shrug. “It’s in-between an average and good performance right now.”

The meet got off to a bit of an inauspicious start for the Red and Blue, as 174-pounder Brad Wukie was defeated in a tight early match, 5-3.

In another unfortunate turn of events for the Quakers, standout sophomore Caleb Richardson – who had previously won his first match – sustained an apparent ankle injury in his second match and was eventually narrowly defeated, 6-4.

Just as Richardson got edged, 141-pounder Jeff Canfora got edged on a nearby mat. Amongstelves in the mirror over the summer.United blew their top four hopes with a draw at Huddersfield.“I’ve said for years our club should be talking about winning titles and winning trophies,” Young told MUTV after the game. “We’ve done that in numerou the hectic, controlled-chaos of Stabler Arena, the Penn wrestling coaching staff – including head coach Alex Tirapelle – was visibly upset.

Just as things were starting to look down for Penn, however, the Quakers’ two stars broke througrets over his time at Old Trafford.United’s cup double and second placed finish in 2016 the undisputed highlight of his five-and-half years at the club.Fellaini, now with Shandong Luneng, told the Daily Mail: “I played five and half years for Manchegh.

149-pounder CJ Cobb was dominant is his 15-6, semifinal-clinching victory. Just a half-hour later, 2014 All-American clinched a semifinal appearance in equally impressive fashion. Both look to be in strong form as they eye individual conference titles.

“My last match, I felt really fast,” Cobb said. “I felt like I could do whatever I wanted.”

“My expectations tomorrow are … just do what I’ve been working on the past year,” Thomas added after his second win.

Caanan Bethea also earned a day two semifinal appearance, helping to turn the tides for the Red and Blue. All three will continue on in the elimination-style tournament.

“As long as your alive on the front side, you’ve got a chance to win it,” Tirapelle said of his team’s aspirations for individual titles.

Semifinals and individual Hernandez.Hernandez spent last season on-loan with Huesca and is available after their relegation.Valladolid owner Ronaldo Nazario has made a personal move for Cucho, holding talks with Watford. Ronaldo has a good relationship with the Pozzo family, finals will take place on Saturday morning and night, respectively, once again hosted by Lehigh at Stabler Arena.

Tony | Penn basketball already full of 'can'ts'

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So Penn basketball almost came back. Valiantly even. Doesn’t matter.

That 23-6 run finishing with 1:39 left to go in the game? Very impressive, yes.

But why did Penn even find itself with such a deep hole to dig out of in the first place?

You’ll find the answer in the paint,ng of Josip Drmic from Borussia Monchengladbach.The Switzerland attacker will be hoping that he can score the goals that keep the newly promoted side in the Premier League.The 26-year-old spent the past four seasons at Borussia and has 32 caps for hi where Penn allowed Temple a shocking 20 offensive and 49 overall rebounds. To put that into perspective, the Owls’ 20 offensive boards were nearly twice their 11.2 per game average from a year ago.

Possession after possession, Penn would play solid defense and Temple would get bailed out by an offensive boaentus great Alessandro del Piero has spoken of his admiration for Atletico Madrid whizkid Joao Felix.Back after an injury lay-off, Felix is hoping to recapture his early season form for Atletico.For his part, Del Piero has already seen enough, convinrd anyway.

Temple’s starting frontcourt officially consisted of only two forwards and three guards. The two forwards — juniors Anthony Lee and Mark Williams — combined for eight offensive rebounds alone, and somehow 6-foot-5 Owls guard Dalton Pepper managed to snare four boards on that side of the court, one more than Penn’s big men Darien Nelson-Henry and Fran Dougherty combined.

Ouch.

“We offensive rebounded the ball a little bit last year too, but I wasn’t expecting this,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. “Our offensive rebr for preseason to get underway.The 26-year-old was back in training last week alongside his teammates who were not on international duty this summer but will be joined by a few more of his colleagues on Monday as the team targets their Europa Leagueounding was great. We thought we’d be able to get a few of them, but not like this.”

No, not like this. Not when you have the experience and size in your frontcourt that the Quakers do.

When asked what he knew about his team that he didn’t know before the game, Penn coach Jerome Allen launched into a can’t rant. “I know we can’t guard the ball. I know we cannot rebound,” Allen said. “If we can’t do those two things, we’re gonna lose more than once.”

In fact, the Owls took a whopping 40 shots on the Quakers in the first half alone because Penn couldn’t come down with the ball. How did such an inexperienced Temple squad notch 42 points on the road in its first game of the season? That’s how.

And that’s the thing — there’s no moral victory in rallying to overtake Temple after trailing by double digits for much of the second half.

Why? Because Temple’s so much more inexperienced than Penn. The Owls lost four of their five leading scorers from last season, including 71 percent of their total scoring.

Dunphy’s squad is the opposite of deep — there are only 10 players on his entire roster. Temple may have a lot of athleticism, but not enough to build a 15-point lead midway through the second half with such a green roster.

Prior to Saturday’s game, sophomore guard Tony Hicks and seniors Dougherty and Miles Cartwright all talked about wanting to get out and run in transition more often this season. Well, you can’t do that when you’re constantly defending your own end because you can’t rebound the ball defensively.

These are the can’ts right now for Allen and his team. They need to become can dos as soon as possible if the Quakers want to play uptempo and for a complete 40 minutes.

No comeback, no matter how rousing, can mask that reality.

MIKE TONY is a senior English and history major from Uniontown, Pa. and is senior sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. He can be reached at tony@thedp.com.SEE ALSO

Tony | Penn men’s hoops' lineup? Last year, it was a puzzle

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Penn basketball’s starting lineup was a puzzle last year. It took coach Jerome Allen 14 different starting combinations and 12 of 13 players getting at least one start to figure out how to handle a senior-less roster while enduring season-ending injuries to then-juniors Fran Dougherty and Steve Rennard.

Only for the final six games of the season did Allen settle on a permanent starting combo of Henry Brooks, Darien Nelson-Henry, Miles Cartwright, Tony Hicks and Cam Crocker. After embarrassing results against Columbia and Dartmouth, that lineup gelled together and played solid basketball in three of its last four contests, Yale excluded. And overall, the Quakers got significantly better offensively as nonconference action gave way to Ivy play and freshmen like Tony Hicks and Darien Nelson-Henry got acclimated to college basketball.

But just because the starting lineup was bound to be a puzzle with such a green roster doesn’t mean some of Allen’s choices for his starting five had to be so puzzling.

Hicks started the first three games of the season, averaging nearly 23 minutes focus facing Flamengo in the Club World Cup final.Victory over the Brazilians would not only make this their most successful year since 2001, it would see them secure this prize for the first time. Brazilian Alisson is aware of the emphasis that Fla per outing. He averaged just 11 minutes in the next two contests, coming off of the bench. In fact, he wouldn’t start again for another 17 games.

Simeon Esprit played a negligible 24 minutes last season and not surprisingly, isn’t on the team anymore. Somehow, though, he started two games in 2012-13.

Meanwhile in the backcourt, fellow freshman Jamal Lewis started 19 games despite offering little offensively. Lewis is a dependable team player and even more reliable on-the-ball defender, n clubs are keeping close tabs on Duncan’s future ahead of potential swoops.Clubs from Germany – including Borussia Dortmund – have shown a strong interest in the forward in recent weeks.Duncan has less than two years left on his deal and rival sidesbut don’t you want to give just a few of those minutes to an up-and-coming guard like Hicks or a spark plug like then-sophomore guard Patrick Lucas-Perry, who led the team in assist-d tribute to Ron Saunders and Jim Smith after their passing last week.McMenemy wrote for the Daily Echo: “Only last week I mentioned I was at the Norwich game with Mark Dennis and Dennis Rofe, two of our ex-players. I had a good laugh with them aboutto-turnover ratio and finished fourth in the Ivy League in three-point percentage?

This season, Allen’s lineups will automatically make more sense because his players’ roles are more clearly defined. Dougherty isn’t the question mark as an offensive threat that he was before the start of last season, and the other pieces of the puzzle around him are now familiar faces.

So there’s no excuse for the 2013-14 Quakers not to enjoy crucial continuity in their starting five, which will permeate throughout the rest of the roster and ensure Penn the on-the-court chemistry it so obviously lacked for much of 2012-13.

Will Allen pair Dougherty and Nelson-Henry up in the frontcourt? There’s no reason he shouldn’t, since that would give Penn one of the best frontcourts in the conference.

Still, a couple of Allen’s comments last season don’t fit together with the lineup puzzle. After Dougherty’s coming out party as an offensive powerhouse against Fairfield in Charlottesville, where he notched six offensive rebounds and 31 of the Quakers’ 53 points, Allen said, “I can give you 10 plays that Fran had that he didn’t execute.”

I could give you 100 plays that all the Quakers combined messed up that night, but why target Fran there? And why compliment the discipline of Henry Brooks in the same postgame interview after Brooks went 0-for-2 from the field, turned the ball over twice and played just 14 minutes?

Similarly, Allen called out Nelson-Henry after Penn’s 72-57 loss to Harvard on Feb. 15, the latter’s first game back from a low-grade MCL sprain.

“He played one end of the floor; he played offense. That’s it,” Allen said after the game. “Defensively, he had zero presence. Every time they threw the ball inside against him, they scored.”

That may be true, and perhaps Allen was desperate for some defensive chutzpah from Nelson-Henry knowing that he could be Penn’s greatest asset on that end of the floor. Nevertheless, Allen’s words exhorting defensive priority and offensive efficiency won’t come to fruition unless his lineup backs them up.

That entails letting Nelson-Henry and Dougherty play off each other as much as possible down low and getting more offense out of the backcourt rotation behind Hicks and Cartwright. The options are clearer now than they ever will be.

It’s time for the Quakers to fit together well enough to let Allen put the puzzle down.SEE ALSO

New year, same story for W. Hoops

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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J., Jan. 15 – Just over a minute into the Quakers’ contest at Seton Hall last night, Penn guard Sarah Bucar came up with a loose ball and flipped it to Anca Popovici, who looked up the court for an easy fast break. She saw Maggie Burgess and lobbed up a pass, hoping to hit her on the run.

But the Pirates were a step quicker. They stole the ball before it ever got to Burgess and quickly converted Di’Shon Bernard, Ethan Laird and Dylan Levitt will start Thursday’s Europa League match against Astana.Lee Grant, Axel Tuanzebe, Luke Shaw and Jesse Lingard are the only four senior players in the Norwegian’s squad for the match in Kazakhstan.Asked ia three-pointer to open the scoring.

It was that kind of game for the women’s basketball team last night at Seton Hall. The closest the two teams ever got was when they shook hands at the end. Penn travelled, airballed and turned it over all the way to a 67-50 loss.

In fact, it’s been that kind of season, as the Red and Blue dropped their tenth straight game and fell to just 3-13 (0-1 Ivy). But the Pirates (12-3, 2-1 Big East) were a tough matchup, having won seven of their last eight heading in and owning a 13-game home winning streak.

However, that was no excuse for the general carelessness with which Penn played. Seton Hall pounced on a sloppy Quakers squad that looked as if it felt boxing out and help defense were optional.

“Whenever you play a team as good as Seton Hall, you have to really steel yourself and be mentally prepared from the first minute,” Penn coach Pat Knapp said. “We were weak early on. And with the Ivy season coming up, we’re going to havt allocation for the Champions League final against Tottenham.Both the Reds and Spurs were given 16,613 tickets each for the clash at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid on June 1.That is despite the new stadium boasting a capacity of 68,000, with the e to be able to switch gears for tough games.”

Even had they played better, it’s unlikely that Penn would have beaten the Pirates last night. Every last-second shot-clock buzzer-beater, one-hand runner, and hand-in-the-face jumper seemed to go down.

“It was really tough watching that,” Penn guard Caitlin Slover said. “Watching them hit some of those shots really took its toll on us.”

On the other hand, the Quakers had trouble sinking even their open shots. While they generated opportunities off the drive-and-dish and screens, they were unable to convert.

And there was no answer for Seton Hall’s 6-foot-2 forward Noteisha Womack. While she was not the tallest player on the floor, her length gave the Red and Blue problems on both sides of the floor. She owned the glass, grabbing 10 boards by the half and finishing with 14 caroms and 13 points in just 24 minutes. Womack was one of several Pirates starters to get pulled with 10 minutes to play.

Despite the result, and the losing streak dating to November, Knapp still felt that his team is only a game away from turning the corner.

“If you sa will ‘live his dream’ as Barcelona manager during the LaLigaTV launch in London on Monday.With Tribalfootball.com present, Pochettino, alongside Gus Poyet, Graham Hunter and Guillem Balague, was a guest pundit at the event which officially announcedw us against Temple or St. Peter’s, which are similar teams [to Seton Hall], we’ve definitely improved,” he said.

When asked when he believed the team would snap it’s winning streak, he quickly answered: “Next game.”

Slover echoed his optimism.

“We go into every game expecting to win,” she said. “We think we can turn it around.”

Needing to win for title shot, W. Squash forgets Howe

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Recovering from “the most disappointing day of squash I’ve ever had” wasn’t easy for senior and co-captain Paula Pearson or her Penn teammates.

And it was a bittersweet weekend for them at the Howe Cup in New Haven. A No. 2 seed in the championship tournament, the Quakers expected nothing less than at least a berth in the final – and a national title was well within their grasp.

But instead it was No. 1 Princeton who left with the Howe Cup. The Quakers leave Yale disappointed after a 6-3 semifinal loss to No. 3 Harvard, but proud after reversing those numbers over the host Elis to capture third place.

“We’re definitely focusing on the latter aspect of is excited to be facing with Champions League opponents Manchester City.Atalanta lost their opening two games to Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar Donetsk – and visit City next week.“Manchester City are certainly capable of winning the Champions League, that,” coach Jack Wyant said.

On Friday, seventh-seeded Williams provided a sparring partner, as the Quakers won, 9-0.

But the real tournament would begin Saturday, when it would come down to the top four teams in the country: Princeton taking on Yale, and Penn playing Harvard.

Confidence was high going in: The Quakers defeated the Crimson 6-3 last week at Ringe Courts, and Yale’s courts are similar to Penn’s.

Nobody expected a physical or talent letdown on the part of the Red and Blue against Harvard. If it was going to lose, Penn would lose in the mental game. According to the team, that’s what happened.

Pearson and classmate Radhika Ahluwalia both agreed that the team was too tentative in hitting shots and laid back when it should have attacked.

“We all could have played better,” Pearson said. “We might have been too focused on our next match instead of dealing with the present. I had high expectations and I think everyone else did too.”

“Mentally, they were probably more prepared than we were,” Ahluwalia said. “I think the fact that they were the underdog gave them some more motivation, a killer instinct.”

Devastating losses are not unfamiliar to the team – it lost a critical match and its No. 1 ranking to Princeton last month. But this one ended a championship dream that seemed very real, and the players would have less than 24 hours to collect themselves to face Yale for third place.

As they’ve done before, the senior trio of A win over Granada.Lionel Messi scored the only goal of the game in the second half as the hosts dominated possession at the Camp Nou.”I think it was a good,” Setien said when asked how he would grade his team’s performance.”Maybe we lacked a bit of chluwalia, Pearson, and Caitlin Russell took the initiative in leading their team.

“I told them that we could take this two ways,” Pearson said. “That we could look at it and be negative, or that we could turn it to our advantage, since Yale also lost.”

Ahluwalia made sure that the team didn’t lose sight of what they’d done all year. In her rallying cry, she said that “third in the country is great; we haven’t done that in seven years.” She added that they had to push the Harvard loss out of their minds against Yale.

On Sunday, Penn looked more like the team that was ranked first in the country. It jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and Wyant cautioned that the team had done that before against the Elis and only ended up winning 5-4.

Only this time, the wins kept on coming until the final score read an impressive 6-3.

Even the usually optimistic Wyant admitted that he druce has explained the benching of Allan Saint-Maximin for their 0-0 draw against Burnley.The French winger was only involved in a cameo role for the Magpies and didn’t look fully fit.Bruce later told the media he’d been carrying a hamstring injury.Bidn’t think the team could bounce back so quickly.

Chalk that recovery up to the team’s leadership and camaraderie. Ahluwalia said that the trio fed off of their younger teammates, who made “win it for the seniors” a theme for Sunday.

Although her two classmates won, Ahluwalia fell in her last collegiate team match. Wyant refused to feel sorry about that.

“You know, I can’t ever be disappointed with Paula or Radhika,” he said. “They’ve both won tough matches for us and lost big ones as well. But without them and their leadership, we’d never be in this position. I’m incredibly proud.”

Backline in front for M. Soccer as Ivies near

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For the Penn men’s soccer team, the defense has not rested much this season. In fact, it has had plenty of work to do.

During the Penn Soccer Classic, coach Rudy Fuller’s three-man backline was under near-constant pressure and he switched to a four-back formation after losses to Lehigh and Villanova.

And defenders have scored three of the Quakers'(2-2-2) six goals this season.

But Fuller believes that the team’s level and method of goal-scoring are “a bit misleading.”

“We’ve created a bunch of chances and even [Monday against La Salle], with what little soccer was played, we had a number of quality chances that the keeper either came up big or we hit right at the keeper,” he said. “So I think I’d be more concerned if we weren’t creating those chances — but we are, so I think we keep plugging away.”

“Now that’s not to say thatRomelu Lukaku can provide something different for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should he stay at Manchester United. The Belgian has not featured in any of United’s four preseason friendlies due to a ‘niggle’.Reports have claimed that Lukaku’s injury is in fa our front six don’t need to do a bit better on the finishing,” he added.

Penn traveled to La Salle and battled to a 1-1 tie on Monday. Freshman defender Andy Howard scored the Quakers’ only goal, slotting home a set-piece service.

Sophomore defender Erik Viol hasn’t played since March amid claims he is exaggerating his problem.But he told A Bola: “I’m not simulating an injury, I’ve been receiving treatment.“My conscience is clear; I’ve wanted to play and the problem for me is that as time has passed,ante, who has scored twice this season — both from the penalty spot — did not play against the Explorers because of a leg injury, but he also believes that things will get better soon.

“The forwards are starting to gel a little bit better and the offensive players are coming together a little bit more to create creative runs ing hammered inside Holland.Dutch pundit Johan Derksen has accused Kuyt of undermining Feyenoord coach Jaap Stam, the former Manchester United defender. Kuyt is the club’s U19 coach.Before going into Sunday’s clash with FC Twente, the heat was being and things like that,” he said. “I think we’re going through a little dry period, and maybe a little luck in scoring a goal will maybe break through everything.”

In particular, Violante believes that classmates Jon Abelson, Richard Brushett and John Rhodes — who moved from midfield to forward this year — are poised to break out of their slumps.

“It’s not [Rhodes’] natural position so he’s having a little trouble,” Violante said. “Once he puts his first in, I think the rest will start flowing.”

Both Fuller and Violante believe that things will start to turn around when Penn faces Cornell to open the Ivy League season on Saturday at Rhodes Field.

“This week was a challenging week for us,” Fuller said. “We knew it going in, and coming out of those two road games in the city with a win and a draw, we’re satisfied with that.”

Violante feels that the Big Red will play a more open game than La Salle. The Explorers’ defensive style and difficult playing surface flustered the Quakers, to the point that Fuller after the match called the contest “an embarrassment and disgrace to the game.”

“There was not much soccer played,” he added after the game. The field was strewn with rocks and dirt as the La Salle men’s soccer team shares the facility with the school’s football team.

“Against La Salle when you made a pass, the ball would bounce up in the air,” Violante said. But he believes that Saturday’s game will be different.

Cornell and Penn “both look to do things similarly, we both play the same style of soccer — a possession game,” he said. “When it’s like that, it’s easier because the opposing team isn’t restricted to defense, they don’t close down into a little nutshell.”

Quakers look lost as Villanova rolls

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The Villanova basketball team does this bizarre warmup drill before games. It’s sueat Ruud Gullit after they reached the Champions League final.Dutch legend Gullit had criticised a number of Tottenham players following Ajax’s 1-0 first-leg win last week.He said: “Dele Alli — technically-wise, so bad. Victor Wanyama, technicallpposed to be a defensive slide drill, but the Wildcats end up looking like extras in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video.

No matter what it looks like, though, the drill works.

The ‘Cats stifled Penn’s offense in the first half, took the lead with a 12-0 run midway through the first half and led 29-21 at the break en route to a 73-63 thrashing of Penn last night at the Palestra. The closest the Quakers got after halftime was five points.

‘Nova’s first-half run began when the Wildcats were down 12-9. Sophomore guard Allan Ray then scored eight straight points, including two three-pointers, and freshman Mike Nardi hit a jumper and a layup — the latter coming off a fast break after stealing the ball from junior forward Eric Heil.

The Quakers (2-4, 0-2 Big 5) shot only 9-for-28 in the first half, and made only 2-of-12 three-pointers. Penn shot 22-for-57 (39 percent) from the field for the game and 5-for-20 (25 percent) from three-point range.

Penn swingman Jeff Schiffner shot 4-for-15 from the field, and 2-for-7 from beyond the arc. Wildcats guard Randy Foye guarded him most of the game.

“I knew we were doing good on ‘D’ because at halftime coach came in and talked straight about offense,” Foye said.

Nardi led the way for the Wildcats (5-2, 3-0 Big 5) with 20 points — 10 in each half. He punctuated the first half with a fast break three-point play with under a second left. His basket came after Schiffner missed an open three.

“That play at the end of the half was just a crushing play,” Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. “The last two games, the last play of the half has really hurt us.”

Ray had 13, sophomore forward Curtis Sumpter had 18 and Foye had 16 for the Wildcats.

Adam Chubb led the way for the Quakers with 17 points, nine of them free throws. Schiffner had 13. No other Penn player was in double figures.

“We got some open looks, I got some open looks, I just didn’t take advantage of them,” Schiffner said.

After going 11 deep in a 67-59 loss to No. 12 Saint Joseph’s on Saturday, Dunphy didn’t sub for almost the first 10 minutes last night.

Heil came in for Adam Chubb with 10:02 left in the first half and Penn down five, and Dunphy eventually went 10 deep. Dunphy said the short bench in the early going was not intentional.

“You just try to get a feel and try to go t has emerged as a main contender having impressed Juventus during three years at Napoli between 2015-18.The Italian still has one year on his contract at Chelsea, although the club have the option to extend it by another 12 months.While Sarri has inso [the bench] as best you can,” he said. “I’d like to play as many guys as possible.”

The one player who didn’t get in who played against St. Joe’s was junior Eric Osmundson. The 6’5″ transfer guard from Utah is 1-for-15 from the floor so far this season and has only one assist.

“It wasn’t his opportunity tonight,” Dunphy said. “In 11 days we’ll play Bucknell and he’ll get his chance then.”

Penn’s two threes came in the first eight minutes, with Tim Begley hitting his only three with 12:04 left in the first half. Penn didn’t hit another one until Jeff Schiffner scored from beyond the arc with 11:46 left in the second half.

The Quakers did make a late run in the second half, moving to a full-court press and closing it to five on a Copp layup with just over a minute to play. Heil had a steaaway Premier League leaders have only dropped two points all season – and bookies have stopped taking bets on them winning the title.Klopp said, “Where can we improve? Concentration level. Against (Manchester) United, we did a lot of things in the l and an emphatic block of Sumpter in the final minutes. A Chubb offensive foul with 57 seconds to play effectively ended any comeback chance for the Quakers.

The game was Villanova’s second in four days at the Palestra. The Wildcats topped La Salle, 74-61, in the Big 5 Classic on Saturday.

Penn is now 0-2 in the Big 5. Villanova is already 3-0 and has clinched at least second place in the league. The ‘Cats play Saint Joseph’s on Feb. 2 in their final City Series contest.

News and Notes

Villanova’s media relations department lists the series against the Quakers as 33-17 in favor of the Wildcats. Penn lists it as 32-18. The discrepancy is the 1970 East Regional Final: Villanova won, 90-47, but was stripped of all its wins that season for NCAA violations… Although the Wildcats have played seven games overall, two — a 114-103 win at Division III Redlands and a 52-49 loss at Division II Chaminade — do not count in the RPI or for postseason considerations.

evy.Spurs have conceded 10 goals in heavy defeats

May 16, 2020 Leave a comment

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Sometimes, I can get behind drafting a player I know I’m going to have to stash on the DL to begin the season, but I’m having a hard time doing it with . Unlike, say, Corey Hart, his injury doesn’t present him with a clear timetable and could impact his performance even after he returns.

He’s not even throwingtalks with Barcelona for Ivan Rakra Ferrer had held the position for the past two years. It’s the third time he’s left Betis – twice as coach.A rift between Serra Ferrer and the other vice president, José Miguel López Catalán, had become insurmountable. Their disagreement sparkeditic.Sport says United have approached Barca about a price for Croatia international and been informed they’re prepared to sell.However, Rakitic himself will need some persuading to leave Spain this summer.The 29 year off a mound yet, so I’m not holding my breath on him returning before May. And seeing as the shut has been delighted playing alongside Harry Maguire at the heart of Manchester United’s defence.The pair have been Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first-choice centre-back pairing this season.Speaking from the club’s warm-weather camp in Marbella, Lindelof saihim down midway through last season with an injury he probably could have come back from, I’m thinking they have no interest in rushing him.

oss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has deleted his Twitter a

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outfielder is expected to learn his roster fate this week because of an opt-clause in his contract that forces the Tigers to tell him whether or not he’ll be on the 25-man roster, according to MLive.com.

“I had some other opportunities where ason, it has been revealed.Just days after his dismissal by Bayern, reports Sport1, Kovac was offered the Everton job after they had sacked Marco Silva.However, the Croatian turned down the proposal as it came too soon after his departure. Everton wothey told me that I’d have a good chance to make their ballclub,” he said. “But you don’t know what’s going to happen when you go into a different situation.”

If K hunt for Lorient striker Alexis Claude-Maurice.The Gunners are star Fabrizio Maiello admits he was the brains behind the plan.He hatched the plan when he was behind bars along with a another group of inmates who were members of a notorious crime syndicate.But the plan failed after Maiello lost his nerve and instpreparing a second bid for the Lorient star, reports Get French Football News. It comes two weeks after their first bid of £7m was rejected. Claude-Maurice is a former team-mate of Gunnelly makes the roster, he would be used as a reserve outfielder/infielder. Kelly is batting .244 (10 for 41) with one triple, two doubles, three homers and six RBI in 21 spring games.

art with Arsenal.The Ivory Coast international bec

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Angels rotation candidate made it five full innings on WednChampionship Swansea City have rejected a £15m bid for striker Oli McBurnie from Premier League newcomers Sheffield United.Swansea are fighting to hold on to the 23-year-old, who scored 24 goals last season as the Swans finished 10th.The Championship club are only likely to consider selling McBurnie if they receive a bid in excess of £20m.esday in a his style to adjust to manager Frank Lampard’s demands.The of the world. Another show of contempt. And the reaction from the board at Manchester United is to reward Paul Pogba with a £200,000-a-week pay-rise…Well, that’s the latest coming out of the London press today. Rather than show some backbone. Soe 27 year-old’s midfield responsibilities appear to have changed this season under Lampard, even if his position on the pitch has not altered too much.Jorginho explained to chelseafc.com: “We Cactus League start against San Diego. The veteran hurler gave up two earned runs on the afternoon over five hits and no walks as he lowered his spring ERA to 3.86. Blanton struck out two in the performance and has now given up three earned runs this spring over seven innings with four Ks.