Women's Lights Celebrate Senior Day, Face Improved Georgetown In Top-5 Race For Class of 2006 Cup

Saturday, April 21

Princeton, N.J.

9:00 AM

Princeton University

Georgetown

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Women's Lights Celebrate Senior Day, Face Improved Georgetown In Top-5 Race For Class of 2006 Cup

April 19, 2018 | Women's Rowing - Lightweight

LINKS: Live Video Stream l Class of 2006 Cup History

While Eastern Sprints are only one week away, there is no lack of motivation for Grace Cordsen and her Princeton women's lightweight teammates Saturday morning when they host Georgetown for the Class of 2006 Cup.

Princeton has won every meeting between these two programs since the series began in 1999, a stretch that has included 11 wins since the introduction of the Class of 2006 Cup prior to the 2007 season. And while this year's squad is coming off its first two-medal postseason since 2011, the Tigers could be hosting Georgetown's best team in program history.

"This coming weekend is definitely going to be an exciting race," said junior Grace Cordsen, a veteran of the Tiger 1V. "Given that we had two close races with Georgetown this past Saturday we are all eager for a chance to race them again. It is obviously important to race well at every opportunity, but I think the team is particularly amped for this race since we are coming right off a close battle with Georgetown."

Princeton and Georgetown met in both the heat and final of the condensed Knecht Cup last Saturday on Mercer Lake, and the Hoyas won both meetings by less than 2.2 seconds apiece. The final was a good learning experience for a youthful Princeton boat that led midway through the race and fought off Wisconsin for third.

"Coming into this weekend, we are focusing on our ability to maintain speed throughout the body of the piece and build up momentum entering into and in the sprint," Cordsen said. "In the Knecht final, we had an extremely strong start, but Georgetown and BU slowly gained on us in the body of the piece. That is definitely something we will keep in mind as we prepare to race Georgetown again this weekend."

"Having the opportunity to race 6-boats across before Sprints is always good," Cordsen added. "For our freshmen, it is the first time they have raced for Princeton with that many active lanes. For the boat as a whole it is good to get an idea of how our race strategy can change when dealing with more than one opposing team."

Princeton and Georgetown will open a lightweight morning on Lake Carnegie at 9 am with the 1V race, and the two programs will compete in four races during the morning. The lightweight men will follow at 10:15 with the Wood-Hammond Trophy regatta against both Penn and Georgetown. You can watch the full event live on the Ivy League Network.

While Cordsen and her teammates want to retain the Class of 2006 Cup and bring momentum to Sprints, they have another motivation for Saturday. This will be the final home race for the Princeton Class of 2018 (Sandra Carpenter, Megan Mirabella, Kathleen Noble, Emily Schneider, and Madeline Travnik), and the Tigers would love nothing more than to make their final race on Lake Carnegie a success.

"It is going to be extremely hard to let this year's class of seniors go," Cordsen said. "They have all been incredibly influential members of the team and I know I can speak for all of the non-graduating teammates when I say we would love to end their racing career on Lake Carnegie with a bang."

Princeton Lightweight Women vs. Georgetown
9:00 AM - First Varsity – Class of 2006 Cup
9:15 AM - Varsity Four
9:30 AM - Double
9:45 AM - Third Varsity

Princeton Lightweight Men vs. Penn & Georgetown
10:15 AM - Fourth Varsity
10:30 AM - Third Varsity
10:45 AM - Second Varsity
11:00 AM - First Varsity - Wood-Hammond Trophy
11:15 AM - Fifth Varsity