With just less than two months until classes start again, we bring you the first half of summer’s Princeton athletics highlights.
This week, junior Dan Barnes became the latest in a long line of Princeton pitchers to garner interest from major-league teams in the amateur draft. The Toronto Blue Jays selected the righty with their 35th-round selection on Wednesday afternoon. Barnes could have returned to Princeton to play his senior season, but instead signed a professional contract and will begin his minor-league career this summer, he said in an e-mail.
For the 24th straight year, Princeton athletics can boast a national title. The men's lightweight crew made sure of that on Saturday in Cherry Hill, N.J., with its second straight victory in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships.
The sixth-seeded men’s lacrosse team was upset by unseeded Notre Dame (8-6 overall) in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday afternoon at Class of 1952 Stadium. The Tigers (11-5 overall, 4-2 Ivy League) were held to one second-half goal and lost the game 8-5.
Nearly four years ago, Alicia Aemisegger arrived on campus as one of the most highly touted recruits in the history of the Princeton swimming and diving program. To say the least, she lived up to the billing.
This Sunday, two unfamiliar foes will square off under familiar circumstances. Despite their reputations as mainstays of the NCAA lacrosse tournament, the men’s lacrosse team will take on No. 20 Notre Dame for just the second time in program history.
In its final game of the year, the men’s water polo team faced Loyola Marymount University in the consolation game of the NCAA tournament. One day earlier, LMU had fallen to University of California, Los Angeles — the No. 2 team in the country — by one goal in overtime, and the Lions expected their game with Princeton to be a formality.
For the final issue of the year, The Daily Princetonian counts down the top 10 Princeton sports games of the year. Selections and rankings were made based on the outcome, caliber, excitement and significance of the competition. There were far more excellent options to choose from than could be included, but these games helped make 2009–10 a memorable year for Princeton athletics.
After a challenging weekend to finish the regular season for the women’s open, men’s heavyweight and men’s lightweight crews, all four crews are now looking forward to the start of the postseason on Saturday. The men’s crews will compete in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Sprints in Worcester, Mass., while the women’s crews will race in the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges Sprints in Cherry Hill, N.J.
The women’s tennis team heads to Charlottesville, Va., this weekend to play its first matches since April 18. No. 33 Princeton competes in the first round of the NCAA National Championship tournament against No. 27 University of Virginia today.
Vikram Rao and Gabriel Debenedetti discuss this week in sports.
In the final “On Tap” of the year, we interview, senior co-captain and second baseman Noel Gonzales of the baseball team.
The baseball team had a number of holes to fill this season due to graduation and the professional draft. With many inexperienced players in key roles, the Tigers were seen as an enigma in a wide-open league. Their season played out much as expected: They showed flashes of talent but had difficulty putting all the pieces together.
The softball team endured a tough season this year, as various struggles prevented the squad from performing up to its potential. The Tigers (12-32 overall, 6-14 Ivy League) struggled early on and improved their play over the course of the season but were unable to establish a rhythm, finishing third in the Ivy League South Division and tied for sixth overall.
It was a season of ups and downs for the men’s tennis team. Despite finishing on a losing note, the team had a successful season overall. The Tigers (8-13 overall, 4-3 Ivy League) achieved their first winning Ivy League record since 2007 and remained in contention for the Ivy League crown until the final conference match against Columbia.
The women’s golf team played a total of nine tournaments this season. Princeton opened the year in September with a third-place finish in a field of 12 at the Princeton Invitational and continued to a fourth-place finish in the Ivy League Championships.
After a strong performance on Saturday at the outdoor Heptagonal Championships that closed with both the men’s and women’s track and field teams in sight of the Ivy League title, neither Princeton team emerged from the weekend on top, as the men’s program finished 36 points behind Cornell for second place and the women finished in fourth place behind Cornell, Brown and Columbia.
“Someday love will find you. Break those chains that bind you. One night will remind you, how we touched and went our separate ways.”When you combine Bob the bus driver, Journey music videos, assistant coach Derek Ellingson on the seat drums, assistant coach Serela Kay on the air piano and head coach Luis Nicolao on lead vocals, there is no way the women’s water polo team cannot get fired up for its away matches. “Nothing gets us pumped more than some 1980s air piano,” senior driver and tri-captain Helen Meigs said.
Before the season started, head coach Chris Sailer called the women’s lacrosse team a “youth movement.” As nine seniors from the team graduated last spring — including talented midfield trio Holly McGarvie, Kristin Schwab and Katie Cox — it was anybody’s guess how the Tigers would look on the field this time around.
When Jeff McCown and Carl Hamming joined the men’s volleyball team as freshmen in 2006, their rookie season ended at an even 6-6 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tait Division. Their 2008 EIVA finish was identical and was followed by a disappointing 4-9 finish last year. This year, however, the co-captains and three-year starters were determined to end on a high note.
