Princeton University Athletics
Triple Play
April 15, 2002 | General
April 15, 2002
Where can you go to see three Princeton teams go for Ivy League championships without ever moving your car?
Just park near the Class of 1952 Stadium Saturday morning.
Princeton's men's and women's lacrosse teams and softball team have their biggest days of the season to date. By the end of the day Saturday, all three could be either Ivy champion or in complete control of their race -- or be struggling to put their seasons back on track.
All within 200 yards of each other.
The softball team starts its weekend Saturday when it hosts Yale and continues it Sunday against Brown in their final four league regular season games. The Tigers are currenlty 9-1 in the league, even with Harvard in the loss column though the 7-1 Crimson have played two fewer games. No other team in the league is over .500.
By Sunday night, Maureen Davies' team could be in any number of situations. Should the Tigers win at least one more game than Harvard (who is at Columbia and Cornell) this weekend, then they would clinch the Ivy League championship outright. Should Harvard win three or four more games than Princeton this weekend, then they would clinch the championship outright.
The race gets cloudier if the results fall in between. Harvard still has two games left with Dartmouth after this weekend while Princeton will be done with its league schedule, so the Tigers would then have to root for the Big Green against the Crimson. Should Harvard and Princeton tie for the title, then the NCAA's automatic big would be determined in a best-of-three playoff.
Then there is lacrosse. On the women's side, Princeton was ranked No. 1 last week and figures to stay there after a convincing 14-4 win at Harvard. The Tigers have a 3:00 game at Class of 1952 Stadium Saturday against Dartmouth, who was ranked 17th last week before a win over No. 10 Penn State.
Dartmouth has beaten Princeton each of the last five regular seasons, though Princeton defeated the Big Green in the NCAA tournament a year ago. Either Dartmouth or Princeton has won the Ivy title each of the last eight years, but this season's race is a little tighter. Princeton is unbeaten, while Cornell and Yale have one loss each (both to Princeton) and play each other this weekend in Ithaca. Dartmouth is 3-2.
A Princeton win Wednesday night against Penn and Saturday against Dartmouth would clinch no worse than a tie for the league championship. Princeton ends its Ivy season at Brown April 27.
The women's game is the second game of a Class of 1952 doubleheader, which begins at noon with the men's game against Cornell. The Big Red is the hottest team in Division I lacrosse, having won nine straight since an opening-day loss to Georgetown. Cornell had a convincing 15-11 win over then-No. 1 Syracuse last Tuesday and then an easy win over Dartmouth Saturday to improve its Ivy record to 4-0.
Princeton has also gotten hot of late. The Tigers have won three straight since their 37-game Ivy winning streak was snapped by Yale, sandwiching 18-4 wins over Penn and Harvard around a 7-6 three-overtime win over Duke.
Princeton is 5-4 overall and 2-1 in the league and ranked eighth in this week's USILA poll. Cornell moved from ninth to fifth with its two wins last weekend.
A Cornell win would end Princeton's run of seven straight Ivy League championships, a Princeton win would tie the teams for first. Brown enters its game against Dartmouth Saturday with one league loss as well, and Princeton and Cornell still must play Brown.
The Ivy League champion gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. While it's still possible to have a three-way tie between Princeton, Cornell and Brown (Princeton and Brown both beat Cornell and the winner of Brown-Princeton game loses to Dartmouth), it's much more likely that either Cornell will win outright or there will be co-champions. In the case of a two-way tie, then the winner of the head-to-head matchup gets the automatic bid.
With six of the 12 NCAA tournament spots guaranteed to conference champs, then Princeton or Cornell would very much be on the bubble without the automatic bid. Princeton is the defending NCAA champ and winner of six of the last 10 NCAA tournaments.
In addition to these home games, Princeton also hosts Columbia Friday in women's tennis and has home events Saturday in men's lightweight and women's open crew.
The baseball team is at Columbia for two key Gehrig Division baseball doubleheaders. Princeton is 8-4 in the league with four games left with Columbia and then four more with Cornell. Columbia is 5-2, which leaves Princeton technically a half-game in front, while Cornell and Penn are both under .500.