This past weekend, Princeton athletics faced both landmark successes and hard-fought defeats across the court, ice, and mats. As spring season sports commence and winter athletics playoffs approach, all Tigers are on the prowl for success. The Daily Princetonian recapped the performance of women’s tennis, men’s ice hockey, women’s track and field, men’s wrestling, and women’s golf.
Women’s tennis takes 3rd place at ECAC championships
At Harvard’s Murr Tennis Center, Princeton women’s tennis (6–2) traveled to compete in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship from Friday through Sunday. They entered as the number one seed and favorite led by senior Neha Velaga, who holds the No.1 singles slot.
They opened the tournament with a relatively easy win over No. 8 seeded Cornell (1–4) on Friday, in which they were ahead or leading in five out of six singles matches before first-year Alice Ferlito won the clinching fourth match.
However, they would face trouble against No. 5 seeded Yale (6–1) in the semi-final duel. It started with a surprising Bulldogs defeat of No.1 doubles pair senior Maia Sung and first-year Bella Chhiv, who were No. 51 in the ITA rankings. Yale added wins at No. 2 doubles to take the doubles point, and subsequently took the No.2, No.3, and No.4 singles to clinch the match 4–2, bouncing the Tigers from the tournament.
Princeton would recover and take 3rd place in the tournament, taking down No. 2 seeded Brown (4–3) with a 4–2 record. Despite dropping the doubles point, they bounced back and dominated five of six singles matches to make the podium. While it may not be what the top-seeded Tigers were looking for, the season is still young with 13 dual matches before NCAA Regionals.
Men's hockey splits weekend slate with fifth overtime win of the season
Men’s ice hockey (8–13–2 overall, 6–9–1–2 Eastern College Athletic Conference) had a weekend lineup of conference play this weekend, first falling to the Clarkson Golden Knights (14–13–1, 8–7–1) on Friday before devastating the St. Lawrence Saints (9–16–3, 7–8–1) Saturday night in overtime.
Trading goals, the Tigers and Golden Knights spent the first two periods in a close contest. First-year forward Kai Daniells and sophomore forward Brendan Gorman found the back of the net for Princeton, allowing the squad to enter the final 20 minutes of play tied at 2–2. Yet, with 10:56 left to play, the Golden Knights broke through the Tiger defense and set themselves up for a hard-fought 4–2 victory.
On Saturday, Princeton faced another tough ECAC game against St. Lawrence. Throughout the 60 minutes of regulation, the Tigers were consistently playing from behind. Goals from senior forward Adam Robbins, senior forward Nick Seitz, junior defenseman Noah de la Durantaye, and junior forward Jack Cronin led to a 4–4 score heading into overtime. This would mark the Tigers’ seventh overtime appearance this year.
We're You Expecting Anyone Else?
— Princeton Men's Ice Hockey (@princetonhockey) February 11, 2024
Adam Robbins with his THIRD OTGWG of the season!@ecachockey | @NCAAIceHockey | @Buccigross | @TeamECH | @MikeGrinnell_ pic.twitter.com/vbmHnGe7Gk
With 0:49 left to play, Robbins threaded a shot through the legs of the Saints netminder to score his third overtime game-winner this season and win the night 5–4. This fifth overtime win of the season for Princeton will hopefully feed into more success when they face off against the RPI Engineers this Friday back at Hobey Baker Rink.
Women's track and field sets records and finds success at weekend meets
Women’s track and field was busy this past weekend, competing at both the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston and the Giegengack Invitational at Yale.
One of the highlights of the weekend was senior distance runner Maggie Liebich, who set a new Princeton University record in the mile. Her new mark of 4:36.53 surpassed the previous record of 4:39.32 by almost three seconds, a massive margin in track and field. It was Liebich’s first mile of the season, so there are undoubtedly more impressive performances to come.
The hot start from Princeton continued with a win at the Giegengack Invitational in New Haven, clinched by first-year sprinter Rachel Wilson’s win in the 500-meter race. Other notable winners for the Tigers include sophomore Julia Jongejeugd in the 60-meter hurdles, sophomore Georgina Scoot in the long jump, and sophomore Tessa Mudd in the pole vault.
Both meets were certainly a success for Princeton, and they now look ahead to hosting the Princeton Invitational next Sunday, February 18th.
Men’s wrestling fell in home duals to Cornell and Binghamton
This past weekend in Jadwin Gymnasium the men’s wrestling team dropped their weekend slate after a tough set of dual matches.
Starting with Friday night’s dual, the Tigers (5–5 overall, 3–1 Ivy League) suffered a 35–3 loss to the No. 10 Cornell Big Red (10–3, 5–0). One Princetonian, junior Mikey Squires, walked away with a 5–1 triumph over Cornell’s Evan Canoyer in the 174 lb weight class. This decision was solidified with a huge takedown by Squires in the last few seconds of competition.
Mikey Squires secures the W with a last second takedown against Cornell opponent. Pure grit! #letsgetwild pic.twitter.com/uvhXGKehUy
— Princeton Wrestling (@tigerwrestling) February 13, 2024
Saturday’s home dual match ended with similar results for Princeton after they were defeated 26–12 by the Binghamton Bearcats. The Tigers put up a valiant effort starting with first-year Eligh Rivera’s win in the 149 lb weight class, followed by sophomore Rocco Camillaci’s decision over a Bearcat to narrow the standings to 20–9 in Binghamton’s favor. While it was not enough to take the lead, senior Nate Dugan’s takedown wrapped up the dual with a winning decision. The squad next faces off against the Penn Quakers (4–5, 3–2) at home in Jadwin on Feb. 17, where they hope to have a triumphant conference performance.
Women’s golf has a tough opening tournament in Florida
For their first tournament of the season, women’s golf traveled down to Melbourne, Fla. this past weekend to play in the Columbia Classic. Princeton faced long odds with two of their six golfers out with injury, forcing each Tiger to play 54 holes across the three days.
The stamina challenge set in for the Tigers, who ended up finishing 15th out of 16 teams competing with a score of 937 (+73) across the tournament. Senior Yu Kyung Kim led the Tigers with a three-day score of +10, good for a tie for 25th in the tournament. Junior Victoria Liu also came in tied for 40th with a final score of +14.
They’ll look to bounce back after a long break at the Tulane Classic on March 10-12th, and then in the Ivy League Tournament in April.
Tate Hutchins is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Ava Seigel is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please direct any corrections requests to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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