With football season finally over, all fall sports have ended.  And although only one team (men’s soccer) won an Ivy League title, 29 Penn athletes were honored as All-Ivy selections. (Sprint football isn’t an Ivy sport, yet that team had 22 CSFL selections.  Then again, there are only six schools to fill out the teams.)

Some choices make perfect sense such as first team All-Ivy Julia Swanson who led all Ancient Eight volleyball players with 359 kills.  Others are head scratchers such as Drew Healy, who set a Penn record with 11 shut outs, earning second-team status behind Dartmouth’s Sean Milligan despite being statistically the better goalkeeper in every category except Ivy League goals allowed (they both let up just five).

After the jump, the entire list.

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1) In his weekly column, Forde-Yard Dash, ESPN writer Pat Forde listed some key rivalry matchups this weekend in college football. One of the five he profiled was the 125th edition of The Game.

Yale at Harvard (31). This is the 125th meeting, which is something very few rivalries can say. Harvard is 8-1 and trying to win the Ivy League. Yale is 6-3 and hoping to grab a share of the title, but needs help. Harvard has regained the White House but doesn’t move in until 2009. For now, a Yalie still sits in the Oval Office. As for this game: close favors the Crimson. Harvard is 4-1 in games decided by four points or less. Yale is 1-3.

2) Looking for a quick preview of the men’s soccer NCAA game this Friday?  Collegesoccernews.com has you covered. They consider Penn’s goalkeeper “a prime timer,” which only means a Dick Vitale wannabe writes for them. (HT to Noah Becker)

3) Philly Hoops Insider, the new Philadelphia college basketball blog from the Philadelphia Daily News, has started to produce some quality posts. Each entry could easily make Random Ivy notes, but in the interest of space, only the best items will appear here. That said, I’d strongly encourage any Big 5 fan to check there every day, since it appears as if they’ll be multiple updates daily.

The biggest two items so far are a piece by Fran Dunphy on his team’s roadtrip to Charleston, S.C., as well as Dick Jeradi’s thoughts on City 6 teams so far this year.

Besides being a semi-obscure Founding Father, George Mason is also Penn’s first round opponent in the NCAA men’s soccer tournament. The Quakers (11-2-4) will make the three-hour drive down to Fairfax, Va., to take on the Patriots (13-6-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. The winner will play at No. 2 seed overall Maryland on Tuesday.

Click here to take a look at the bracket.

1) Earlier I posted a Washington Post article on the three-point line change in college basketball.  Here is a New York Times article on it, but from the perspective of… Cornell, of all teams.

2) Speaking of the three-point changes, Ken Pomeroy is tracking the difference in long-distance percentage from last year to this year.

3) The New York Times isn’t writing just about Cornell’s team, though. It also ran a profile on Penn’s Zack Rosen.

4) On Friday, the Ivy League released its Ivy Hoops guide for both men’s and women’s basketball.

5) Lastly, congratulations to the men’s soccer team, which beat, Harvard 1-0 on a breakaway goal off a turnover in overtime to clinch the Ivy League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Senior goalkeeper Drew Healy earned his 11th shutout this year, which set a new Penn record. The Quakers, in all likelihood, are going to be the only fall team to take home an Ivy League crown, unless the football title is split four ways.

Former Penn goalkeeper Danny Cepero was an Ivy standout (0.43 GAA) in his senior season back in Fall ‘06 and got himself drafted by the MLS’ New York Red Bulls’ for his efforts.

What’s he been doing since? Up until last night, not much — Cepero hadn’t seen a minute of action since he was drafted. But over the past week, he and his teammates have made some history, most notably last night.

On Thursday, Red Bulls starting keeper Jon Conway and defender Jeff Parke became the first MLS players to be suspended for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Both were banned for 10 games, thrusting Cepero into the box at Giants’ Stadium for the first time ever last night.

Pundits thought the suspensions would derail New York’s playoff hopes. Instead, Cepero turned in one of the best debuts in soccer history — not only did he look sharp in leading his team to a 3-1 victory over Columbus, but he also became the first goalie in the league’s 13-year history to score a goal. On a free kick in the 83rd minute, Cepero booted the ball well downfield. The high-arcing shot bounced once in front of the Columbus keeper, over his head and into the net. The Baldwin, N.Y., native said afterwards that he was just trying to “put it in the general area with no intention of scoring.”

In the process, he may have Wally Pipped Jon Conway.

(Video of the goal can be found here.)

The sports editors of The Daily Pennsylvanian have started posting their stories on the main website as soon as they are filed, an initiative that brings us in line with how a professional paper functions. (News stories are going up more quickly too, but who cares about that?) And since dailypennsylvanian.com can now be officially labeled a source for breaking news, there’s no reason that The Buzz shouldn’t, too.

So I’m going to start linking to (and commenting on) all the DP’s sports coverage on this blog every day, making it a one-stop shop for Quakers stories — at least as often as I can handle. I’ll also include Ivy League stories of interest when appropriate.

Here’s edition No. 1:

• This week’s football coverage — and if you’re a Quakers fan, this is one week to actually pay attention — kicks off with a look at the five most pressing issues facing Penn’s offense. You’ll see a lot more analysis this week, culminating in Friday’s football supplement before Saturday’s season opener.
• My friend and former design whiz Neil Fanaroff parses out who should get the credit for soccer goalkeeper (and high school classmate of mine) Drew Healy’s four straight shutouts to start the season.
• Senior Sports Editor Brandon Moyse recaps the men’s golf team’s recent exploits at Navy and in beautiful Rehobeth Beach, Del. If I’d talked to their coach beforehand, I would have recommended the Quakers trudge the Rehobeth boardwalk and stop for some Dollie’s salt water taffy — best in the tri-state area.

Soccer isn’t often discussed on this blog, but recently College Soccer News released its top 40 incoming classes on the men’s side. Penn came in at 36, as its five-member class is considered “a difference maker.” The ranking was tops for the Ivy League, and only one of Penn’s 2008 opponents made the list, as Villanova placed just two spots ahead of the Quakers at 34. The Wildcats visit Rhodes Field Wednesday Oct. 1.

The Quakers are coming off of a 6-9-2 (3-4-0 Ivy) season, which was a let down after the team went 9-4-2 in 2006, just missing an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament. So a strong incoming class is just what the Quakers could use this fall, especially after losing three starters to graduation.

Fortunately the two most-touted incoming freshmen, Christian Barreiro and Thomas Brandt, play midfielder and defender respectively, the two positions that Penn lost starters. Nick Unger, another incoming midfielder, is the brother of current Quaker midfielder Kevin who scored twice last year. The final two incoming freshmen are Eric Guo (midfield) and Jake Levin (defense).