It was the final game of the 2001 Eastern Championship. Princeton was playing Brown at Providence, R.I., and the winner would head on to the NCAA final four.
After a rough season of surprising losses and finishing somewhat behind their expectations, both the men's and women's fencing teams came back to defend themselves.Shaking off the bruises of the Ivy season, the Tigers placed fifth in the men's bracket and third in the women's among the fourteen colleges and universities who competed this past weekend at Vassar College at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championship.The overall format of the meet consisted of a two-day, back-to-back tournament.
Having already squandered one chance to win the outright Ivy League title, the men's hoops team knows it only gets one more.For the first time in the 46 year history of the league, there will be a two-game playoff to determine the champion and who gets the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.Princeton (16-10 overall), Yale (19-9), and Penn (24-6) finished the season tied atop the standings with identical 11-3 records in league play.Princeton had a chance to avoid the playoff, but lost to Penn at the Palestra, 64-48, on Tuesday night.Princeton and Yale get the playoff started tonight at the Palestra.
Last night the women's basketball team did two things the men's team could not do this season.And Maureen Lane found a spectacular way to end the Tigers season on an individual level, scoring 30 points ? including three clutch shots.The Tigers (11-16 overall, 5-9 Ivy League) not only won their last game of the season, but also defeated Penn (12-15, 8-6) ? at home, 66-65.In perhaps the team's most exciting game of the season, coming on the heels of a one-point overtime loss to Columbia last Saturday, Princeton led by as many as nine points in the first half.The Quakers managed to cut ? and even erase ? that lead, but Princeton junior wing Maureen Lane's jumper with 33 seconds left in the first half gave the Tigers a 39-38 halftime lead.Lane would continue to haunt the Quakers throughout the night.The scoring on both sides slowed considerably in the second half.
Men's tennis faced a back-to-back duel this weekend against Rutgers and George Washington University.
PHILADELPHIA ? I'll admit it. I was a doubter. I thought that Ahmed El Nokali couldn't carry the men's basketball team.He couldn't create his own shot, make the big free throws, hit the open jumper.
The men's basketball team ? a team that was 16-9 overall (11-2 Ivy League) before last night's loss to Penn ? was 3-9 when shooting under 46 percent from the field.Make that 3-10.Princeton made just over 37 percent of its shots at the Palestra, and in keeping with the trend this season, lost a game in which they were outshot.Just as on the scoreboard, the margin on the score sheet at half time was close.
PHILADELPHIA? Fran Dunphy watched in dismay. As the halftime buzzer blared across the court, the Penn coach traced Ahmed El Nokali's last second shot from just inside the halfcourt line as it sliced through the air and into the net.
Over the weekend men's volleyball improved to 7-9 with wins over the University of Puerto Rico-Bayamon and Long Island University-Southampton at the Windmill Classic in New York.In the tournament, the Tigers put together those two solid performances before losing to Division III powerhouse Springfield College 3-0.Princeton's victories were impressive given that the team still is not at full strength, even with the return of freshman outside hitter Ryn Burns to the lineup.
Lions and Tigers and Bears took to the hardwood last weekend in Jadwin Gym ready to maul each other for another intra-Ivy victory.The women's basketball team (10-16 overall, 4-9 Ivy League) extended its winning streak to two games Friday, but followed it up with a loss on Saturday.
Two Princeton records, a meet record and an NCAA qualifier, were the highlights of post-heptagonal competition in Boston this past weekend.The women's team, competing in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Meet, was represented by the talented duo of senior 800m runner Lauren Simmons and sophomore pole-vaulter Chelo Caino.
The end of the Ivy League basketball season is near.Maybe.This evening, Princeton (16-9 overall, 11-2 Ivy League) travels to Philadelphia to take on Penn (23-6, 10-3) at the Palestra in a game that will have crucial bearing on the Ivy League championship.If the Tigers win, they will return to Princeton with their second straight outright Ivy title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament.
After four months of play, this weekend's regular-season conclusion was not what the women's hockey team had in mind for a playoff tune-up.Princeton (15-9-3 overall, 10-6-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference-North) entered this weekend's action at Brown and Harvard with a shot at tying juggernaut Dartmouth for a share of the Ivy League and ECAC titles, but came back to New Jersey reeling from a 4-1 defeat in Providence and a 7-1 pounding in Cambridge.The Bears bombarded Tiger sophomore goalie Megan Van Beusekom with 54 shots on the way to their three-goal victory Friday night.
Going into the third and final day of competition at this weekend's Eastern conference championship meet, men's swimming and diving trailed Harvard by 42.50 points.
BALTIMORE ? The preseason reports were grim. The Princeton men's lacrosse team had a few rough scrimmages and the flow at practice did not seem to be as smooth as it was for last year's national championship winning team.
NEW YORK ? Mike Bechtold leaned back awkwardly and began to fall. The senior forward's body wobbled as he balanced on one, then both feet, clutching the ball as the shot clock ticked down.
The women's lacrosse season opener yesterday at 1952 Stadium against No. 4 Georgetown was a tiebreaker in more ways than one.Not only did the Hoyas break a 13-13 tie in overtime to win, 15-13, but it also broke the 3-3 all-time record in the Georgetown -Princeton series.What distinguished the game was an alternating slew of scoring streaks, as first the No.
A Hollywood screenwriter couldn't have written a more perfect ending to the men's hockey team's season Saturday night.
Last time the men's lacrosse team suited up for a game, it won a national championship. Tomorrow, the Tigers begin their quest to defend that title and claim their seventh crown in eleven years as they travel to Baltimore to take on Johns Hopkins.Though Princeton opens up every season against the Blue Jays, this year's matchup will provide new and interesting challenges to the Tigers' coaches and players.
Who needs a tournament for excitement when a season finale is as exciting as this year's Ivy League race?
