Princeton University Athletics
Friday TigerBlog - Smile
November 21, 2025 | Tiger Blog
Okay, it's a very busy weekend.
TigerBlog jumps right in ...
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There was an error (since corrected) here yesterday. No, it wasn't that Bill Belichick really did take a picture with Princeton associate head field hockey coach Dina Rizzo. He stiffed her, as TB reported.
The error was that today's NCAA semifinal game between Princeton and Harvard at Duke does not appear to be available on ESPN+, only on ESPNU. It's streamable HERE, though you need an ESPNU account to be able to access it.
TB apologizes for the mistake.
The winner of Princeton-Harvard will face the winner of the second semifinal, between North Carolina and Northwestern, in Sunday's championship game at 1.
Last night was the Final Four banquet, which gathered the four teams who are competing this weekend. It was a very nice event, the calm before the coming storm of the weekend, which will end with an NCAA title for one of those four teams.
TigerBlog, for his part, broke out his Class of 1965 gear for the occasion:
By the way, that's TB with Rizzo and athletic trainer Jade Hennessy. TigerBlog was honored to be in the picture and would take a picture with Rizzo any time.
And as a follow-up to the story of that one North Carolina head coach who did not opt to let a Princetonian get a picture taken with him, TigerBlog approached Tar Heel field hockey coach Erin Matson to see if she would take a picture with him. Was it a UNC thing?
The answer?
"Of course," she said. That's two UNC head coaches who've jumped at the chance to get a picture with TigerBlog.
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As for the game today, it's the third meeting of the season between the teams, and each has a win in the first two. Harvard took down Princeton 3-1 in Princeton back on Sept. 26, but Princeton has not lost since, rolling up 13 straight wins, including a 2-1 win over Harvard in the Ivy League tournament final at Harvard two Sundays ago.
You can read all about the game in TB's "A to Z" HERE, and he'll give you some highlights:
* Princeton has started four freshmen and four sophomores in its two NCAA tournament wins
* Princeton has not trailed at any point during its 13-game winning streak
* the team who scores first is 19-1 in Princeton's 20 games
* Harvard has only trailed during four games this season and was the last unbeaten team in Division I
* Princeton allows only seven shots per game and has held Harvard to 14 in the two games
* Harvard has scored four goals on 14 shots in two games against Princeton and averages 15.2 shots per game
If ever there has seemed to be a 50-50 matchup in an NCAA semifinal game, this is it.
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The men's soccer team found out its opponent for Sunday's second round NCAA tournament game. The third-seeded Tigers will face Duke, who defeated FDU 1-0 yesterday afternoon, interestingly, in Durham as well.
The goal came on a penalty kick in the final minute by the way. Apparently it was a good call, but the ref needs to be really sure to award it there.
So now Duke gets to make the same 482-mile bus ride that the Princeton field hockey team did, assuming it's the same difference from Duke to Princeton as it is Princeton to Duke. The regular NCAA tournament rule is that the organization will pay for flights for teams beyond 400 miles from the game site, but because of all the delays of late, it was moved to 500 miles.
Hmmm. What is 500-482? The answer is "a long bus ride."
Princeton is the No. 3 seed in the men's soccer tournament. The down side of getting a first-round bye is that your first opponent will have just won a game and by definition will have some momentum. The plus side is that you have extra rest and, you know, you've earned the right to play at home for everything you've done all season.
The game will be Sunday at 4 on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium.
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The women's basketball team is in the Bahamas for games tomorrow against Penn State and Sunday against Maryland-Eastern Shore.
TB has never been to the Bahamas. He hears it's nice. Going there is not on his bucket list. You want to know what is?
Princeton head coach Carla Berube was recently on a podcast in which she mentioned her love of karaoke. You can see for yourself at around the 14:40 mark:
After hearing that, TB texted Berube the video of his rendition of "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" during field hockey Bus Karaoke a few weeks ago. Berube texted him back that she'd like to do a duet, to which TB said that it had vaulted to No. 1 on his bucket list.
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The Ivy League women's volleyball tournament will be in Dillon Gym this weekend, beginning today with the semifinals between No. 1 Princeton and No. 4 Brown at 4, followed by No. 2 Cornell and No. 3 Yale at 7.
The winners meet tomorrow at 6 for the Ivy League's automatic NCAA tournament bid. No matter what happens at Dillon this weekend, Princeton is the outright Ivy League champion for 2025.
The All-Ivy team that was announced this week had Princeton's Sydney Draper as the Player of the Year. There were seven first-team All-Ivy selections, and all seven will be in Dillon this weekend — including Princeton's Draper and Valerie Nutakor.
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Beyond those events, it's another busy weekend, including the final football game of the season. The Tigers will be at Penn tomorrow, with kickoff at 1 at Franklin Field. It's always good to end a season with a win.
The NCAA cross country championships are tomorrow, in Missouri. The Princeton men won the Mid-Atlantic Regional last weekend to qualify as a team and enter the event ranked 18th in the country. A Top 20 finish would sound good.
The full schedule for the weekend's more-than 30 events is HERE.
