Princeton University Athletics
Four Ivy Races Heat Up In Princeton This Weekend
April 19, 2004 | General
April 19, 2004
With Princeton's sixth and seventh Ivy League championships of the 2003-04 academic year secured this past weekend by the men's and women's golf teams, four other Tiger teams enter the stretch drive of their Ivy races with huge games this weekend.
The men's and women's lacrosse teams, the baseball team and the softball team all are in the thick of their league races, and all four are home this weekend.
The women's lacrosse team may be ranked No. 1 nationally, be the two-time defending NCAA champion and be riding a school-record 22-game winning streak, but they are only tied for first in the Ivy League with Dartmouth, whom the Tigers host Saturday (3).
Princeton and Dartmouth are both 5-0 in the league (every other team is mathematically eliminated), and the winner of the game will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament (though both teams are locks to play in the tournament, regardless of who has the automatic bid). Dartmouth plays Harvard, 0-4 in the league, Wednesday, so wins by the Big Green in that game and then Saturday against Princeton would mean the outright title for the Big Green. Princeton finishes its league season with game May 1 at Brown (2-2 in the league).
The men's lacrosse race is basically between three teams, Princeton and its next two opponents. The Tigers host Cornell at noon Saturday in the opening game of the Class of 1952 Stadium doubleheader and then travel to Dartmouth the following weekend.
Princeton, Cornell and Dartmouth tied for the league title a year ago. Princeton is currently the lone unbeaten in the league at 3-0, while Cornell is 3-1 and Dartmouth 1-1. A Princeton sweep of Cornell and Dartmouth would give the Tigers no worse than a share of their 10th straight Ivy title, though Brown, who is 1-2 with games against the three main contenders still to play, is still alive in the race.
Dartmouth plays Yale Wednesday and then Brown, Princeton and Harvard to finish the season. Princeton has Cornell and Dartmouth and then a game at Brown; Cornell's only remaining league game after its trip to Princeton is at home against Brown.
Cornell, with a win Saturday, would move into the driver's seat for the automatic bid and would earn the automatic bid with wins over Princeton and Brown. The Tigers, on the other hand, can basically eliminate Cornell with a win Saturday, which would put Princeton two ahead of Cornell in the loss column with two to play.
One loss in any of its three remaining league games would mathematically eliminate Brown. Dartmouth, like Princeton and Cornell, is very much in control of its place in the race. This week's game will definitely begin to bring the championship picture in focus.
The baseball race is a little less complicated. Princeton took control of the Gehrig Division race this past weekend by taking four from Columbia, which left the Tigers 7-5 and three games ahead of the Lions and Big Red and six games ahead of Penn, whom Princeton hostsfor four games Saturday and Sunday.
Princeton can clinch the division this weekend with a sweep of Penn and a split between Cornell and Columbia. Princeton still has four with Cornell after its weekend with Penn.
The Rolfe Division is much more bunched, and Princeton's 7-5 league record would be last in the Rolfe. Dartmouth is currently 9-3, followed by Yale and Harvard at 8-4 each and Brown at 7-5.
The winners of the divisions will play for the Ivy championship in a best-of-three series at the home of the team with the better league record.
The softball race was thrown upside-down Sunday when previously winless Columbia swept Harvard, who entered the weekend unbeaten. The sweep finished a 1-3 weekend for the Crimson, who are now 5-3 and a game behind 6-2 Yale. Princeton is 6-4 in the league with games remaining at home against Cornell and Columbia this weekend. Yale and Harvard still play each other, and Cornell and Dartmouth are also hanging around the race at 5-5.