"My back," "my foot," "my French horn" ? these were Princeton fencing's real opponents at this weekend's Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals.
Yale women's hockey would have been better off staying on the bus this weekend. The Bulldogs stopped by Baker Rink for their Eastern College Athletic Conference quarterfinal series with the Tigers, and the Orange and Black promptly booted them from contention with degrading 6-2 and 8-0 wins.Senior forward Andrea Kilbourne led the way for Princeton with two goals and two assists in the 6-2 win Friday.
Men's swimming saved its best for last. But for the first time this year, its fastest wasn't enough.For the Tigers, it was a heartbreaking end to an outstanding season.
Every season, the men's lacrosse team opens by playing Johns Hopkins, Virginia, and Syracuse in the opening weeks before the Ivy season gets under way.Seeing as these teams are always among the elite in the nation, these games are an important measuring stick for how much improvement is needed.Tierney was not able to test his best lineup Saturday as the Tigers faced No.
When a team wins 20 games in a row, that team is undeniably beyond good. A winning streak leads this team to forget what it is to lose.But winning streaks, like all good things, must end.This sad fact was the case for the women's lacrosse team Sunday afternoon.
At the beginning of the weekend, there was hope. Though a long shot at best, the men's basketball team clung to the possibility of a share in the Ivy League regular season title.With three games left for both the Tigers and conference-leading Penn, and a three game spread in the standings, Princeton needed to win out its last three contests and pray that the Quakers would lose both games this weekend before the season finale at Jadwin Gym this Tuesday.Friday night, the Tigers (16-10 overall, 10-3 Ivy League) held up their end of the bargain with a gutsy 71-61 victory over visiting Cornell (9-18, 4-10).Penn did not cooperate with Princeton's hopes, beating winless Columbia 63-39, and mathematically eliminating the Tigers from the Ivy League race.The Quakers' triumph over Cornell the following night knocked Brown out of contention and, in the process, secured Penn's second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.On Friday, when Princeton was still fighting for its postseason life, the squad played hard and played well.
The women's lacrosse season is 16 games long. Princeton lacrosse fans will not have to wait that long to forecast their team's chances to repeat as national champions, however.
Six national championships in eleven seasons. Three straight championship game appearances. Thirteen returning seniors, seven of whom are starters.
The season is not over. Contrary to what many Princetonians have been saying, the men's basketball season is still going, and the Tigers will do battle against Cornell tonight and Columbia tomorrow night, both at home.Yes, an Ivy title and NCAA tournament berth are unlikely, but there is still a lot of basketball left to be played.In order for Princeton (13-10 overall, 8-3 Ivy League) to earn a share of the Ivy title, they need Penn (19-5, 11-0) to lose out and for Brown (15-11, 10-2) to lose at least one of their final two games.
If you thought the road would get any easier for the men's lacrosse team after last week's painful 10-8 loss to Johns Hopkins, think again.Tomorrow, No.
The wrestling team goes to the mat this weekend as part of the oldest and most revered wrestling tournament in the nation.
A year ago, women's hockey captured home-ice advantage in the first round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference playoffs, only to lose the best-of-three series in a sweep to Harvard.This year, Princeton ? the third seed in the ECAC tournament ? is back at Baker Rink for round one, and the collapse against the Crimson is a distant memory.Sixth-seeded Yale visits campus for this year's best-of-three conference quarterfinal starting tonight, continuing Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday.
"I know the Syracuse men beat Princeton," George Bush told the 2002 Syracuse men's national championship team earlier this year, "it's lucky you didn't play the women."The president of the United States was not exaggerating.
At this point in the season it is no longer make-or-break.Playing this weekend to hold on to fifth place in the Ivy League, the more appropriate term for the women's basketball team's situation is salvage-or-junk.The Tigers (9-16 overall, 4-7 Ivy League) will take on Cornell (9-16, 3-9) tonight in Ithaca, and then travel to Columbia to face the Lions (10-15, 3-9) Saturday night.Both Cornell and Columbia are currently locked in a three-way tie for sixth place with Yale, just a game and a half behind the Tigers.
"The problem with the defense [in Saturday's loss to Johns Hopkins] was me," men's lacrosse head coach Bill Tierney said.It was an ironic statement, seeing as how it came from the mouth of a man who was recently inducted into the United States Lacrosse Hall of Fame as one of the greatest coaches the sport has ever known.On the surface, a lacrosse coach blaming himself for his team's ineffective defensive performance sounds self-deprecating, something only a coach without the foggiest idea about what he is doing would admit.
For the past three seasons, there has been just one tough question in men's college lacrosse: would the National Championship fall into the hands of Syracuse or Princeton?This year, however, the questions abound and answers are impossible to decipher.Last weekend, in the first full week of lacrosse, No.
"It ain't over till it's over." As the men's volleyball team learned last night, Yogi Berra knew what he was tallking about.The Tigers had good reason to be confident entering the match against NYU, having stomped the Violets in fifty-five minutes in their last meeting.
What can a team that finished last season on a 19-game winning streak, won the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship and paid a visit to President Bush in the offseason possibly do that could begin to match up to its former feats?Demolishing its first opponent to continue the nation's longest win streak is not a bad start.The women's lacrosse team (1-0) opened its 2003 season Wednesday by destroying Lafayette (0-1), 15-6, in a game that was nowhere near as close as the score suggests.With the win, head coach Chris Sailer earned her 200th career victory in just over 16 seasons.
Think of the Princeton offense as nothing more than a big toolbox. If the right tools are used at the right times, open baskets will be as common as birdhouses in shop class.
A 9-0 regular season dual meet record ? outstanding. A victory at the H-Y-P meet ? thrilling.
