Princeton’s women’s sports teams are entering the winter season with momentum and championship ambition across every program. From the hardwood to the ice, the Tigers are looking to build on last year’s success.
Basketball
The Tigers ended the 2024–25 season ranked No. 2 in the Ivy League, cinching a spot in the Ivy Madness tournament. Even after Kaitlyn Chen ’24 took her talents to the UConn Huskies for her final year of eligibility, the Tigers proved they were not a team to overlook. They competed in the First Four of the women’s NCAA March Madness tournament, where they narrowly lost to Iowa State.
Ranked No. 1 in the Ivy League preseason poll, fans can expect another strong season for the Tigers, coached by Carla Berube. Keep an eye out for senior and junior guards Madison St. Rose and Ashley Chea, who solidified their status as key players on the court last season. St. Rose, who averaged 17 points per game last year before a season-ending injury in November, was named First Team All-Ivy and secured a spot on multiple Mid-Major Player of the Year watchlists in the preseason. Meanwhile, Chea, who was second in the Ivy League in three-point field goal percentage (36.2), was named pre-season Second Team All-Ivy.
This season, the Tigers are slated to play in the three-day Battle 4 Atlantis against Penn State, San Diego State, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. This series of games at the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas is designed to highlight women’s college basketball, which has seen exponential growth in recent years. In their first two games, the Tigers beat Georgia Tech 67–61 and Villanova 73–68. The Tigers will face No. 9 Maryland on Sunday.
Track
Women’s Track and Field welcomed 14 new additions to their roster this season. They are coming off of an incredibly dominant performance last year, which saw them win both the Ivy League Indoor and Outdoor Heptagonal Championships.
Scoring in every single event, a first in recent program history, they clinched their first indoor championship since 2011 in March. The Tigers defeated Harvard at the outdoor championships in May, outscoring them by nearly 30 points in the first-ever instance of a women’s team scoring over 200 points at Heps. This earned Head Coach Michelle Eisenreich and her team the award for All-Ivy Coaching Staff of the Year.
In the 2025–26 season, notable newcomers like Caroline Barton, the 2025 New Balance Indoor National Champion in the 5000m, and Nelly Floutakou, the 2025 Greek Indoor National Champion in the 800m, will join a program already filled with standout talent.
Fans of field events should keep an eye out for senior long jumper Georgina Scoot, who was named to Great Britain’s U23 national team over the summer. In a standout junior season, Scoot earned Most Outstanding Field Performer in the Ivy League. She competed in the NCAA National Championships, where she earned an All-American Honorable Mention. Also expect to see more record-breaking performances on the track from senior hurdler and sprinter Adelaide Asante and junior mid-distance runner Hannah Riggins, both of whom smashed program and personal bests at the 2025 Indoor Heps.
Hockey
Last year, the Tigers made it to the quarterfinals of ECAC playoffs, and finished the year ranked 13/14 overall. After a shaky start, with two losses in one weekend against UConn, the Orange and Black bounced back with a 4–2 victory against Brown. They returned to Baker Rink to defend their home turf, most recently defeating Clarkson 1–0 in overtime.
Following a three-game win streak at home, the Tigers fell to St. Lawrence 1–0 on Saturday. But, with a strong start to the season, fans can have confidence that they’ll come roaring back against Providence in their double-game weekend at home on Nov. 14. The team has added a strong freshman class to their roster, with first-year forwards Sawyer Fleming and Riley Sorokan both nabbing their first career goals in recent games.
The first-years join a powerful offensive lineup anchored by senior forward Issy Wunder and sophomore forward Mackensie Alexander, who was named ECAC Rookie of the Month four times last season. Wunder and Alexander played off of each other to lead the Tigers to success against RPI and Union a week ago. On defense, fans should keep an eye out for junior goalie Uma Corniea, who recorded the third shutout game of her career against Clarkson, and sophomore and junior defenders Rosie Klein and Maggie Johnson, who led the team last year with 60 and 51 blocked shots respectively.
Squash
After a dominant 12–3 record in the 2024-25 season, the Tigers made it to the semifinals of the CSA Howe Cup ranked No. 3 nationally, only to have their hopes crushed by Harvard in a devastating 1–8 loss. However, they are expected to have another strong performance this year, with junior Zeina Zein having clinched the CSA Ramsay Cup Individual National Championship. She was named an NCAA All-American along with fellow junior Emma Trauber.
Squash fans should look out for first-year twins Sam and Alex Jaffe, the latter of whom was ranked No. 1 nationally in the U19 as of March 2025. The team has some exciting matchups scheduled in the next few weeks. They face Stanford on Nov. 23, which is likely to be another close game after the Tigers defeated the Cardinals 5–4 last fall in a hard-fought battle.
Fencing
In their season opener, women’s fencing won three out of five bouts at Ohio’s Sacred Heart Invitational, defeating Ohio State, Duke, and the Air Force Academy but falling to Northwestern and Notre Dame. Last year, the women’s team competed in the NCAA finals alongside the men’s team, finishing fourth overall. All five of their NCAA competitors were awarded All-American honors.
A number of fencers also competed at the World Championships during the summer in Tbilisi, Georgia. Junior and sophomore épées Hadley Husisian and Leehi Machulsky represented Team U.S.A., and first-year épée Ruien (Angel) Xiao represented Team Canada. Prior to Worlds, Husisian, Machulsky, and Xiao also competed in the Pan-American Games in Brazil, where Husisian medaled both individually and alongside Machulsky as part of Team U.S.A., and Xiao medaled individually.
Coming up, the Tigers will compete at the Sacred Heart Duels hosted by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., on Dec. 6. They will also host the Ivy League Tournament on Feb. 7 and 8.
Swimming and Diving
Beginning their season ranked No. 22, the Tigers handily beat both Brown and Dartmouth in their first meet of the season. But a promising start was hardly unexpected for Princeton after the team finished first last year at the Ivy League Championships at DeNunzio Pool, marking their third consecutive Ivy League Championship win. They then moved on to the NCAA championships for both swimming and diving, where juniors Eleanor Sun and Dakota Tucker were named All-Americans. This was the program’s first time earning All-American honors since 2014, and the first time since 2010 that multiple athletes have earned honors.
Ahead of their home opener against Rutgers on Nov. 15, fans can look forward to strong performances from Sun and Tucker. Fans should also look out for sophomore Jenna Walters, who spent her summer competing in Canada’s national championships after becoming the Ivy League Champion in the 800m freestyle during her freshman year. New faces in the pool include first-years Chloe Kim, who set pool records against Dartmouth and Brown last weekend with wins in the 1000m freestyle and 400m individual medley, and Delaney Herr and Savannah Skow, who set pool records in their individual 100m backstroke and 500m freestyle races, respectively.
On the diving board, expect to see senior Charlotte Martinkus prepare to defend the Ivy League Championship titles she earned in the 1-meter and 3-meter last season with a strong start this year, as shown by her win and pool record in the 3-meter against Dartmouth and Brown. Be sure to look out for sophomores Charlotte Norman and Maggie Squire, who secured first and third place finishes in the 1-meter dive last weekend. Both qualified for the NCAA Zone A Championships in the previous season.
Leela Hensler is a staff News writer and contributing Sports writer for the ‘Prince’ from Berkeley, Calif.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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