Women seek first national title of decade

There's only one question to ask this weekend: Can the Tigers stay perfect?

It's rare for a Division I school to have two teams remain undefeated during the same season and even rarer for both of those teams to compete in the same sport. But Princeton's men's and women's squash teams will look to achieve that goal this weekend as they push towards their dream of a shared national championship.

The top-ranked Princeton women (9-0, 7-0) look to cap their thus-far perfect season with a national championship when they compete in the Howe Cup in New Haven, Conn., this weekend.

On the men's side, meanwhile, one obstacle stands between the Tigers (8-0 overall, 6-0 Ivy League) and regular-season perfection. No. 2 Princeton takes on No. 1 Trinity College (17-0) at Jadwin Gym tomorrow, looking to avenge a 5-4 loss in last year's national-championship game. The Bantams have taken the NCAA title in each of the past eight seasons.

The women's team, which beat Harvard last weekend to win the Ivy League title outright, is seeded first and will be the team to beat in Howe Cup tournament. In the first round, the Tigers will face eighth-seeded Brown (5-7, 1-5), whom they swept 9-0 earlier this season.

Though Brown got off to a rocky start, losing its first four match ups, the Bears increased their intensity as the season wore on and were able to finish the regular season with a 7-2 win over Cornell last weekend. While Brown's Ivy League record may not look formidable to a team that has gone undefeated for the season, Brown's power and resilience are notable.

Should the Tigers live up to their ranking and defeat Brown on Friday, they will face the winner of the fourth and fifth seed match up of Trinity and Yale on Saturday. Rounding out the rest of the top eight seeds in the tournament are second-ranked Penn, third-ranked Harvard, sixth-ranked Dartmouth and seventh-ranked Williams.

Even aside from their No. 1 seeding, the Tigers will enter the tournament with tremendous confidence. They have faced each of their possible opponents already this season and not one of them was able to take more than three out of nine individual matches from Princeton. The Tigers seem to be on the precipice of greatness and very well could be holding the national championship trophy Sunday night.

The same goes for the men's squad, which has stormed through its schedule in dominating fashion this season, winning all eight of its contests and refusing to drop more than three individual matches against any single opponent. Last weekend's 6-3 victory over Harvard was perhaps the Tigers' most impressive performance.

While Princeton's accomplishments to date have been impressive, it still faces a formidable foe in Trinity, which has won all 17 of its matches this season and is currently ranked as the nation's number one team. Princeton is ranked second.

Saturday's battle will be a precursor to the men's national championship, which will take place Feb. 23. If the Tigers are able to continue their unbeaten streak and take down the undefeated Bantams, they will be able to take over the number one spot just in time for national tournament seedings.