The man who went from his first varsity snap at quarterback last September to leading his team to its best season in years ? and nearly a championship ? has a secret, or at least an open one.
Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of postcards that Daily Princetonian sports staff writers wrote about their experiences in the wide world of sports this summer.
When football teams are forced to replace their graduating seniors with a crop of first-time starters, the solution too often becomes a drastic case of what physics majors call heat transfer.
With a new year upon us, I'd like to lay down a few ground rules. Take these as Ten Commandments for the Princeton Sports Fan ? or just 900 words worth of my complaints.
In addition to games against Lehigh, Lafayette and Colgate, Princeton will face all seven other Ivy schools on the gridiron in a battle for the conference title that so narrowly eluded them in 2005.
Senior distance runner Eric Beights is an elder statesman of the men's cross country season this fall.
Just a year after its magical and unprecedented run to the semifinals of the NCAA soccer championship, the Princeton women's soccer team stayed at home for the tournament last year, unable to even earn a bid to the opening round.With an Ivy League schedule in which every game counts, and playing in one of the toughest regions in the nation, the Tigers have to be ready to compete from the start to earn a trip to the postseason.
Athletics are marked by distinctive sounds such as gunshots, buzzers and sirens. Yet field hockey is just marked by the pure, crisp crack of a ball hitting the goal's baseboard, a sound which defines the sport.
This off season, sprint football has been hustling to adapt to new head coach Thomas Cocuzza, a new offensive scheme and a more intense attitude.The team's new offense, called Tiger Ball, is a blend of several different offenses but most strongly resembles Texas Tech's five wideout system."I was talking to the freshman recruits, and I asked if they know why we throw the ball so much," Cocuzza said, his voice hoarse from a nine day training camp."It's because when kids play in the park, what do they say?
On Sept. 22, the men's golf team kicks off its 2006-2007 season, a campaign in which the players will look to continue their impressive streak of three consecutive Ivy League titles and six in the last seven years.The Tigers will be led by senior co-captains John Sawin and captain Brent Herlihy, who both have three years of experience in varsity competition.The team will look to replace three graduates ? Jason Gerken, John Locke and Jesse Dixon, but will be aided by the arrival of a phenomenal freshman trio.
When the women's volleyball team walked off the court at the Palestra having clinched a four-game victory over the University of Pennsylvania, they had to say goodbye to three strong senior leaders.
This season, men's soccer is celebrating tradition while simultaneously coping with significant changes in the roster and lineup of just a year ago.Now 100 years old, the program welcomed six new Tigers to the squad when it opened its centennial season with a 0-0 stalemate against Stanford Sept.
There's a breeze in the air, the leaves are falling and the women's tennis team is taking to the court this fall with a new tournament to kick off the season: the Princeton Invitational.
With the official inauguration of Princeton's brand-new home course at West Windsor Fields and a strong debut at the Princeton Invitational this past weekend, the men's and women's cross country teams enthusiastically look forward to a fresh new season.Even with the graduation of a number of the team's fastest runners, including last year's star Frank Macreery, both teams finished strong this past weekend, with the men's team placing second and the women's team taking home the title.
Despite suffering tight losses in both the Eastern and Southern Championships and graduating eight valuable players at the end of last season, the men's water polo team (4-1 overall, 1-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) has rebuilt its squad in hopes of claiming both coveted titles this season."When we enter every season our goal is to win the Eastern and Southern Championships," head coach Luis Nicolao said.The No.
With just two minutes, 33 seconds remaining in a scoreless field hockey game Sunday, overtime seemed imminent for Princeton and No.
VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBIA ? I can't claim that the idea of flinging myself from the world's second highest bungee jump at Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe was my own.Rather, the suggestion came from an unlikely source: my father, an acrophobic.After I spent a summer in Botswana working with the BOTUSA Project, my parents and younger sister Katie, a Princeton freshman, decided to travel to Africa for a week-and-a-half-long visit.
Men's water polo kicked off a new season last weekend by playing five games in two days in the Princeton Invitational at DeNunzio Pool.
After the referee blew the final whistle on Sept. 2, the women's soccer team left the field disappointed with its 2-0 loss to Boston University (4-1-1). So when the women's soccer team left for the Penn Invitational on Friday, they were 0-1, and hungry for a win to get the season rolling.Rainy weather forced the season opener to be hosted at Mercer County Community College's turf field instead of Lourie-Love Field, which allowed the Terriers to take advantage of Princeton's inexperience and lower fitness level.
The Tiger harriers made sure to have a rousing housewarming party for themselves. Inaugurating a new course on campus with their first race of the season, Princeton's cross country team showcased the type of performances that will make the Tigers a threat to take any meet.
