Princeton Heads To Dartmouth In Second-To-Last Regular-Season Game

There are three spots in the upcoming Ivy League field hockey tournament that have already been clinched. The fourth and final one is Princeton's if it wins its final two games. Then again, it's also Yale's if it wins its last two games.

There are only eight Ivy field hockey games left this season, with four this weekend and four next weekend. After that will be the Ivy tournament, which can still be in one of three places.

Princeton at Dartmouth
Five storylines

The Ivy tournament
Harvard (5-0), Cornell (4-1) and Penn (4-1) have all cemented spots in the first four-team league tournament, which will 1) decide the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and 2) will be held at the site of the No. 1 seed.

Princeton is currently 2-3, with games at Dartmouth and at Yale. By the time Princeton and Dartmouth play Saturday, Yale will have played Columbia (Friday, 6).

Should Yale win, then no matter what Princeton does in the game against Dartmouth, then the fourth spot in the Ivy tournament will go to the winner of the Princeton-Yale game. Should Yale lose to Columbia and Princeton defeat Dartmouth, then Princeton would clinch the fourth spot.

Should Yale and Princeton both lose this weekend, then the winner of the Princeton-Yale game would still get the fourth spot. Brown, Dartmouth and Columbia are mathematically eliminated from the race.

The Ivy tournament II
Princeton could not make the Ivy tournament, or it could be the second, third or fourth seed. It cannot be the top seed, and Princeton cannot host the tournament.

The league race
Princeton could still mathematically get a share of the league championship, which in that case would have to be a four-way tie at 5-2. To get there, Princeton would have to win out and Cornell and Penn would both have to beat Harvard and both lose to Brown.

Princeton has won 27 Ivy League championships. The rest of the league combined has won 25.

Series history
Princeton has a 33-8-2 edge in the series against Dartmouth. The Tigers have won 10 straight against the Big Green.

RPI
Princeton has an RPI of 19, which is the second-best in the Ivy League, behind Harvard at No. 10.

Princeton has played six of the top 10 RPI teams and eight of the top 20. The Tigers' best win is over No. 9 Maryland, and the Tigers also have a win over No. 20 Cornell.

Rutgers, ranked fifth in the RPI, is the lone unbeaten team in Division I. North Carolina is the No. 1-ranked team in the RPI. Princeton lost to both in double overtime.

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