Sports

Column: Looking for Darth Vader? Ask the Pats.

The NFL’s Darth Vader stands on the sideline in a gray New England Patriots hoodie. Like always, the sleeves are cut off at the elbows. Instead of a black helmet, he wears a headset. If he were not standing on the sideline, it would be easy to mistake him for a bum.

Wrestling: Freshman grapplers bowl over opponents

While it might be the most talented, recruited wrestling class that head coach Chris Ayres has seen during his tenure at Princeton, do not ask the wrestling team’s freshmen to go bowling.

Women's Hockey: Around the ECAC

One month into the 2010-11 women’s hockey team’s season, the ECAC Hockey league is shaping up to be competitive and unpredictable. While Cornell and Quinnipiac are currently dominating conference play, teams such as Dartmouth and Harvard are not far behind, making it clear that the parity in ECAC Hockey cannot be underestimated. Princeton (4-10-1 overall, 4-6-1 ECAC Hockey) currently sits in a fifth-place tie with Rennselaer. Both teams have totaled nine points, though the Tigers have played three more games. As the league readies itself for winter break before heading into the bulk of the 2010-11 season in January, here’s how things look:

On Tap with ... Megan Charles

Megan Charles is a junior on the women’s swimming and diving team. Charles competed on Trinidad and Tobago’s swimming and water polo national teams before coming to Princeton. After competing on both the water polo team and swimming team at Princeton for one year, she dropped water polo to focus solely on swimming. She is also a self-described “science nerd” who is majoring in chemistry.

Men's Squash: Sopher twins trade quips, shots

Senior twins Peter and Philip Sopher’s most unmistakable characteristic is their laugh. Loud and boisterous, you can hear it from around the corner and know one or both of the twins are there. Though the twins can frequently be found joking around, when it comes to playing squash, the Sophers are serious.

Women's Basketball: Around the Ivy League

Last season, the women’s basketball team went a perfect 14-0 in Ivy League play, clinching its first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament. This season, the Tigers hope to repeat atop the conference. Here’s how their Ancient Eight foes have fared in non-conference play so far:

Column: NBA playoff structure ruins regular season

The 2010-11 Toronto Raptors lost their best player in franchise history (Chris Bosh, of course) to free agency last summer. Their point differential is  minus 2.7. The have a 2-8 record on the road. Their best player is named “Andrea,” although he does double as my favorite player to use in the new “NBA Jam” for Xbox (eight blocks and seven three-pointers don’t lie). At no point this season will this 8-13 team be considered one of the top teams in the league. Fine, right? Every league has bad teams. But if the NBA playoffs started today, the Raptors would face the Boston Celtics in the first round.

Squash: Tigers sweep New England opponents

The men’s squash team hoped to celebrate the New Year as an undefeated team, and after its three-win weekend, the No. 3 Tigers (5-0 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) will do just that. They picked up the victories over tough opponents in towering fashion, losing only one individual match the entire weekend.

Swimming & Diving: DeNunzio reign continues

In the first home meet of the season, both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had record-breaking performances to come in first place in the three-day Big Al Open this weekend. The men and women beat Brown, University of Florida and Rider University. Washington State sent only its women’s team, and Columbia had its men’s team and women’s diving teams competing.

Column: A major loss for American soccer

I watched in sadness on Thursday as FIFA President Sepp Blatter crushed my dreams, Bill Clinton’s dreams and Landon Donovan’s dreams by announcing that the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar, a small nation in the Middle East.

Fencing: Princeton picks up where it left off, wins 9 of 10 contests

The men’s and women’s fencing teams opened their dual-meet seasons in style on Sunday. The Tigers collectively took nine of 10 contests at the Sacred Heart Duals in Fairfield, Conn. 

Men's Hockey: Princeton splits match-ups at home

The men’s hockey team played host to two league opponents over the weekend, earning two of the possible four points. On Friday night, Clarkson (9-5-2 overall, 4-2-1 ECAC Hockey) out-scrapped Princeton (6-5, 6-3) in a very physical 5-3 game. The Tigers avoided their first losing streak in league play on Saturday, defeating St. Lawrence (3-8-3, 3-4) by a score of 5-1.

On the Prowl: December 5, 2010

Executive Editor for Sports Vikram Rao '11 and Associate Editor for Sports Gabe Debenedetti '12 discuss the week in Princeton sports. 

Wrestling: Grapplers fall in tri-meet at home

The wrestling team got off to a strong start on Friday but was ultimately incapable of sustaining thier momentum and ended up falling to both Liberty and Binghamton at the tri-meet in Dillon Gymnasium.

Women's Hockey: Women put end to 7-game winless streak

With a win against Brown on Saturday, the women’s ice hockey team finally broke a winless streak that spanned almost a month. Although the Tigers extended their winless record to seven games with a 2-1 loss to Yale on Friday, a 4-0 thrashing of Brown the next day ended the weekend on an uplifting note.

Men's Basketball: Tigers avoid Hawks run to grab ‘W’

After the men’s basketball team’s superb opening half, the result of the game against St. Joseph’s never seemed to be in doubt. Still, the Tigers (5-3) survived a tough challenge from the Hawks (3-5) to extend their winning streak to three. Princeton showed poise and maturity down the stretch, winning 74-65.

Women's Basketball: Bench players lead team to blowout win over Broncs

By one account, the storyline of the women’s basketball game on Sunday afternoon was typical of the season so far. A star offensive performance by sophomore forward Niveen Rasheed capped off a balanced attack, and junior center Devona Allgood controlled the boards and shut down the opponents’ attack through her dominating inside presence. But in the 87-45 victory over Mercer County rival Rider University at Jadwin Gymasium, the Tigers added a new twist to the story when backups and rookies took advantage of significant playing time.

Live Blog: Men's Basketball vs. St. Joseph's

Live Blog: Women's Basketball vs. Rider

Live Blog: Men's Hockey vs. St. Lawrence