Harvard loss works in Princeton's favor

Finally, Penn has shown its true colors. Despite purporting to be a rival of the Tigers, the Quakers (5-4 overall, 3-3 Ivy League) seem to be some of the greatest supporters of the Princeton football team (8-1, 5-1).

There can be no other explanation for Penn's recent behavior. A week after gifting Princeton with a win on Nov. 4, a game that ended on senior Jeff Terrell's dramatic touchdown run, the Quakers defeated Harvard (7-2, 4-2), 22-13, to decisively eliminate one of Princeton's rivals in its bid for an outright Ivy League title.

The Crimson attack opened up strong but clearly peaked too early. Harvard tight end Jason Miller scored the first touchdown of the game early in the first quarter on a short five-yard pass from Liam O'Hagan. It was the high-water mark of the day for O'Hagan, who struggled to find a rhythm with his receivers and ended the game with two interceptions.

Penn immediately answered, scoring a touchdown on its next drive when halfback Joe Sandberg broke a 15-yard run straight to the end zone.

The Quakers' strategy emphasized running early in the game. Sandberg also had an 11-yard rushing touchdown later in the same quarter.

Overall, the team had 34 rushing attempts for 98 yards and pounded the Crimson defense. Harvard's rushing game could hardly be called unsuccessful, either — star tailback Clifton Dawson piled up 119 easy yards on only 16 attempts.

Because the Crimson fell into an early hole, however, they were forced to neglect their best offensive player. Dawson touched the ball only eight times in the second half on seven rushes and one catch out of the backfield. In leaving its most outstanding player out of the second-half game plan, Harvard's coaches may have outthought themselves.

After scoring an unimpressive 10 points in the first half, the team was shut out in the second.

Penn didn't exactly bring a dynamo offense onto the field after halftime, either. After scoring 20 points in the first half, the Quakers' offense essentially took the rest of the day off. The team's only points came on a safety with less than seven minutes left in the game, a meaningless victory for the defense that nonetheless may have rubbed a little salt in the Crimson's wounds.

Penn's win has been quite a windfall for Princeton's chances at an exclusive Ivy title. If Harvard had emerged victorious, the team would have taken a one-loss record into the game against Yale (7-2, 5-1), also a one-loss team in the Ivy League. The winner of the game would have earned a share of a title that the Tigers want all for themselves.

Thanks to the Quakers, however, the Orange and Black just may get it all this year: a bonfire and a crown.

Late effort not enough for Big Red

In a battle of large colors, the Big Green men's hockey team (4-2 overall, 3-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) took out the Big Red (5-1, 3-1) with a key 3-2 win in Ithaca, N.Y., this past weekend.

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Defenseman Ben Lovejoy and forward T.J. Galiardi each scored first-period power-play goals, giving the Big Green an early 2-0 advantage. Meanwhile, Dartmouth's defense staved off Cornell's attack — despite giving up a large margin in shots taken. In the first two periods, when Cornell went scoreless, the Big Red nonetheless outshot Dartmouth by a 26-16 margin.

Late in the third period, Big Green senior forward Tanner Glass netted an insurance goal. After Glass made it 3-0, it appeared clear that the game was over.

No one, however, explained the inevitability of the loss to the Big Red players. In a fevered last-minute comeback, Cornell scored two goals within 20 seconds. The combination might have been described as "something old, something new." The first goal came off of the sticks of freshman forward Tony Romano, and the second came from senior forward Mark McCutcheon.

Unfortunately for the Big Red, the team failed to pull off a 60-second hat trick and had to settle for making the final score respectable — while also nearly giving Dartmouth fans heart attacks.

Cornell's squad will be sure to be motivated at this Friday's matchup with Princeton (0-3, 0-0). Now that the Big Red has already suffered its first defeat, the Tigers will look to give Cornell — normally a league powerhouse — its first losing streak of the season.