Ivy play gets underway this weekend as the No. 62 men’s tennis team (7-6) will host the No. 60 University of Pennsylvania (10-1) on Saturday. The Tigers are looking to rebound after a tough set of spring break matches.
Earlier this week, the women’s lacrosse team was defeated not by an opponent but by Mother Nature. Princeton (3-3 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) was ahead of Columbia (1-4, 0-2) 5-4 before play was suspended due to lightning and snow. The league game has already been rescheduled for late April, but for now, the Tigers must switch gears and prepare for a home game against longtime rival Georgetown (1-4).
After a long winter of indoor training and a frustrating spring of practice on a freezing Lake Carnegie, three crews are set to open their season on Saturday. The men’s lightweight and women’s open crews have home races in the morning, while the women’s lightweight squad travels to California for the Pac-10 Invitational.
In high school, senior Ashley Higginson wanted to become a three-season athlete, having already started soccer and basketball when she was younger. Fortunately for Tiger sports fans, she chose to begin track as opposed to softball.
Princeton made it to the NCAA Tournament. That in itself was a feat that corroborated what Princetonians have known since 1746: Princeton is better than Harvard. On a lesser note, it gave my family a reason to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day hours earlier than an Irishman would approve of.
In academics and in athletics, success sometimes comes in pairs. Seniors David Letourneau and Taylor Fedun of the men’s squash and hockey teams, respectively, are both captains of their squads and are working together on their senior theses in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department. Both have plans to go professional in their respective sports and, on top of that, both are international students hailing from the Canadian province of Alberta.
With heavy rain pouring down, the women’s lacrosse team braved all the elements Wednesday night when it hosted Columbia. The Lions (1-4 overall, 0-2 Ivy League) were seeking their first win ever in the all-time series against the Tigers (3-3, 1-0). However, with 24 minutes, 21 seconds remaining in the second half, lightning flashed in the distance and the game was delayed.
Long before junior guard Doug Davis earned the top spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 with his buzzer-beating jump shot, a Princeton alumnus had been playing a crucial role behind the scenes in shaping American basketball into what it is today. After leading the Tigers to two Ivy League Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances, Steve Mills ’81 took his talents to the NBA and helped select the 1992 Dream Team and create the WNBA.
As is the case with most fans, my NCAA tournament preparation isn’t complete without a bracket based solely on which team’s mascot would win in a fight (which can be found on The Daily Princetonian website and not in the print edition because it is 3,600 words long) and, of course, a meticulously constructed spreadsheet comparing every team’s statistics in important categories such as offensive and defensive efficiency, rebound rate, three-point-shooting percentage and several others. Or maybe I’m wrong on that one.
Make room, Bob Bradley ’80: there may soon be a new Princeton alumnus in the upper echelons of the professional soccer world. Grant Wahl ’96, a senior soccer writer for Sports Illustrated, announced in mid-February in one of his regular columns that he plans to run for president of FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, challenging three-term incumbent Swiss Sepp Blatter and Qatari challenger Mohammed Bin Hammam in the June 1 elections.
After a spring break trip to a tournament in Augusta, Ga., in which the women’s golf team placed 13th out of 17 schools, senior Kate Scarpetta sat down with senior writer Caroline Wang and discussed a range of topics, including her sports abilities outside of golf, her fondness for humming songs by boy bands and a certain audition she’d like to forget.
After a winter of preparation and a season-opening series against No. 10 Louisiana State University, the baseball team embarked on a weeklong spring break trip. It began at the Terry Sisisky Classic against host Virginia Commonwealth University and Holy Cross and ended with a three-game series at Georgetown.
The women’s lacrosse team opened its Ivy League season with a resounding victory but could not do the same against two top-10 non-conference foes, dropping a pair of games late in the week to fall to 3-3 on the season.
The softball team went three for five at the University of Maryland Tournament this weekend, netting wins against Villanova and Utah while losing to Maryland and splitting a pair with Hampton.
As much as the men’s basketball team hoped that the game against Kentucky would be a stepping-stone to greater success rather than the end of a stellar season, it was quite a finale. Although the Tigers lost 59-57 in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday, Princeton pushed the Wildcats to the final buzzer, providing some of the most exciting moments of the opening day of the NCAA Tournament’s second round. The Tigers’ chance for an upset captivated viewers across the nation, but above all gave the faithful Princetonians in Tampa reason to cheer. Here are some notes and quotes from the stands at the St. Pete Times Forum.
Sunday marked the last day of spring break, a time when most members of the Princeton community could return from vacation refreshed and relaxed. Men’s lacrosse head coach Chris Bates had no such luck.
This past week, playing in sunny Augusta, Ga., just miles away from the legendary Augusta National Golf Club, the women’s golf team placed 13th of 17 in its opening spring season tournament. Despite its lack of on-course success, however, the team soaked up the sun and used the tournament as a chance to, as senior Kate Scarpetta poetically put it, “shake off the frost and rust we had over the winter.”
After a strong performance at the NCAA regional competition at Drew University on March 12, the men’s and women’s fencing teams are poised to send 12 fencers to the NCAA championships.
As midterms came to a close, the No. 18 women’s water polo team flew west to soak up the sun and challenge the best teams in the country. Princeton (11-8) began its spring break games in San Diego at the Aztec Invitational on March 12. The Tigers then traveled up the coast, making a pit-stop at Concordia mid-week before making their way to Los Angeles for the Loyola Marymount University Invitational.
