A year in Penn sports

With the calendar now hitting June, I thought it would be an appropriate time to wrap up the year in Penn sports. From triumphs to tragedy, the 2009-10 school year was packed with many significant moments. In chronological order, here are 10 of the most memorable:

The defense never rests: Overcoming a strong Harvard team and a torrential downpour in Boston, the Quakers football team first clinched a share of the Ivy League title with a 17-7 win over the Crimson on Nov. 14. Then, they captured their first outright crown since 2003 with a 34-0 trouncing of Cornell the following week at Franklin Field. The championship marked the seventh in head coach Al Bagnoli’s tenure, with this 2009 team going down in history as boasting one of the most dominant defenses ever to grace Franklin Field.

Going to a battle against Army: On Nov. 14, the Penn volleyball team clinched its eighth Ivy League championship – and its first since 2003 – with a 3-1 win over Dartmouth. That was nice and all … but not as nice as when the Quakers made history three weeks later, beating Army for the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament win. Ivy League Player of the Year Elizabeth Semmens and the league’s rookie of the year, Lauren Martin, led the Quakers, who bowed out of the NCAAs to national power Penn State in the second round.

No more Cloudy days: Less than a year after legendary fencing coach Dave Micahnik retired, another longtime member of the Penn coaching fraternity called it a career: Val Cloud. For 30 years, Cloud was a staple on the field hockey sideline – the first 15 years as an assistant and the last 15 as the head coach – and met much success. Her replacement, Colleen Quinn Fink, a former Haverford College head coach and St. Joe’s player, was hired in April.

The upset of the year: In just about any other season, beating Cornell in a men’s basketball game at the Palestra would be cause for little more than a yawn over your morning cup of coffee. But when on Feb. 12 the floundering Quakers trounced a then-nationally ranked Big Red team that would go on to win its third straight Ivy title and advance to the Sweet 16, some called it the upset of the year in college basketball. ESPN even devoted about 10 minutes to the game and the students who stuck around through three brutal seasons rushed the Palestra court. It also probably helped lead to the next item on the list…

Penn goes all in on Allen: Only months after being hired as a Penn assistant coach, former Penn hoops star Jerome Allen C’95 was thrust into head coaching duties when Glen Miller was fired during winter break. Aside from the big win over Cornell (see above), Allen didn’t immediately produce drastically different results in terms of wins and losses. But when it came time to name a permanent head coach, Allen was the clear choice because of the energy he brought to the program and the unwavering support he had from players and fans, many of whom had grown disenchanted during the Glenn Miller error. The 2010-11 season will be an important one for Allen and a team that should be able to once again compete for an Ivy title.

Giffin joins elite group of wrestlers: The Penn wrestling program boasts a storied tradition, and in March, junior Scott Giffin secured his own place in it, becoming the 24^th All-America in school history with a seventh-place showing at the NCAA Championships. The 174-pouner junior is the first All-America for second-year head coach Rob Eiter and only the third in his weight class. And he’ll back next season.

Tragedy besets football program, twice: When the man known as Coach Lake lost a battle with bladder cancer in early April, it was devastating but also a cause for celebration. Lake had devoted a long and wonderful life to the Penn football program, and his wild clothes and creative ways to boost morale transformed him from an assistant coach to a campus legend. When senior co-captain Owen Thomas took his own life later that month – the second time in five years a Penn football player in the prime of his life committed suicide – there was nothing but agony. My heart continues to go out to Al Bagnoli and everyone else in the Penn football community.

When Franklin Field shook: For three centuries, Franklin Field has been home to many spine-tingling moments with fans packing every corner and crevice of the venerable stadium on 33^rd Street. It’s hard to imagine many being comparable to the final day of the 2010 Penn Relays when the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, and his Jamaican relay team shattered a carnival record and delighted the packed house of 54,310 fans. There’s a reason why the Penn Relays is the premier track and field competition in the country.

Enjoying the firsts: It took 11 years since the program first teed off, but on April 25 the Penn women’s golf team captured its first Ivy League championship – and then got a shout out from Tony Kornheiser on Pardon the Interruption for good measure. The Quakers won the three-day league league tourney at the famed Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., and went on to compete in the 72-team NCAA tournament, another first for a program that only began in 2000.

For four years, perfection: When a group of women’s lacrosse freshman arrived on campus in 2006, Penn had not won an Ivy League title in the sport since 1982 and had not played in the NCAA tournament since 1984. Four years later, those same players graduated with a perfect 28-0 record in league competition, as well as a championship in the inaugural Ivy League tournament and four deep runs at the NCAAs. After losing in the national semifinals in 2007 and 2009, and the national finals in 2008, the Quakers failed to make it the final four this season, bowing out in the quarterfinals to Maryland. But the legacy left by record-setter Ali DeLuca, All-American Emma Spiro and the rest of the senior class will not be forgotten.