Challenging Ivy schedule on the horizon

The opening weeks of the men's lacrosse season have shed light on the collegiate scene on many levels. The No. 7 Tigers (4-2 overall) have shown that last year's season was an anomaly and are back among the top-10 teams in the college game. Princeton, however, has also demonstrated a painful inability to consistently score goals. Nationally, teams like Syracuse and Johns Hopkins have fallen from the elite, while surprises such as Cornell and Hofstra have embedded themselves near the top of the rankings.

With the national outlook finally sorting itself out, the Tigers are on the doorstep of their Ivy League schedule, and boy, is it a schedule.

Though the league is always talented, this year's Ancient Eight seems to be more stacked than in previous seasons. Led by Cornell — which sits at No. 2 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll — the Ivy League has four teams represented in the top-20, with Dartmouth sitting just outside.

Despite these rankings, ones compiled by human voting, the league is still underrated — at least according to the computers at www.laxpower.com.

The website, which uses a computer algorithm to rate teams, ranks Ivy League competitors much higher than do the humans. In fact, the nation's four most underrated teams, as measured by the difference between the Inside Lacrosse poll and the computer rankings, are Penn, Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth — all Ivy League teams.

What this amounts to a stiff Ivy League race, which will ultimately determine the league's one automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. After missing the tournament for the first time in 15 years last season, the Tigers' goal is to secure their ticket with an automatic bid, but to do that they'll have to overcome Cornell and the rest of the league.

At this juncture in the season, Cornell (6-0, 1-0 Ivy League) still stands undefeated; the only Ivy League team that can boast a flawless record after Penn (6-1, 1-1) was toppled by Harvard (3-2, 1-0). The No. 7 Tigers (4-2) head into league play having made some strong statements on the national level with a solid win over defending champion No. 9 Johns Hopkins and a 10-2 crushing of previously ranked Binghamton last Saturday.

Princeton has proved they can stop the nation's best scorers defensively, especially with the emergence of sophomore star Alex Hewit in goal, but the Tigers' offense has struggled, as illustrated by their 9-5 loss to No. 4 Hofstra. As Princeton heads into the Ivy League season, the team will need to put all the pieces together — the Ivy League is not only the most underrated league in the nation, it may be the most competitive as well.

The Tigers' greatest roadblock on the path to a league title is Cornell. With a 16-6 dismantling of Yale last Saturday, the Big Red signaled it has the offensive power to contend with any team in the nation. Senior midfielder Joe Boulukos, a preseason first-team All-America selection, tallied three goals and two assists in the win over the Bulldogs to bring his career point total to 103, but he's currently just fourth on the team's season scoring list.

Junior attack David Mitchell, who was little-used last season, has jumped out to lead the Big Red with an astounding 23 goals after scoring just three in his prior two seasons at Cornell. His season goal total matches the combined efforts of Princeton's top three scorers.

Junior attack Eric Pittard was a force against the Bulldogs as well, notching three goals and three assists. Furthermore, the Big Red's unblemished record is not due to playing weak teams, as Cornell took down then No. 2 Duke, 11-7, last week. No. 12 Notre Dame has also fallen victim to the Big Red's onslaught. But Cornell's strengths do not end offensively, as they have an intimidating presence in goal in junior Matt McMonagle. He currently boasts a save percentage of .675 and a goals against average of .433, both among the best in the country.

Harvard's 13-8 victory over Penn was assured by a 6-0 Crimson run during a 24-minute period when the Quakers could not find the back of the net. It is expected that Penn will bounce back from the loss, but they had better do it quickly as the Quakers welcome Cornell to Franklin Field this Saturday. Senior midfield D.J. Andrzejewski has stepped up by tallying 16 goals for a team that is averaging almost 12 goals a game.

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Harvard has remained largely untested at the national level except for a loss to No. 3 Maryland, so it remains to be seen whether it can continue the level of play it showed against Penn. In that game, the Crimson were aided by Ivy League rookie of the week midfield Max Motschwiller who netted his first two career goals. A pair of juniors lead Harvard's offense, as Evan Calvert and Greg Cohen have netted ten goals apiece so far this season.

As if Cornell, Penn and Harvard weren't enough, Dartmouth (4-3) made a statement of its own in its upset over No. 11 Albany, 12-9, earlier this week, proving that the Big Green will also be a force in the league. Dartmouth is led by senior Jamie Coffin, who has led the team in scoring the past two seasons and was a preseason honorable mention All-America selection.

Brown (2-4) and Yale (3-4, 0-2) are the only teams struggling with a losing record as the Ivy League season starts. Nevertheless, Yale sits just one spot behind Princeton in the Laxpower computer rankings.

With each game to be decided by the players on the field, one can never count out any team, as Princeton learned so well last season. It's on the field that the Ivy League will attempt to prove to the rest of the nation that it belongs among the best in college lacrosse.