After dropping to third place in the CSFL last season following an undefeated run to the national championship in 2006, the sprint football team is looking to return to glory. Despite a season-opening loss to Penn, the Red rebounded with a 35-0 victory over Mansfield and now has the pieces in place for a successful run through its conference schedule.

Stepping onto a football field as the starting quarterback of the home team may be a lofty, cliché dream of college athletes. For senior Zak Dentes, it will seem all too familiar. This season is the third year in a row he has done it.

The Red will look to down Ivy rival Columbia for the second time in a week when Cornell rolls into New York City for the second matchup of the Ivy season. Cornell will take on the Lions at 7 p.m. tomorrow, then play a non-conference match against Long Island University on Sunday at 2 p.m.

The women's cross country team is looking to bounce back after its lowest Heps finish in several years.

Senior co-captain Joe Yonga has perfected a certain style of leadership, an expansion on the idea of leading by example. Yonga does everything and goes everywhere, trying to show his teammates the way in all aspects of the game. The self-described jack-of-all-trades came to Cornell as a center midfielder. After coming off the bench in the first two games his freshman year, he has started every game since.

In each of the past two seasons, Cornell has finished runner-up in the Ivy League standings. This year the field hockey team is looking to take that next step. So far, so good. The Red has gotten off to a 4-4 start, with a 2-0 record in the Ivy League. Though the team hasn’t won the Ivy title in 18 years, the opening victories are definitely a step in the right direction.

If slow and steady always wins the race, things are looking good for the men’s cross country program. In the past five seasons, the team has climbed from eighth to seventh to sixth to fifth to second place at Heps, the Ivy League championship.

When the women’s field hockey team defeated Princeton last year for the first time since 1990, you wouldn’t have found its junior co-captain celebrating with the entire squad for long. Instead, Belen Martinez could be found shedding tears of joy while relaying the good news to her parents on the phone. For Martinez, the sport of field hockey is much more than a hobby, it is part of her identity.

Bryan Scales enters his 11th season as head coach of the men’s soccer team boasting a team with 11 seniors on the roster. Last year, his squad finished with a 7-9-1 overall record after some inconsistent play in the Ivy League led to a 1-5-1 in-conference mark and landed Cornell in second-to-last place in the league.

Volleyball hopes to use preseason as motivation, experience for Ivy play