Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Counts Down Top 12 Stories Of Last 12 Months - Story #1
December 31, 2008 | General
The 2008 calendar year was another banner one for Princeton athletics. As most of the winter teams enter the holiday break, GoPrincetonTigers.com has decided to rank the Top 12 stories of the last 12 months. We'll count them down through the final days of 2008.
Dec 15: Chris Sailer gets elected to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Dec. 16: Bob Schneider rallies the men's lacrosse team to an overtime thriller. Dec. 17: The wrestling team picks up its first team victory since 2006.Dec. 18: The field hockey team dominates the Ivy League and reaches NCAA quarterfinal.
Dec. 19: Softball's improbable comeback highlights Ivy League championship season.
Dec. 22: Women's soccer christens Roberts Stadium with championship year.
Dec. 23: Women's squash rallies past top-seeded Penn to repeat as national champions.
Dec. 27: Jordan Culbreath punctuates football season with historic rushing performance. Dec. 28: Ivy champion women's swimming/diving sends seven to NCAA championships.
Dec. 29: The No. 42, worn by Bill Bradley '65 and Dick Kazmaier '52, gets retired at Princeton. Dec. 30: The women's cross country team dominates the Ivy League and finishes fifth nationally.
Dec. 31: The men's hockey team puts together a year for the ages.
1) The Men's Hockey Team Puts Together A Year For The Ages
As if it could have been anything else. The Princeton men's hockey team has never had a year quite like 2008. One decade earlier, Princeton shocked the college hockey world with its first ECAC title. That was a dramatic, storybook run, but it wasn't quite like what happened over the last 12 months.
What happened in the earlier part of 2008 was enough to cinch the top spot in this poll. Princeton won the Ivy League title while earning a spot in the national rankings and the second seed and a bye in the ECAC playoffs. After splitting the first two games of a best-of-3 quarterfinal series against Yale, the Tigers' mission was clear; they needed three straight wins for their second ECAC title. By outscoring the competition 11-1 in those three games, Princeton claimed the title with a dominant effort. The Tigers lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament despite outshooting North Dakota 39-18.
Princeton dominated the ECAC postseason awards, including Player of the Year (Lee Jubinville) and Coach of the Year (Guy Gadowsky) honors. The Tigers brought a buzz into Baker Rink that hadn't been there in some time and gave Tiger fans one of the most exciting runs for any team this decade.
Yes, that alone would have been enough. But the beginning of the 2008-09 season has only added to the memories. Entering the 2009 portion of the season, Princeton is 12-2, ranked eighth nationally and leading the ECAC in wins. Of its two losses, one came in a game when Princeton outshot nationally ranked Cornell 43-19 and lost 1-0, and the other came after Princeton overcame a 4-0 deficit before finally losing 6-4. Otherwise, Princeton has continued to establish itself as a true player, both in the conference and on the national scene.
To read more about Princeton's 2008 ECAC championship, click here.
2) The Women's Cross Country Team Dominates The Ivy League And Finishes Fifth Nationally
If you happened to be standing by the finish line at Van Cortlandt Park on this warm late October afternoon, you couldn't help but notice that Orange and Black was indeed the color of the day - and not just because it was Halloween. An astonishing nine of the first 11 runners to cross the finish line at the Ivy League Heptagonal women's cross country championships were dressed in those colors, a neat trick by a team that was a treat to watch.
Princeton's women's cross country team had a dominant fall, which included the greatest single team performance in the history of the Ivy League championships and ultimately a fifth-place finish at the NCAA championships.
Princeton scored 17 points at the Ivy race by virtue of going 1-2-3-5-6 to shatter the old record of 23 points. The Tigers then went on to host the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional race, an event that welcomed cross country devotees and novices to the University's new Washington Road course. Those in attendance saw a dramatic finish, as Princeton and West Virginia tied for first at what was probably the toughest regional in the country.
That set up the final race of the year, the NCAA championships in Terre Haute, Ind. Princeton runners crossed the line in spots 11-42-49-57-61, giving the Tigers a fifth-place finish, four spots better than the previous best finish in program history.
For the recap from the NCAA championship race, click here.
3) The No. 42, Worn By Bill Bradley '65 And Dick Kazmaier '52, Gets Retired At Princeton
For those who knew the history of Princeton athletics, the No. 42 always meant something special. Heisman Trophy winner Dick Kazmaier '52 wore it. All-America basketball player Bill Bradley '65 wore it.
During next season, as well as all others to come, there won't be another Princeton student-athlete wearing it. On Oct. 24, the Princeton department of athletics formally retired the number in a ceremony that brought both Kazmaier and Bradley together and was emceed by Pulitzer Prize-winning author John McPhee '53.
Kazmaier won the 1951 Heisman Trophy and led the 1950 Tigers to a share of the national championship. The 1951 Tigers finished the year ranked first in the East and sixth nationally. Bradley, Princeton basketball's all-time leading scorer who went on to win two NBA titles with the New York Knicks, serve three terms as a U.S. Senator from his adopted home state of New Jersey and make a run at the White House in 2000, reflected on tales from his days wearing the Princeton uniform.
Not only were both historic figures within the athletic department, but as Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67 pointed out, they were legendary teammates as well.
“Both Dick and Bill had an ability to rise to the competitive challenge while simultaneously lifting the performance of their teammates,” Princeton Director of Walters said at the reception. “They aspired to be great and in the process, inspired others to emulate them. Princeton has been the beneficiary of their remarkable stature, and now it is time for Princeton to return the favor and honor them and to dignify their achievements as two of the most worthy and deserving Tigers of all time.”
For a full recap of the night, please click here.
4) Ivy Champion Women's Swimming/Diving Sends Seven To NCAA Championships
For veteran women's swimming and diving coach Susan Teeter, any season that ends with an Ivy League championship is a special one. But there was just a little something different about 2008, and much of the excitement came after the league title had been decided.
That shouldn't diminish what Princeton did in the pool during the regular season last year. Led by All-America Alicia Aemisegger, who would race live on NBC in the 400 IM Olympic Trial final later in the summer, Princeton won its third straight Ivy League crown in dominant fashion. With the league crown up for grabs at DeNunzio Pool, Princeton pulled away on the first night and never looked back. Princeton won 12 of the 21 events and placed second in eight of the others to leave the field.
But that was just the beginning. As a team, Princeton was honored with a No. 18 national ranking, and Aemisegger, Courtney Kilkuts (200 IM), Lisa Hamming (400 IM) and Monika Friedman (100/200 fly) had already earned NCAA berths in their individual events. But then the news came that the 800 free relay team of Meredith Monroe, Justina DiFazio, Aemisegger and Brett Shiflett had qualified as a team. For a non-scholarship program to send one person to NCAAs was something special; to send seven, including a relay quartet, was a dream come true for Teeter.
The seven swimmers headed to Columbus to take on the best in the nation, and they more than held their own. Aemisegger claimed All-America honors in the 400 IM, 500 free and 1650 free, giving her six individual honors in her first two years at Princeton. But the most exciting swim came during the second session, when Princeton went for its first All-America honor in a relay since 1981. After the first three swimmers finished, Princeton was on the outside looking in for one of the top 16 spots and the accompanying All-America honor; with 50 meters remaining in anchor Monroe's leg, Princeton needed to make up nearly a full second to pull it off.
Then Monroe turned on the jets and made her dramatic move. Her final leg of 28.06 caught her Penn State rival, and when the two touched the wall simultaneously for 16th place, it set up a share of the final All-America honor in the event. It was a most dramatic conclusion to one of the greatest seasons for the proud women's swimming and diving tradition. To read the recap of that session of the NCAA championships, click here.
5) Jordan Culbreath Punctuates Football Season With Historic Rushing Performance
After an up-and-down 2008 season, head football coach Roger Hughes was looking for more than just a season-ending victory. He was hoping for a springboard into what he thinks could be a special 2009 season.
The springboard was Jordan Culbreath, GoPrincetonTigers.com's No. 6 6 athlete of the year. His effort on Nov. 22 on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium played a major role in that honor, and it stands alone as the No. 5 story of the year.
Needing 70 rushing yards to record the eighth 1,000-yard rushing season in the 140-year history of Princeton football, Culbreath reached the milestone with 206 yards to spare. He rushed for 276 yards, the second-most in a single game in Princeton history and the fifth-most by any Ivy League running back, and he scored two touchdowns to lead Princeton to a 28-10 victory over Dartmouth on a frigid November day. And he did so with Princeton's greatest running back ever cheering him every step of the way.
The drama concerning the 1000-yard milestone was basically put to rest on Culbreath's first touch, when he went 58 yards for a touchdown. He slithered out of a mass of players, broke one tackle attempt and found daylight as he went from the middle of the field to the home sideline. By the end of the first quarter, Culbreath had his 1000-yard mark, and then he started moving past players on the single-season rushing total.
By day's end, he singlehandedly outrushed Dartmouth 276-(-11), scored twice and averaged 6.9 yards per rush. His performance has been only bettered once at Princeton, and it was by Keith Elias' 299-yard day at Lafayette in 1992. Ironically, Elias was on the Princeton sideline for the Dartmouth game and told the Tiger junior after the game he was hoping Culbreath would get his record.
While he didn't get the record, he did give Princeton fans a major reason to look forward to the 2009 season. To read a full recap on Culbreath's amazing day, click here.
6) Women's Squash Rallies Past Top-Seeded Penn To Repeat As National Champions
In 2007, the women's squash team went into the Howe Cup national team tournament as heavy favorites to bring the national title back to the Jadwin Squash Courts. When the tournament was actually held in those squash courts one year later, the expectations were slightly different. Princeton was still viewed as a power, but it was top-seeded Penn picked to go home with the title.
The expectations may have changed, but the goals didn't. And, in the end, neither did the results.
After knocking off Yale in a tough semifinal to earn a berth in the championship match, Princeton took on a Penn team that won the Ivy League title, thanks in part to a 5-4 Quaker victory over Princeton in Philadelphia. Playing a three-round, three-match format in a best-of-nine showdown, the Quakers got out to a good start with two of the first three wins.
A packed C-level of Jadwin never lost hope, and the second round of matches belonged to Princeton. No. 8 Maggie O'Toole and No. 5 Kaitlin Sennatt were dominant in 3-0 wins, and No. 2 Neha Kumar, who returned after an injury-plagued season, won three tight games to get Princeton within one match of the title. With a top-rated No. 1 player, the Quakers were able to cut the deficit to 4-3, but Princeton needed a victory from either No. 4 Emery Maine or No. 7 Carly Grabowski to clinch the title.
In the end, they both won, but Maine got the championship clincher. After splitting her first two games, she allowed only one point in the final two games to earn a 9-5, 5-9, 9-1, 9-0 victory and a second straight title for the Tigers. Grabowski ended her career with a thrilling 9-7 win in the fifth game; that ended Princeton's 6-3 team victory and set off a joyous celebration outside the courts. To read a full recap of the championship final, click here.
7) Women's Soccer Christens Roberts Stadium With Championship Year
Almost regardless of their final record, this was going to be a special season for Princeton women's soccer coach Julie Shackford and her unheralded squad. On Sept. 5, the Tigers opened the beautiful Roberts Stadium, a state-of-the-art soccer complex that should greatly aid in the recruiting efforts of both Princeton soccer teams for years to come. On that night, seniors Sarah Peteraf and Lisa Chinn scored goals to lead the women's team to a 2-1 comeback victory over Boston University.
It's the kind of night that can almost make a season by itself.
Fortunately, it didn't have to. While the luster of Roberts Stadium never wore off, people soon took notice of what was happening on Myslik Field. The women's soccer team went 8-1-2 after the opening-night heroics, including a 1-0 victory over Dartmouth on Dedication Night at the stadium. Peteraf, a first-team All-Ivy and Regional All-America selection, scored the game winner that night. It was one her team-leading 12 goals and 27 points on the season.
None, however, was as important as her final point at Roberts Stadium. In fact, it was her final touch at Roberts Stadium. Needing a victory to earn a share of the 2008 Ivy League championship, Princeton headed to overtime against Penn. With approximately five minutes remaining in the final overtime, Peteraf set up a corner kick and sent her offering to classmate and fellow Regional All-America honoree Taylor Numann. The ball was redirected off Numann's head and into the goal, setting off a jubilant celebration that goes far beyond just opening a new stadium. For a full recap of the championship victory, click here.
All of the sudden, brand new Roberts Stadium had its own history to build on. Princeton went on to the NCAA tournament, where it fell 2-1 to a talented West Virginia squad. It hardly tarnished a season that was supposed to be all about a new home and turned out to be all about the home team.
8) Softball's Improbable Comeback Highlights Ivy League Championship Season
The Princeton softball team took Class of 1895 field on Sunday, April 27, needing two wins to clinch a division title and one to keep its dreams alive for a 17th Ivy League championship. Through 2.5 innings, Princeton was down 7-1 in the first game and looked to be in big-time trouble.
What happened over the next few hours might have constituted the single most exciting day of the year. In the opener, trailing 7-1, Princeton hit two home runs to get (temporarily) within one run. Cornell, another of the traditional league powers and a program that has fed off the longball for years, picked up four more runs in the fifth to hold an 11-6 lead. Surely, Princeton couldn't have another big comeback in it during this game.
Well, you've probably caught on that losses don't factor too high in these Top 12 lists. Kathryn Welch, one of the earlier home run hitters, crushed a grand slam over the right-centerfield fence to cut the deficit to one run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Two batters later, Jamie Lettire, the No. 12 athlete of the year on the GoPrincetonTigers.com countdown, followed with a shot over the centerfield fence to give Princeton an improbable lead. Three big outs by Kristen Schaus earned Princeton the stunning 12-11 win.
Deep breath. Game two.
Princeton actually built a 4-2 lead midway through the second game, but Cornell scored two in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead. Pitcher Jenn Meunier, coming off a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth, needed one more shutout inning in the seventh to split the doubleheader and force a one-game playoff. Welch and Lettire, who shouldn't expect holiday cards from Ithaca, worked their magic again. Welch tied it with a home run over the centerfield fence and Lettire won it with a home run over the left-centerfield fence to close a shocking pair of victories for the Tigers, who would sweep Harvard in the league championship series to clinch the title.
To read a full recap of the day, which includes box scores from both games, click here.
9) Field Hockey Dominates Ivy League, Reaches NCAA Quarterfinal
League competition, especially in the Ivy League, is supposed to be fairly balanced. Teams are traditionally recruiting from the same pool of student-athletes who can qualify both academically and athletically to compete at such a high level. It's not uncommon to see undefeated teams, but it's also uncommon to see this kind of dominance.
4-0. 6-1. 3-2. 7-1. 5-0. 4-0. 5-0.
These were the scores of the seven Ivy League games for the 2008 Princeton field hockey team. In case you were wondering, the higher number belongs to Princeton each and every time. Outside of four early minutes against Columbia, the Tigers were either tied or ahead of its league rivals. Princeton has been a dominant force in the league for well over a decade, but this squad made it known early that the field hockey championship wasn't going anywhere outside of the Princeton campus.
While there was plenty of returning talent from the 2007 championship team, the ace in the hole turned out to be freshman Katie Reinprecht, who would go on to claim the Ivy League's Player and Rookie of the Year honors. Reinprecht was the first rookie to ever win the Player of the Year honor, and she was quite deserving. She averaged more than two points per game in her first season and recorded five goals and seven assists during the league season.
Reinprecht showed her mettle outside of the Ivy League as well. In her first appearance in the NCAA tournament, she scored two goals to lead No. 9 Princeton past Connecticut 2-0, overcoming one of two regular-season losses for the Tigers. Princeton faced No. 3 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome for the right to play in the NCAA semifinal and never backed down from the host school. Despite trailing 2-1 at intermission, Princeton tied it at 2-2 with a goal from (shockingly) Reinprecht to force overtime. Syracuse would score the winner, but it would not tarnish one of the great seasons in Princeton field hockey history.
A recap of Princeton's exciting NCAA tournament win over Connecticut can be found here.
10) Wrestling Claims First Team Victory Since 2006
When Princeton brought in Chris Ayres to take over as the head wrestling coach prior to the 2006-07 season, the goal was simply to build a foundation for a program that could win consistently.
That foundation began to develop with talented recruits and hard-working upperclassmen. In 2008, the Tigers had one freshman (Tony Comunale) place in the EIWA championships and another (Travis Erdman) earn All-Ivy honors. But there still wasn't that first team victory to use for the foundation.
That changed Dec. 6, when Princeton traveled to Rutgers for an EIWA tri-meet with the Scarlet Knights and Franklin & Marshall. Princeton was without a heavyweight, meaning the Tigers were starting the match in a 6-0 hole, and Ayres knew his team would need to win the high majority of, as he called them, the “toss-up matches.”
133 pounds: 3-2 win. 149 pounds: 11-9 win. 165 pounds: 9-6 win. Three close matches, three Princeton victories. Starting with a 133-pound victory from junior Nikhil Pereira, the Tigers claimed all the close matches to pull out a 25-14 victory over the Diplomats; not only was it Princeton's first win since 2006, but it was also the team's first conference win since 2005. Two freshmen, Dan Kolodzik and Kurt Brendel, earned bonus points with the win; as Ayres continues to bring in young competitors who provide big wins, the foundation only gets stronger.
Since then, Princeton added a team victory over Delaware State and will head into the heart of the league season with more positive momentum than any time in the last few years.
To read the full recap of this match, including match-by-match scores and quotes from Ayres, click here.
11) Bob Schneider Rallies Lacrosse To Overtime Thriller At Harvard
Leadership comes in many forms. Sometimes it comes in the locker room after a tough loss. Sometimes it comes on the practice field before a big game.
And sometimes, like on April 12, it comes when your team needs it most. The men's lacrosse team had won 17 straight games over Harvard and was unbeaten in the Ivy League when Princeton rolled into Harvard Stadium for a showdown with the Crimson. Through 58:40, both streaks were in jeopardy; that's when leadership, in the form of two very big goals, came from Princeton senior captain Bob Schneider.
A goal with 2:04 remaining got Princeton back to a one-goal deficit (8-7), and after Alex Berg claimed one of his 15 faceoff wins, Schneider took a pass from Rich Sgalardi and beat Harvard goalie Joe Pike from 10 yards out to force a tie in the midst of a driving rainstorm. Schneider nearly won it in regulation, but one shot would go awry.
He would get another chance, thanks to an overtime save by All-America goalie Alex Hewit. This time, Schneider would not miss. He beat Pike high from about 10 yards out to ignite a celebration after a 9-8 victory. For a complete recap of the exciting win, click here.
Princeton would defeat Cornell the next weekend, but its Ivy title hopes vanished in tough road losses to Dartmouth and Brown in the final two weeks of the season. Still, for one afternoon, their championship dreams stayed alive thanks to the play - and leadership - of its great senior captain.
12) Chris Sailer Gets Elected To The National Lacrosse Hall Of Fame
At the end of the 1986 Tiger women's lacrosse season, Princeton had an all-time record of 62-79-7. There were no Ivy League championships to display, and coming off a three-year run of six wins and 33 losses, there was no reason to believe any would soon be coming.
The 1987 team had a new head coach, a former All-Ivy player at Harvard. Her first year wasn't much to write home about.
Her next 21 seasons would provide enough material to do more than write home about; those years would be enough to inscribe a plaque in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, where Sailer will be forever honored for her brilliant (and still ongoing) career at Princeton.
A three-time NCAA champion and three-time National Coach of the Year, Sailer has guided Princeton to 19 winning seasons in the last 20 years. During that time, the Tigers have won nine Ivy League titles, competed in 16 NCAA tournaments and reached the national semifinal 11 times.
In 1994, Sailer guided Princeton to wins over Virginia and Maryland to capture the program's first NCAA title. The team would go to five more finals and won the national championship in both 2002 and 2003, the latter coming in an overtime thriller over Virginia.
The final chapter has not yet been written on this story, but one of the greatest honors was bestowed on one of Princeton's most deserving figures, and that makes it one of the top stories of 2008.
To read the official press release of Sailer's induction, please click here.