Men's squash
Over a successful break, men's squash routed each of its first four opponents, going 34-2 against Cornell, Brown, Franklin & Marshall and Western Ontario.
The best news for the Tigers after their early-season dominance was the play of their rookies. Freshmen Vincent Yu and Michael Gilman turned the most heads with their performances in the early season. Asked to play Nos. 3 and 4 for the Tigers, the two talented youngsters went undefeated in December.
But the honeymoon for the new recruits is over, as Princeton will begin the tough part of its schedule in January. Up first for the Tiger squad is the 5-Man Team Championships in New Haven, Conn. Princeton will send 'A' and 'B' teams to the weekend tournament, with the Tigers' top five players competing as the 'A' squad.
Last year, Princeton won the Five-Man Championship, defeating powerful Trinity's 'A' team in the finals. Sophomore Yasser El-Halaby will again lead Princeton in defense of the title. Junior Dent Wilkens will likely join him at No. 2, while Yu and Gilman will play Nos. 3 and 4 and junior Nate Beck will anchor at No. 5.
The Bantams come into the weekend heavily favored to win the tournament. But if the early-season performance is any indication of what's to come for Princeton, it wouldn't be wise to count the Tigers out.
Men's hockey
This weekend, men's hockey (5-13-0 overall, 5-6-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) begins a home stretch of conference games, starting with games in Baker Rink against St. Lawrence (2-5-0, 6-12-3) tonight and Clarkson (3-3-1, 8-7-4) tomorrow.
Princeton is currently bound in a three-way tie for fourth place in the standings. This tie, paired with the opportunity for a top seed in the ECAC playoffs, make these final games must-wins for the Tigers.
St. Lawrence, ranked No.11 in the conference, is currently on a nine-game winless streak on the road. Because of St. Lawrence's short bench, taking control of the game for Princeton will be a matter of containing T.J. Trevelyan, who leads the team in points and goals.
The Saints' defense is more solid, reinforced by two talented goaltenders, Kevin Ackley and Mike McKenna.
Riding a three-game winning streak, No. 8 Clarkson is determined to move up in the standings. The Knights boast a solid defense backed up by goalie Dustin Traylin with a .922 save percentage and 2.51 goals against average.
Princeton's defense must focus on Clarkson's key scoring menaces, juniors Jay Latulippe and Mac Faulkner.
Offensively, the Tigers have the skill, variety and depth to win both games this weekend.
Women's hockey
In addition to the standard academic hurdles, women's hockey will do much to determine its final grade athletically this January. The Tigers (9-5-0 overall, 2-3-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) have games against Colgate and Cornell this weekend to kick off a string of ECAC games which will determine if Princeton gets into the postseason.
Princeton's first test — a Friday night game at Colgate (11-6-2, 4-2-0) — should remove any cobwebs lingering from a long vacation and a less-than-challenging trip to Europe.
Colgate has started the year off well and currently shares first place in the league and is 7-1 at home.
The Raiders' 4-2-0 league record is somewhat deceptive, as Colgate has not yet challenged the heavy-hitters. The Raiders' four league wins were against teams in the bottom half of the league, while they dropped games to No. 1 Harvard and No. 5 Brown.
After a winnable game at Colgate, Princeton will check out whether "Ithaca is gorges" during a game at Cornell on Saturday.
The sad-sack Big Red should prove an easy mark for the Tigers. Cornell (2-7-1, 0-6-0) is in dead last in the ECAC. Cornell was outscored 30-7 in its six losses, accentuated by weak defense and two young goaltenders.
Women's hoops
With the non-conference portion of the women's basketball season out of the way, the most important question has yet to be answered: can the Tigers hold their own against intense Ivy League competition?
Princeton (3-9) will find out tonight at 7 p.m., when they make the short trip to the Palestra to take on Penn (5-5). This contest is especially significant, as it marks each team's Ivy opener and the Tigers' first and only game of reading period.
Princeton will need 40 minutes of solid basketball for a chance at taking down the Quakers, a team in the top half of the league this season.
The Quakers are led by senior Jewel Clark, who was second in the league in scoring last year. This season, Clark has only improved, nearly averaging a double-double — she boasts 19.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
Though Clark is undoubtedly the hub of the Penn offense, support from Jennifer Fleischer, Joey Rhoads and Mikaelyn Austin rounds off the Penn attack.
By contrast, Princeton spreads the point wealth around. Sophomore post Becky Brown leads the Tigers with 12.5 points per game, and three of her teammates also average double digits in scoring — Katy Digovich, Casey Lockwood and Katy O'Brien.
Men's hoops
After a breezy 67-52 win over Monmouth on Wednesday night, men's basketball (5-6) heads to Minnesota (7-5) to play its final game before final exams.
Freshman Kris Humphries is the show-stopper for the Golden Gophers. He averages 23.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game, far and away the best on his team.
The job of defending the six-foot, nine-inch rookie will probably fall to Princeton's junior forward Andre Logan, who has come back from injury more successfully than most expected. Logan is third on the team with 12 steals but should have his hands full with Humphries.
The Princeton offense has hit mid-season form, and the balance of the numbers bear that out.
Junior center Judson Wallace leads the team with 15.2 points per game but has been in a serious scoring slump lately, scoring below that average in five of his last six games. Logan, senior guard Ed Persia, and shophomore guard Scott Greenman have picked up the slack in the scoring department.
Despite Princeton's fame for winning most when points are hard to come by for both squads, the Tigers have won every game in which they have scored over 55 points and lost every game they have not.
Humphries and the Gophers may have to focus more on stopping Princeton from scoring than putting the ball in the hoop themselves.
Fencing
Fencing is gearing up for its first dual matches of the season this weekend. Princeton will take on Stevens Institute of Technology and the City College of New York at home.
"It is fortunate that this is probably the easiest meet of the season," senior sabre Jim Leighton said. "It gives us a good opportunity to see how the new starters will perform in dual meet conditions without the stress of subjecting them to a major Ivy League match right off the bat."
CCNY finished 4-6 last year, third place in the Eastern Women's Fencing Conference, and sent three fencers to NCAA Regionals.
The Beavers women have strong epee and foil lineups. Gabriella Czukker and Emiliana Chavez carried the team last year as two of the NCAA Regional qualifiers.
Stevens Tech was also present at Regionals last year. The Ducks have already fenced one meet in the 2003-2004 season, losing to No. 6 NYU, 19-8, though they competed surprisingly well.
One of Stevens' most promising fencers, junior captain Will Putney, will be Princeton's toughest sabre opponent this weekend, though the Stevens' strength is mostly in epee.
The women's Duck squad returns epee Andrea Chimel, who placed twelfth in the 2003 Regional tournament and fourteenth in the Temple Open earlier this season.
Nonetheless, the Tigers can bag two easy wins this weekend.
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