When the pistol fired to begin the Rider Invitational, over three inches of rain had already fallen and there was no end in sight.
Just a week and a half ago, the men's soccer team looked poised to charge into the Ivy League season.
Defense wins championships. Offense puts fans in the seats. But what does special teams do?The least-appreciated of football's three dimensions proved its importance Saturday afternoon at Princeton Stadium, as a pair of special teams miscues in the game's first three minutes doomed the football team to a 16-10 defeat at the hands of Colgate.The Tigers (3-1 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) let Geoff Bean return the opening kickoff 60 yards for the Raiders (3-2), then fell victim to a 1-yard Jordan Scott touchdown run three plays later.Colgate missed the extra point, but senior kick-returner Jay McCareins gave the ball right back when he was stripped on the ensuing kickoff.
Sometimes, the odds just don't go your way. That's what women's soccer (3-5-2 overall, 1-2-0 Ivy League) must be telling itself after Saturday's 2-1 loss to Brown (5-7-0, 1-2-0) that landed it in the cellar of the Ivy League.Despite the fact that the Tigers outshot the Bears, 22-7, the loss marked the first time Princeton has lost to Brown since the 1997 season.Despite peppering Bears goalkeeper Hilary Wilson with shots all day long, the only ball that slipped through was from freshman forward Aarti Jain.
As the rain came down Saturday afternoon at Princeton Stadium, the field wasn't the only thing turning to muck.
It was an ugly game in many respects when the sprint football team hosted Army on a rainy, muddy Friday night at Frelinghuysen Field.
When junior defensive specialist Joanna Mandecki's ace hit the ground, the women's volleyball team recorded its first Ivy League victory of the season against Dartmouth.
After a heartbreaking overtime loss to Bucknell on the road Sunday in Lewisburg, Pa., head coach Luis Nicolao and the men's water polo team know that they can't afford to make the same mistakes twice.
For the women's soccer team, every Ivy League game now potentially determines the fate of the Tigers' entire season.
The sprint football team (0-2 overall, 0-2 CSFL) is hoping that home field advantage will help it end a pair of losing streaks when it faces Army (1-2, 1-0) at Frelinghuysen Field tonight.The Tigers have lost 37 consecutive games, as well as their last 16 straight contests against the Black Knights.
After swamping Columbia with a wave of Orange and Black last weekend, the football team (3-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) will surge toward its next two Ivy League games with an attempt to sink non-conference foe Colgate (2-2).The Tigers' 3-0 start has far exceeded expectations ? beyond simply being undefeated, Princeton has knocked off three previously undefeated squads without trailing even once.But though the Tigers' confidence has grown as a result of their strong start, the team's attitude remains restrained."We just keep harping on the fact that if you remain humble and don't get too full of yourselves, good things are going to happen," head coach Roger Hughes said.Colgate will bring Princeton a few specific challenges that have the potential to shake the Tigers.
It's just the men's soccer team's second Ivy League game of the fall, but while it might not make its season, it can certainly break it.The Tigers, exhausted by their 11th-straight winless match against Rutgers, traveled to Dartmouth last Sunday for their league opener.
Tailgating a Princeton game, it is common to hear questions about how fellow Ivy League schools have started the season.
Despite shooting its best round of the season Monday afternoon, men's golf suffered a disappointing defeat, finishing fifth overall Tuesday at Ball State.As has been the case in many of their previous tournaments, the Tigers started strong but were unable to maintain the advantage.
Halpern and Parros in NHLLast night, Jeff Halpern '99 and George Parros '03 suited up for the National Hockey League's opening night.
It would be a cliché to say they are inseparable.Unfortunately, it also happens to be true.It's difficult not to speak in clichés, though, when talking about the Schmidt sisters.
Senior Jenny Senske could be described as an Energizer Bunny ? she has played in all of the women's volleyball team's games.
Editor's Note: This is the seventh in a series of postcards that The Daily Princetonian sports staff writers wrote about their experiences in the wide world of sports this summer.
Every a capella group, debate club and comedy improv cast faces the daunting task of filling the holes left by the graduation of senior stalwarts and bemoans their loss.
If you watch the Princeton football team during practice any given afternoon, your attention immediately turns to the quarterback airing out the ball, the receivers running their routes and the coaches chewing on their whistles.Easy to overlook is the player wearing number 15, the one working out alone, separate from the rest of the players clothed in Orange and Black.Transition to any Saturday afternoon, and you'll see a wildly different picture.
