The women’s open crew’s first varsity boat dominated its 2011 season from start to finish. It capped an undefeated season on Sunday by claiming the gold medal in the grand final at NCAA Championships on Sunday, beating the field by 1.5 seconds.
After spending nearly a decade away from Princeton, the men’s soccer Ivy League title finally returned to Roberts Stadium this season. The men’s soccer team, perhaps inspired by its late push in 2009, ran the league table this year, finishing 7-0 in a tough conference that sent four teams to the NCAA Tournament.
Few teams in any sport would find encouragement in a 3-12 start to a season. But for the baseball team, the non-league games at the beginning of the season helped head coach Scott Bradley figure out how best to use his young roster and move the Tigers out of the Lou Gehrig Division cellar.
This season, the women’s water polo team finished second in the CWPA Southern Division and fifth at Eastern Championships. Though the team added only two freshmen, both made a major impact, setting the stage for a successful season.
14 games were not enough to determine the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament, as Princeton and Harvard met for a third time in the league’s first playoff since 2002. Weeks, months, years of practice came down to 2.8 seconds on a Saturday afternoon in March.
Princeton has a strong history of successful distance runners, and 2010 became yet another remarkable season for the men’s and women’s cross country teams. The Tigers swept the Heptagonal Championships by wide margins and both teams posted top-20 finishes at NCAAs, kick-starting what would be triple crown seasons for both sets of runners.
In 2010, the women’s lacrosse team suffered its first losing season in more than two decades, struggling to a 6-10 overall record. With tough competition looming in the Ivy League, few expected much from the Tigers this season. But after a middling start to the season, they surged in the final month. Princeton snapped Penn’s 34-game conference winning streak on the road, defeated the Quakers again en route to an Ivy League Tournament championship and reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
After winning the Ivy League championship and taking its first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament in the 2009-10 season, the women’s basketball team knew it would be starting this season with a big target on its back, according to head coach Courtney Banghart.
From their first few days on campus, the members of the Class of 2011 on the women’s track and field team knew what their career goal was: the incredibly rare triple crown, comprised of championships in cross country indoor and outdoor track. After years of capturing only two of the three titles, this year they finally picked up all three. They graduate as part of the second team to achieve the feat in Ivy League history.
From 2003 through 2006, Yasser El Halaby ’06 won four straight men’s squash individual national championships. Though sophomore Todd Harrity will never equal El Halaby’s extended run of dominance, Harrity’s second-year campaign exceeded even the lofty standards set by his predecessor.
Coach Chris Ayres, sitting in his office on the E-Floor of Jadwin Gymnasium, is struggling to find a one-word description for the wrestling team’s season. He defers to assistant coach Andy Lausier, who cheats by using four.
The women's lightweight and open women crews are both unbeaten in 2011, including victories at this month's Eastern Sprints.
Following its 2009 NCAA appearance, the men's water polo team entered 2010 without the eight seniors who had lead them to the Final Four. Short five starters in a game that only puts seven players in the pool, Princeton seemed poised for a rebuilding year. In this midst of reconstructing their team, however, the Tigers came out strong, taking first place at the newly re-instated Ivy League Tournament and finishing third at Eastern Championships.
In 2011, the men’s track and field team ended nearly a decade of Big Red dominance, sweeping both the Indoor and Outdoor Heptagonal Championships to complete a triple crown of cross country, indoor and outdoor Ivy League titles.
The Class of 2011 won more games than any other in the history of the men’s hockey program, but the season ended on a sour note for the most tenured Tigers. Princeton’s season came to a surprising end in the first round of the ECAC Hockey tournament, as St. Lawrence won the final two games of the best-of-three series to upset Princeton at Baker Rink.
When the women’s volleyball team rolled over the competition in its first five Ivy League matches, it seemed poised to capture the Ivy League title without any resistance. The Tigers’ incredible resilience was put to the test early when they faced three five-set matches and two four-setters in their first five regular season contests, but they passed every test with flying colors.
2010-11 was a banner year for Princeton athletics: sophomore Todd Harrity became the first American-born player to win a national squash championship in 21 years, the men's basketball team returned to the NCAA Tournament in dramatic fashion and the program set a new record with 15 Ivy League titles. For a look back at these teams and more, check out our season recaps section.
On a dreary November afternoon, Bob Surace ’90 sat in the cramped press room at the base of Princeton Stadium, a look of utter exhaustion etched on his face as he tried to answer the question on everyone’s minds: What went wrong?
The women's hockey team’s season began on a disappointing note, with the Tigers dropping five of their first six battles on the ice. This start was only the beginning of what became a roller coaster year for Princeton, characterized by both streaks of poor play and streaks of outstanding execution. A seven-game winless streak put the Tigers’ conference record at 3-6-1, and the team was at risk of missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
The field hockey team, one of Princeton’s most dominant athletic programs, won the Ivy League title for 16th time in the past 17 years in the 2010 season. For such a consistently accomplished squad, though, the campaign was a bittersweet one for the No. 6 Tigers. Amassing both personal and team triumphs but plagued by injuries, the team found itself unable to match the success of the 2009 group that advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
