The pundits have spoken, and the Ivy League announced last Thursday that the women's basketball team is expected to end the season in third place. Pushing last year's fifth-place Princeton finish to the background, the prognosticators chose instead to highlight the experience of the team. After all, the Tigers are returning 11 players, including all five starters.
Despite the vote of confidence from the poll participants, Princeton will not have an easy time living up to this projected showing — the Tigers are not the only Ivy League team to boast returning experience. Last season's league champion, Dartmouth, which received all 16 first-place votes in the preseason poll, also fields five returning starters.
Among those returning for the Big Green are first-team All-Ivy center Elise Morrison, considered a strong contender for Ivy League Player of the Year; last year's All-Rookie center Sydney Scott; and the fearsome combination of guards Angie Soriaga (All-Ivy second-team) and Jeannie Cullen (honorable mention) in the back.
Dartmouth managed the second-best overall record in the league last season, going 17-11 (12-2 Ivy League). The Big Green suffered a 95-61 loss to then-defending national champion Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA tournament. This time, Dartmouth is determined to go one step further, and the word is out: the Big Green is the team to beat.
Despite its impressive record, Dartmouth nearly didn't make it to the Ivy championship tournament. Co-champion Harvard managed to equal the Big Green's conference record and force a win-or-go-home playoff contest. Dartmouth, however, pulled out a 75-61 victory to earn the berth at the NCAA Tournament. This year, the Crimson will look to avenge that loss.
That goal will not come easily for Harvard. The Crimson lost the league's leading scorer and Player of the Year, Reka Cserny, and will also need to replace starters Katie Murphy and Kate Mannering. Harvard will retain only one of last season's starting forwards, senior Shana Franklin.
Though its defense will be anchored on the experience of returning senior guards Laura Robinson and All-Ivy second-team Jessica Holsey, the Crimson is nonetheless fielding a relatively young team. The squad has the potential to equal last season's league-best mark of 20-8 (12-2), but it will need to find its footing quickly if it wants to take another shot at an NCAA berth.
This is especially true against the likes of Brown, the only team that managed to beat both Dartmouth and Harvard last year. The Bears finished third last season (18-9, 10-4) and were narrowly edged out by Princeton for the same spot in this season's preseason poll — probably due to the loss of two of their starting forwards.
In the backcourt, Brown will retain first-team all-Ivy selection guard Sarah Hayes as well as guard Colleen Kelly, who will provide the bulk of the team's experience. The Bears will count on returning starter junior guard Lena McAfee to help their offense, however, as they test out their rookie forwards and promote junior Ashley King-Bischof to a starting position.
With a strong and well-tested defense and an offense led by McAfee, Brown has the foundation of a solid team for this season, well capable of reproducing last season's exploits.
Fifth in the preseason poll was Penn, which lost five seniors, including three of last year's starters, to graduation. The departed players made up virtually the entire offensive lineup. Among those who left were first-team pick Karen Habrukowich and Cat Makarewich; they will be replaced by the Quakers' incoming freshmen. The Penn team will also count on the talented, if relatively untested, squad of juniors led by guard Joey Rhoades.
The Quakers still retain some of their more experienced players, especially returning center Jennifer Fleischer, who was named to the Academic All-Ivy team. Though it's uncertain how well they will do this season and whether they can keep on the right side of .500, as they did last year (15-12, 8-6), the current Penn lineup is definitely worth watching, if only to see how well it will fare next season.
Hot on the Quakers' heels are the Elis, who polled sixth. Fielding the youngest team in the league, Yale is without a single senior. The changes on the team run even deeper: the Elis also have a new coach, Chris Gobrecht, who takes over a team that ended last season seventh with a 6-21 (3-11 Ivy) record.
Returning highlights include second-team all-Ivy center Erica Davis, who led the Elis in scoring, and the team's second-highest scorer, junior captain and forward Chinenye Okafor. Though Yale's performance was underwhelming last season, outgoing coach Amy Backus was careful to fill the gaps in the team's lineup, especially those in the backcourt. Untested as they are, the Elis will draw on the enthusiasm of their rookies to build a team that can only improve over the next four seasons.
Also inaugurating a new head coach is Columbia, which ended last season tied with Princeton for fifth place in the league. The Lions did, however, have a slightly worse overall record (12-15, 5-9). Columbia's appearance in seventh place in the preseason poll is due to the loss of all of its 2004-05 starters with the exception of junior forward Meagan Griffith, though senior center Sarah Beato will return to the team after injury prevented her from playing last season.
The Lions will replace the backcourt lineup with a slate of sophomores, none of whom saw much court time last season. Columbia is also likely to make good use of transfer student forward Becky Hogue. Hogue was the 2002 Hawaii Gatorade Player of the Year and was part of the Loyola Marymount team that made it to the NCAA Tournament that season.
Rounding out the bottom of the poll is Cornell, which ended last year in the Ivy cellar (3-24, 1-13). The team had been plagued by injury, forcing them to make use of younger players. Now that the Big Red has a season's worth of experience under its belt, however, Cornell is in a position to prove the pundits wrong.
Returning for the Big Red are All-Rookie guard Lindsay Krasna, who led the team in scoring, and the second-best scorer, guard Claire Perry. Joining them in the backcourt is Sarah Brown, who will seek to make up for her injury-hampered season. Up front, Cornell will call on senior forward Brittani Rettig, also sidelined by injury last season, and sophomore forward Amy Lyon, who led the team in rebounds.
The Big Red hopes that the slew of injuries does not hit it again as it tries to recover from a 1-13 league season. If luck is on its side, the return of such experienced players is likely to herald a fresh start for Cornell and give it a good chance in a tough league.
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