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A memorable weekend for Penn sports

What a weekend.

From overtime heroics to last-second goals to penalty shootouts to routs of Princeton, these past couple of days simply had everything you can ask for if you’re a Penn sports fan. And best of all, it all came at home.

If you missed any of it, here’s a recap of Penn’s remarkable 5-0-1 record over the weekend, and what it means going forward as the fall season begins to wind down.

Football

Despite record-breaking quarterback Billy Ragone being sidelined with a foot injury, the Quakers remained perfect in the Ivy League with a 28-17 win over Yale on Saturday at Franklin Field. Fifth-year senior Ryan Becker, who usually platoons with Ragone, completed 77 percent of his passes and threw for two touchdowns in the win, Penn’s seventh straight against Ivy competition. Running back Kyle Wilcox contributed 158 total yards and receiver Conner Scott caught a TD while eclipsing 1,000 career receiving yards.

Men’s Soccer

In one of the most dramatic games of the weekend, the Quakers beat Yale in overtime, 3-2, on the strength of a 94^th-minute goal from senior Stephen Baker, who also assisted on Penn’s first two goals Saturday night at Rhodes Field. Goalkeeper Tyler Kinn allowed Penn to get to OT with a huge save in the final seconds of regulation. With a 3-0-1 record in the league, Penn now sits all alone in first place in the Ivies.

Women’s Soccer

It was the only game of the weekend that didn’t end in a Penn win – but it still produced one of the most thrilling moments. With time winding down and the Quakers about to drop a 1-0 decision to Yale on Saturday at Rhodes Field, Penn was awarded a penalty kick. And senior Kerry Scalora delivered, scoring the PK goal to tie the game at 1-1, which is how the score would remain through overtime. With a 3-1-1 Ivy record, the Quakers are tied for second place with Brown, behind only unbeaten Harvard.

Field hockey

The new stadium continues to pay big dividends for the Quakers, who improved to 3-1-1 in the Ivy League and a whopping 10-1-4 overall with a 1-0 win over Yale in penalty strokes Saturday at Ellen Vagelos Field. Goalie Carly Sokach finished with 15 saves, tying a career-high, and led the way in what was the program’s first penalty stroke shootout since 2002. Penn currently sits just one game behind defending national champion Princeton, who they play, at home, in the regular-season finale on Nov. 9.

Volleyball

This one didn’t have the same kind of last-second heroics as some of the other games but the Friday night sweep of Princeton was just as satisfying. Alex Caldwell had 24 assists and four different Quakers had eight kills as Penn beat its rival, 25-19, 25-22, 25-20, at the Palestra on Friday night to even its Ivy League record at 4-4.

Sprint football

Speaking of handily beating Princeton, Penn’s sprint football team hammered the Tigers, 72-29, under the lights of Franklin Field on Friday night, improving to 3-3 in the Collegiate Sprint Football League. The 72 points scored were the most in a single game since Penn put up 70 on Princeton in 2010. Quarterback Mike McCurdy led the way with 352 passing yards – the fourth most in Penn history – and four touchdowns.

Penn men’s water polo ready to make splash at Ivy Championship tourney

Antonio Merlo lived in Italy for most of his life and now teaches economics at Penn. Since 2008, he’s coached Penn’s men’s water polo team, but being that it’s a club team in an underpublicized sport, he’s mostly removed from the spotlight of the Penn-Princeton rivalry.

Still, when asked if he knows about the history of the famous rivalry, his inflection changes and he responds emphatically with just one word: “Absolutely!”

And now the one-time professional water polo player from Italy is ready to beat Princeton at this weekend’s Ivy championships at Penn – even though the Tigers come to Philly with a nationally ranked varsity water polo program.

“It would be very sweet to show them a good game,” Merlo said. “There’s always a chance. The ball is round. Something can always happen.”

According to Merlo, no other competition in the country features club teams competing against varsity programs, meaning that if Penn can beat Princeton, it would make for one of the most unlikely results in the long-standing rivalry between the two nearby schools – across any sport. The same can be said if the Quakers manage to finish higher than the two other varsity teams from Ivy League institutions: Harvard and Brown.

But even though Penn is limited in the way all club teams are (not being able to recruit, a lighter practice schedule, generally worse facilities, etc.), Merlo believes his team can hoist a championship trophy in what will be the fourth annual Ivy championships.

“I must say this is one of the strongest teams I’ve ever coached,” he said.

The Quakers certainly are a powerhouse at the club level, where they’ve won seven Mid-Atlantic Division titles and are currently 9-0 on the season. In their last two trips to national club championships of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), they finished in 10^th place – “which is remarkable for an East Coast program,” Merlo said.

This season Penn hops to finish in the top four nationally, which would be an even greater feat. But before the division championship and national tournament, the Quakers are excited to host the Ivy Championship at home at Sheerr Pool, where they expect between 200 and 300 fans.

“Our pool is narrower than usual and one of the two ends is shallow,” Merlo said. “We hope the pool is going to play to our advantage.”

The tournament is constructed so that the club teams first compete on Saturday, with Penn playing Cornell and then probably Dartmouth, which won the Ivy club title last season. The winner of the club competition then moves into a semifinal game Sunday against top-seeded Princeton, while the other two varsity teams – Brown and Harvard – play in the other semifinal contest. The winner of both of those games then play for the overall championship, while the losing squads match up in the third-place game.

If the Quakers do make it to Sunday, it won’t be the first time they’ve competed against varsity teams. In September, they were invited to Princeton Invitational and held their own, losing to the host Tigers by just three goals.

So winning the whole thing is certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

“It would be unbelievable,” Merlo said. “The odds are not that high but we are going to give it our best.”

At the very least, the tournament at Penn should help give more exposure to Penn’s water polo programs. (The women also have a very good team that I reported on three years ago.) But even though many high schools and colleges are playing the sport, especially in Pennsylvania, Merlo (pictured at left) knows it’s an uphill battle to get more recognition. And it will certainly never get as popular as it is in Italy, where Merlo said water polo stadiums dot the entire country.

“Just to give you an idea, when Italy makes it to the final for Olympic gold in water polo, the whole country stops,” he said. “It’s like the same thing as watching the soccer World Cup.”

But even after leaving Italy to get his PhD in economics from New York University in 1988, Merlo has tried his best to stay involved in water polo, which he calls “one of the hardest sports” because of how much you have to swim and tread water. He was an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota and NYU, and then trained with the Quakers after getting hired by Penn in 2000.

In 2008, when Penn’s coach left, the players asked Merlo to take over. He agreed under one condition: because of his busy schedule as the Lawrence R. Klein Professor of Economics and director of the Penn institute for Economic Research, he could only do it for season.

But he hasn’t been able to walk away since then – both because of his love of the sport and the upward trajectory of Penn’s ever-growing team. And, of course, the chance to add another chapter to the Penn-Princeton rivalry.

“The team keeps telling me how happy they are when I coach them,” he said. “I must say it’s a rewarding experience, especially when I see the commitment these kids have. The fact that they’re willing to put so much into the team and the effort they show makes me want to do the same.”

Penn basketball has a beautiful new practice facility at Hutchinson Gym

Earlier this week, I interviewed Penn basketball coach Jerome Allen for a story in the next issue of the Gazette. The best part about the chat? It took place in Allen’s brand new office overlooking a brand new basketball court at the recently renovated Hutchinson Gymnasium.

The John R. Rockwell Court is part of several upgrades to the creaky old gym. Others include a new fencing room, as well as improvements to the school’s golf, gymnastics and rowing training facilities.

For Allen, whose old office was in a cramped space at the Dunning Coaches’ Center and whose team’s practice court was in a stuffy upstairs gym at Weightman Hall, the major upgrades mean a lot.

“In order to be successful as a program, commitment has to come from the top,” he said. “And I think this building kind of is like a statement that they really care about basketball at Penn. It’s beautiful. I thank every person that donated a penny to make this happen for us. And I’m quite sure the guys will get a lot of use out of it.”

Some parts of Hutch Gym are still under construction but I snapped a few photos of the renovations, which I’ll share below.

A look from above at the center of John R. Rockwell Court.

The basketball coaches offices have glass windows overlooking the court.

A look from the inside of head coach Jerome Allen’s new office.

A look down the hallway outside the coaches offices.

Some photos – and bobbleheads! – are already decorating the shelves outside the offices.

The new fencing training room was named after longtime coach Dave Micahnik.

Some parts of the Hutch Gym renovations – like the gymnastics room – are still under construction.

Is the Penn men’s soccer team poised for a rebound this fall?

Last year at this time, Penn men’s soccer coach Rudy Fuller was preparing for big things. The Quakers were coming off a solid 8-7-2 campaign in 2011, which followed a fantastic 2010 season when Penn won a thrilling home game in the NCAA tournament. And all signs pointed to the Quakers continuing to grow into a powerhouse in 2012.

But Fuller’s program took a big step backwards last year, finishing with a very disappointing 3-13 record. For Fuller, it stung then … and it still stings today, even as Penn prepares to kick off a new season with a game against Stony Brook tonight at Penn Park.

“Last season was very tough,” Fuller said in an interview with the Gazette. “It was very unexpected. You go into a season expecting to challenge for trophies and it goes the complete opposite.”

At the very least, Fuller can pinpoint the problems. The combination of a handful of season-ending injuries with only a couple of seniors on the roster led to an inexperienced team losing nine one-goal games.

But if there was any silver lining, it was this: the juniors that were thrust into leadership roles before they were ready last season now make up the backbone of a suddenly far more seasoned squad.

“The juniors, now seniors, were fantastic last spring in terms of setting a tone and holding the group to certain standards,” Fuller said. “Now we feel really good in two areas: our depth and our leadership.”

Which Penn players can we expect big things from in ’13?

Well, there’s senior Stephen Baker, who’s scored 19 goals in his first three seasons and who Fuller says has been “an influential guy since he stepped foot on campus.” There’s junior Duke Lacroix, who’s also proven to be a dynamic scorer and is a player that Fuller thinks has a big future in front of him. (“He’s very determined to be a pro and it shows in his approach and in his development over his first couple of years,” the Penn coach said.) And there’s senior Jonny Dolezal, a returning captain and a stalwart of the backline. Fuller also pointed to midfielders Lou Schott and Austin Kinn as key players.

“I think we’re pleased with where we are right now,” Fuller said. “I like our returning group a lot.”

Those returning players will certainly be challenged with a daunting schedule that includes a visit from 2012 national finalist Georgetown on Sept. 19. And even though there’s been a lot of turnover in the league, the Ivy schedule will be challenging as always.

But for Fuller, that’s all part of his plan.

“We put together a schedule two or three years in advance and we put this schedule together for this team,” Fuller said. “There was definitely a major hiccup last fall that was unexpected. We expected to have a very good year last year and challenge for the Ivy title. That didn’t happen. But we put together a harder schedule based on the personnel we knew were going to have in our junior and senior class.”

Can the upperclassmen lead Penn to some big wins over national powers? Can the Quakers challenge for an Ivy title and return to the NCAA tournament? Will they show that last season was nothing more than a blip?

Fuller is certainly optimistic.

“Last years shows you how fine the line is between success and failure,” the Penn coach said. “It’s a big incentive for our guys to rebound from that season and turn one-goal results in our favor. And I think we have a very determined group right now.”

Baron is golden at Maccabiah Games

Penn senior Alyssa Baron, fourth from right, led the USA women’s basketball team to a gold medal at the Maccabiah Games this summer.

Like most athletes, Penn senior basketball player Alyssa Baron loves the Olympics.

The tradition. The pageantry. The competition. Everything.

So when she walked around a huge stadium with other athletes from across the world last month, she got chills. She understands, of course, that the opening ceremonies for the Maccabiah Games – an international athletic competition in Israel for Jewish athletes – don’t have the same kind of wide appeal and prestige of the Olympics. But, at least for a little while, she still felt like an Olympian.

“It totally felt like the Olympics,” Baron said. “Playing a part in something really similar is amazing.”

Even better: she brought home a gold medal.

Averaging a very impressive 14.6 points per game, Baron led the USA women’s basketball team to the Maccabiah title, capped by a 72-56 win over Israel in the gold-medal game.

“It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life,” she said. “Traveling to Israel, being in another country and being able to play basketball there – it was amazing.”

Baron had been to Israel once before with her family but enjoyed going back, this time with people her own age and even some fellow Penn students. Among the Penn athletes Baron saw while in Israel were former basketball teammate Jackie Kates, softball players Elysse Gorney and Sydney Turchin, swimmer Alex Alias and soccer goalie Max Kurtzman.

“The more to represent our school, the better,” she said.

But nobody performed better at the Maccabiah Games than Baron, who showcased the same basketball skills that’s made her one of the premier players in the Ivy League. Now, as her senior season approaches, the high-scoring guard hopes winning a gold medal in an international competition (where the rules and style of play are different) can help her win another title back home.

“I need an Ivy League championship ring to go with the gold medal,” she said.

Below you’ll find some photos from Baron’s stay in Israel, which she was kind enough to share.

A conversation with new Penn baseball coach John Yurkow

It’s been no secret that Penn hasn’t had a great baseball team for while. The Quakers haven’t won the Ivy League since 1995 and have played .500 baseball or worse for most of the last two decades. That’s why, after eight years at the helm, John Cole was let go as the program’s head coach and his longtime assistant John Yurkow was hired to replace him last month. Recently, I sat down with Yurkow in his office to discuss what needs to happen for the Quakers to start winning championships again, his style as a coach, and what it means for him to have his first head coaching job.

What was your first order of business after taking over as head coach?

The first thing I did is I reached out to everybody on our team. The second thing was to get in touch immediately with the incoming class. I talked to some of the key alumni and have been trying to get the staff finalized. Then, I’m really just trying to keep all of the recruiting going. Coach [Mike] Santello and I, for two months, were in a holding pattern. We were out watching players and evaluating but there was only so much we could do. And then finally when we got the word, it was like, ‘All right, let’s go.’

What was the reaction from the players on the team?

They were generally excited. Unless they were just lying to my face, they seemed pretty excited about it. I’m pretty close with all of those guys. I recruited them all. So I think maybe they’re a little relieved to know they know who’s going to be taking the program over.

It was a national coaching search, so what was your mentality throughout the whole process? Did you think you had a pretty good chance throughout?

Early on, I was unsure. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I stayed on, I kept recruiting and I kept trying to run the normal day-to-day operations that a head coach would run. It was definitely something that was hanging over your head because you’re just not sure. The longer it went, the better I felt about it. I went through the interview process just like everyone else did, even though I was internal. And things just worked out. It’s kind of interesting how it all fell into place.

John Yurkow was an assistant at Penn for seven years before being promoted to head coach. Previously, he was an assistant at Duke and Rowan, his alma mater.

Is it an easier transition because you know the team so well?

Absolutely. I’m internal and I know everything about this place, so I know how to navigate through everything, which is a huge advantage. I know the players. I know what we have coming back. I can’t even imagine when you go and get a job at another school, you’ve got to move your family and your life gets turned upside down. It’s interesting here because last year we finished a game above .500 and we had three seniors. And we have an excellent freshman class coming in. Usually when you take over a program, it could be a mess. That’s not the case here. Things are set up, so I’m fortunate. It’s a unique situation.

What was your reaction when John Cole was let go?

I was surprised. I didn’t really see it coming. I was actually on the road in Chicago when it happened, so it was tough to deal with.

How do you think you’ll be different than him as a head coach?

I don’t know if I’ll be different than him but I think I have my own style. My personality is not going to be the same. I’ve got some ideas. As an assistant coach for 13, 14 years, you start making all these little lists of things you’d like to do when you have the chance to become a head coach. So I’ve got some things I want to implement. There definitely will be a lot of changes, without a doubt.

What kind of changes? What kind of style will you preach?

We’re going to be very aggressive in all phases of the game. That’s what I believe in. That’s how I was coached when I was younger. I don’t want to complicate the game for our guys. I want to keep it simple, so they can play free and easy and aggressive. You can’t overthink baseball. We have to create a mindset where if you do have a bad at bat or you do have a bad inning, you move past it and you’re on to the next thing. That’s what successful baseball players do.

Among the big recruits Yurkow reeled in was Mike Vilardo, the Big 5 Rookie of the Year in 2013.

What kind of head coach do you think you’ll be in terms of your personality in the dugout?

I don’t think I’ll be ultra laid back and at the same time I don’t think I’ll be screaming at the top of my lungs. I’m definitely intense. Winning’s important and that’s why I thought this was a great situation. I want to win Ivy League championships. That’s what I’m here to do.

You mentioned winning championships. What are your big goals, both for this season and long term?

I expect us to compete for the Ivy championship this year. I want to make this a place that great student-athletes see and they want to come and matriculate here – because they know when they come here they’re going to great a baseball experience and obviously they’re going to receive a great education. Success, as that happens, I’m hoping will enable us to bring in higher-caliber players that maybe three, four years ago we would have had trouble bringing in. And I think the facilities are starting to help with that. Our field is a solid facility but in the past three years they put in a $27 million weight room, they put in Penn Park – which is our indoor facility when they put in the bubble – and we spent $80,000 just to renovate our locker room five months ago. So for an 18-year told to come in and see all of that, it shows the administration is really making an attempt to bring our facilities to a national level. It’s great.

From what you’ve seen, what’s prevented Penn from being a dominant program in the Ivy League?

That’s a good question because if you look at the breakdown of our schedule from last year we played better against scholarship programs than we did against teams in our league. That’s kind of a head-scratcher. I have some theories as to why and I’m already starting to think how I’m going to change those things, without getting too far into it. But yeah, that’s interesting. And our road record was better than our home record. We need to go in and switch some things and change that mindset a little bit. But that’s why I think we’re not very far away. That’s one of the nice things about this. You can get excited when you think you’ve got all these guys got back, you’ve got a real good incoming class, and the facilities are great. And I just put together a really good coaching staff.

The 1995 Penn baseball team was the last to win a league title. Yurkow hopes that will soon change.

Can Penn become a national power?

I don’t see why not. If you’re going to shoot for the stars, let’s go for it. I think things are really moving in the right direction. I think timing is everything and the timing is right here. I’m very, very fortunate to come into this situation with the players that we have here and where everything is starting to fall with the University.

So this is a pretty good job for you right now?

It’s awesome. I’m still floating right now. This is a great place to work. It’s a great University, a great administration and great kids. You always think about where is your first head coaching job going to be – and I don’t think I could have picked a better spot.

Penn at the Maccabiah Games

The Olympics are here and a few Penn athletes will be competing in them!

Well, the Jewish Olympics.

On Thursday, the opening ceremonies were held for the Maccabiah Games, the international event held in Israel every four years that pits the best Jewish athletes from around the world.

And between now and July 30, when the event wraps up with the closing ceremony, you can root for these Quakers:

Alyssa Baron – Women’s Basketball

The rising Penn senior will represent the United States in women’s basketball. And Team USA – which opens against host Israel today in the preliminaries, before facing Canada on Sunday and Australia on Tuesday – would be wise to get the ball in Baron’s hands. The first team All-Ivy honoree led the Quakers in scoring last season and has been known to hit some clutch shots (see video below).

Elysse Gorney & Sydey Turchin – Women’s Softball

Fresh off helping the Penn softball program to its first-ever NCAA tournament berth, two Quakers will look to add to their already impressive year as members of Team USA. Gorney, a rising senior, and Turchin, a rising junior, were both key starters and all-Ivy honorees for Penn. They begin their quest for gold on Sunday against Canada and will play round-robin games the rest of the week

Table Tennis – Matt Simon C’02

Why yes, a Penn alum is part of Team USA’s Table Tennis squad. A doctor by day and a former junior Olympian, Simon ranks among the top five percent of the 7,500 active tournament players in the United States. And the ping-pong star believes this U.S. squad can take home gold. (Full disclosure: I’ll have a profile on him in the next print issue of the Gazette.)

Rowing expert from Penn discusses life and death of rowing icon from Penn

Harry Parker during his undergraduate days at Penn

When I heard about the death of rowing giant Harry Parker C’57, I immediately thought to reach out to Peter Mallory C’67. Last year, I interviewed Mallory for a Gazette alumni profile on his book – The Sport of Rowing: Two Centuries of Competition – and found him to be passionate and extremely knowledgeable about crew. And knowing he wrote entire chapters on Parker – the rowing icon who coached at Harvard for more than 50 years – I called him this week to ask about one of his fellow Penn alums. Below is the interview:

Penn Gazette: What was you reaction when you heard Harry Parker had died?

Peter Mallory: Well, it wasn’t a surprise. He looked like he was going to die two years ago when he first contracted the cancer and they essentially bought him a couple of years with aggressive chemo. At the same time, when I did see him three weeks ago at the Harvard-Yale race, he looked frail and was walking slowly – but he seemed hale and hearty and there was color in his cheeks. It was really quite a remarkable performance on his part. There’s something about a man of that strength of personality where part of you wants to say this is going to go on forever. But it can’t. For a rower that’s part of the American rowing family, Harry is kind of the lynchpin. He’s just been there forever. Your emotional side says he can’t die.

What was your personal relationship like with him?

Harry knew me by name for nearly 50 years and I got a thrill every time I would walk up to him and reach out my hand and he would say, ‘Hello Peter.’ I never rowed for him but he’s known me literally since I was an undergraduate at Penn. And that has felt like such an extreme honor. Harry was one of the first people I went to when I started researching my book. And he was extremely generous with his time. He was an early mentor to the book.

Parker was widely considered the country’s premier rowing coach

What was he like as a person?

Harry was probably the most competitive guy I’ve ever met. I know a lot of Olympians and one of the common threads of an Olympic athlete is their incredible competitiveness. It’s not enough just to play harder or train harder; you have to have so much drive for so many years that it has to become part of your DNA. And Harry certainly had that. And it never stopped. His Harvard guys would tell uproarious stories about Harry competing with them – whether running at Harvard Stadium or playing croquet at their compound—and how he was always all about winning.

In terms of his coaching personality, he seemed to emulate his mentor at Penn, Joe Burk C’34. Joe was a man of very few words but Joe also had an incandescent smile. When Joe smiled, the whole room would light up. The interesting thing is I only saw Harry really open up twice. Once was in 2006 when my wife and I hosted a party at our house for the 1955 Penn Heavyweight Eight because just a couple months before Joe had passed away. And Harry was telling stories like he was 18 years old again. And they were laughing at all of them, just remembering so fondly the year of 1955 when they were the fastest eight in the world, won Henley and toured Germany undefeated. And the second time was three weeks ago when there was a reunion of the 1968 Harvard crew that went to the Olympics for Harry. And Harry came over and everybody was hugging him. Everyone had to be really careful because he seemed frail. But then everyone gathered around, he sat down and off he went – all of the nostalgia, wonderful stories, everyone laughing, people peppering him with questions, just wonderful anecdotes all around. I’ve never seen him more alive those two times.

Do you have any favorite stories from your book about Harry’s time at Penn?

Joe Burk was, at the time, experimenting with the idea that the best way to select the varsity crew would be to see how people do day in and day out throughout the year. So what he did was he sort of allowed the guys to pick the boats every day like a playground kickball type thing where you pick two captains and each one would pick one guy one at a time. And he eventually had to cut that out because what happened was Harry figured out really quickly who the fast guys were, so he would pick the guys no matter what they looked like and Harry’s boat kept winning day after day after day. So within a number of years, he went to a completely random selection of boats and he would have a deck of cards and would assign each person a particular card and just deal them. And that way no one could game the system. But the fun thing was that Harry Parker, even as a relatively small sophomore, had figured out a way to beat everyone else on the entire team. And he certainly followed through on that for the rest of his life in everything he did.

The undefeated 1955 Penn heavyweight crew poses for a photo, with Parker second from right

Did Penn still mean a lot to him even after he spent so much time at Harvard?

Harry was a man of few words and I’m not aware of him ever going back to a reunion on campus. But I know that he retained a great personal friendship and connection to his 1955 teammates for the rest of his life. Crew was the crux of his undergraduate life and that meant a great deal to him. He soon became synonymous with Harvard rowing but I don’t think he felt there was any contradiction in that or any conflict. His goal in life was to teach young men to go fast. There’s a quote of his that basically said, ‘Jeez, a lot of you say that you learned all these life lessons and you applied them for the ret of your life; I just wanted to teach you to go fast.’ I’m not sure whether he was being facetious because when guys would come up to him and tell him he was like a father to them and that they had gone on to various successes in whatever they’ve done, Harry was very touched by that.

Can you describe what he meant to the sport?

Harry raised the bar. Harry redefined what you had to do in order to be the best in America. But he refused to be the inspiration for all rowers. He said, ‘I coach the Harvard crew. If you want to row for me when I’m an Olympic coach, fine. But it’s not my job to go around the country and spread some new doctrine.’ Nevertheless, by Harvard’s example, everyone else was deconstructing and reverse-engineering what he was doing. If you wanted to beat Harvard, this is how fast you have to go. And from the East coast to the West coast, everybody rose up in an attempt to stay with Harvard or surpass Harvard. And that’s what he did for the sport. For Harry, it was just setting the bar high. I think his influence will continue for many years. As long as the people that knew him – whether as coach or as a colleague or as just a friend in rowing community – are alive, he will be alive.

Penn’s Top 10 YouTube moments

One of the highlights of the past year in Penn sports happened last month in the NCAA Division I Softball Championship. Making their first-ever postseason appearance (more on this in the next issue of the Gazette), the Quakers lost two straight games but earned a terrific memory in the process when first baseman Georgia Guttadauro made SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays with a diving catch.

Guttaduaro’s priceless reaction to the moment was chronicled by the Penn Sports Network and is now on YouTube – with over 3,000 views. And this got me thinking. What are some of Penn’s other great moments on YouTube?  So naturally, I compiled a Top 10 list:

10) Georgia Guttadauro watches herself on SportsCenter – 3,068 views (as of June 17)

“I’m Georgia and this is as famous as I’ll ever be.”

9) Alyssa Baron nails buzzer-beater in women’s basketball postseason tournament  – 2,355 views

The call is almost good as the shot.

8) Penn men’s basketball beats Columbia on Fran Dougherty layup – 7,299 views

How about another buzzer-beater?

7) Penn baseball prepares for 2012 season – 58,778 views

Who knew running could be so dramatic? No other Penn sports video has more YouTube hits (as far as I can tell). The director of this video, Jeremy Maas C’11, also has a great YouTube moment here.

6) Penn men’s lacrosse player scores sick goal against Duke – 5,559 hits

Duke has won two national men’s lacrosse titles in the last four years but couldn’t stop this behind-the-shoulder goal from Penn’s Rob Fitzpatrick.

5) Miles Cartwright dunks on Princeton’s face – 9,748 views

The only thing better than a great dunk is a great dunk against Princeton.

4) The final out of a softball perfect game – 1,013 views

Relive the last out of Alexis Borden’s perfect game last year – the first for an Ivy League pitcher since 2006 – and the celebration that followed.

3) Penn men’s basketball upsets No. 6 Temple – 4,373 views

Watch some end-game highlights and a great court-rushing after the Quakers’ huge Palestra upset of the sixth-ranked team in the country 15 years ago.

2) Penn beats Harvard at :00 to win 1982 Ivy League football championship – 1,078 hits

There aren’t too many historical moments on this list for obvious reasons (if only YouTube existed during the glory days of Penn sports) but this video of Penn’s game-winning drive and late-game drama to famously win the 1982 Ivy football title is pure gold. The announcing of Eagles broadcast legend Merrill Reese makes it even better. (For an older – and longer – video of Penn sports, check out this.)

1) Penn erases 14-point lead with 6:40 left to stun Princeton in 2005 – 38,411 views

About half of the 38,411 views might be from me. Try not to get goosebumps watching this awesome highlight package on one of Penn basketball’s most memorable victories.