Princeton University Athletics
Friday, April 17
New Haven, Conn.
3:30 PM
Princeton University
at
Yale
Princeton and Yale will meet again this weekend in New Haven.
Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast
Updated: Weekend's Series at Yale to Start Friday
April 16, 2026 | Softball
At 12-0 in the Ivy League, the Princeton softball team has a big weekend ahead when it heads for a three-game series at Yale.
at Yale | Int'l Video | Live Stats Â
Friday, 3:30 p.m. ESPN+
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. DH | ESPN+Â Game 1Â |Â Game 2
Ivy standings: At 12-0 in the Ivy, Princeton holds a four-game lead over second-place Harvard (8-4) with the teams' series coming up next weekend in Cambridge after the Tigers go to Yale this weekend and the Crimson host Penn. Princeton's Ivy start is already in historic territory and can continue to make more history, as it's just the third time that Princeton has started as strong as 12-0 in Ivy play, along with 1995, when there were only 12 league games, the first year there were at least that number, and 2008, when the team started 14-0 on the way to 18-2, setting a league wins record that Harvard (2011) and Dartmouth (2014) equaled but still stands as the record for most league wins in a season. A sweep this weekend would tie the best league start in Ivy history, with Dartmouth having started 15-0 in 2014. The Ivy season grew from 14 to 20 games ahead of the 2007 season and then to 21 ahead of the 2018 season.
Depending on other results around the league, Princeton can clinch an Ivy League Tournament bid this weekend, as the Tigers stand 7 1/2 up on fifth-place Cornell (6-9) with nine to play for the Tigers (six to play for the Big Red) and eight up on Brown and Dartmouth (4-8), who are tied for sixth.Â
On Princeton: The Tigers (24-10, 12-0) have achieved their fifth straight 20-win season, having averaged 28 wins over the last four seasons. Princeton has had as many as 30 wins in a season during Lisa Van Ackeren's tenure (2024), and should Princeton surpass that, it would be the team's most wins in a season since winning 34 games in 2006. The Tigers enter the weekend as one of just two conference-unbeaten teams in Division I, alongside Washington, which heads to Oregon beginning Friday. Princeton was included in D1Softball's Mid-Major Top 25 this week, at No. 25. Entering Thursday, Princeton led the Ivy League in ERA (3.22), fielding percentage (.977), fewest batters hit by pitchers (eight), shutouts (six), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.36), WHIP (1.48), and winning percentage (.706). Individually, Julia Dumais led the Ivy in assists per game (2.15), doubles (13), doubles per game (0.38), times hit by pitch (10), and times hit by pitch per game (0.29), while Reece Uehara leads in ERA (2.30) and co-leads in saves with Brielle Wright (three), and Cassidy Shaw leads in wins (11) and fewest hit batters (two).Â
On Yale: The Bulldogs (13-25, 4-11) are coming off taking one of three from Columbia, bookended by non-league midweek wins over Fairfield and New Haven. The Bulldogs lead the Ivy in triples (11), triples per game (0.29) and walks (133), while Isabella Fortini has caught an Ivy-best eight base stealers, Elle Joseph leads the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.37) and walks allowed per seven innings (1.62), and Libby Peoples leads in triples (five) and triples per game (0.13).Â
Series history: Princeton leads the all-time series with Yale 72-15 and has won 13 straight against the Bulldogs. Yale won the last game of the 2019 series, and Princeton has swept every series since, in 2022 and 2024 in New Haven, in 2023 and 2025 in Princeton, and a 2023 Ivy League Tournament game in Princeton. The Tigers have won 11 straight in New Haven, with Yale last winning the second half of a 2014 doubleheader before Princeton swept two in 2016, and three in 2018, 2022 and 2024. Last season against Yale, Princeton out-hit the Bulldogs .297 to .117, with Sonia Zhang hitting .556 (5-9). Brielle Wright threw 13 of the team's 19 innings as Princeton shut out the Bulldogs in all three games, outscoring Yale 17-0 across the three wins. Cassidy Shaw threw five innings and Keala Hollenkamp threw one. Isabella Fortini is the only returning Bulldog who had multiple hits in last year's series, going 2 for 7 (.286). Five Yale arms saw action against the Tigers last season, and four of the five are back. Emma Taylor threw nine of the 16 innings, accruing a 3.89 ERA.Â
The Ivy title run: Princeton has won the last four Ivy League titles, which are decided on regular-season play, and has hosted the last four Ivy League postseasons, including the 2022 Ivy League Playoff Series (winning two of three from Harvard), the 2023 Ivy League Tournament (made final, which Harvard won), the 2024 Ivy League Tournament (won), and the 2025 Ivy League Tournament (made final, which Brown won). Only one other time in Ivy League history has a team won at least four Ivy League titles in a row, and that was Princeton as well, which won seven straight from 1983-89.
Coaching staff: Princeton head coach Lisa Van Ackeren is in her 14th season at Princeton and is the dean of the current Ivy League coaches. All-time, Van Ackeren is the second-winningest coach in program history and is the fifth-winningest head coach in Ivy League history, at 277 wins. The top four, all former coaches in the league, are Harvard's Jenny Allard (688), Cornell's Dick Blood (623), Princeton's Cindy Cohen (559) and Penn's Leslie King (354). Princeton has won six of the nine Ivy League Coach/Coaching Staff of the Year honors since the award was inaugurated in 2015, including 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (no award in 2020 or 2021). Assistant coach Alyssa Davis is entering her seventh season, Ashley McDonald her second, and Nicole Arias her 12th.Â
at Yale | Int'l Video | Live Stats Â
Friday, 3:30 p.m. ESPN+
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. DH | ESPN+Â Game 1Â |Â Game 2
Ivy standings: At 12-0 in the Ivy, Princeton holds a four-game lead over second-place Harvard (8-4) with the teams' series coming up next weekend in Cambridge after the Tigers go to Yale this weekend and the Crimson host Penn. Princeton's Ivy start is already in historic territory and can continue to make more history, as it's just the third time that Princeton has started as strong as 12-0 in Ivy play, along with 1995, when there were only 12 league games, the first year there were at least that number, and 2008, when the team started 14-0 on the way to 18-2, setting a league wins record that Harvard (2011) and Dartmouth (2014) equaled but still stands as the record for most league wins in a season. A sweep this weekend would tie the best league start in Ivy history, with Dartmouth having started 15-0 in 2014. The Ivy season grew from 14 to 20 games ahead of the 2007 season and then to 21 ahead of the 2018 season.
Depending on other results around the league, Princeton can clinch an Ivy League Tournament bid this weekend, as the Tigers stand 7 1/2 up on fifth-place Cornell (6-9) with nine to play for the Tigers (six to play for the Big Red) and eight up on Brown and Dartmouth (4-8), who are tied for sixth.Â
On Princeton: The Tigers (24-10, 12-0) have achieved their fifth straight 20-win season, having averaged 28 wins over the last four seasons. Princeton has had as many as 30 wins in a season during Lisa Van Ackeren's tenure (2024), and should Princeton surpass that, it would be the team's most wins in a season since winning 34 games in 2006. The Tigers enter the weekend as one of just two conference-unbeaten teams in Division I, alongside Washington, which heads to Oregon beginning Friday. Princeton was included in D1Softball's Mid-Major Top 25 this week, at No. 25. Entering Thursday, Princeton led the Ivy League in ERA (3.22), fielding percentage (.977), fewest batters hit by pitchers (eight), shutouts (six), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.36), WHIP (1.48), and winning percentage (.706). Individually, Julia Dumais led the Ivy in assists per game (2.15), doubles (13), doubles per game (0.38), times hit by pitch (10), and times hit by pitch per game (0.29), while Reece Uehara leads in ERA (2.30) and co-leads in saves with Brielle Wright (three), and Cassidy Shaw leads in wins (11) and fewest hit batters (two).Â
On Yale: The Bulldogs (13-25, 4-11) are coming off taking one of three from Columbia, bookended by non-league midweek wins over Fairfield and New Haven. The Bulldogs lead the Ivy in triples (11), triples per game (0.29) and walks (133), while Isabella Fortini has caught an Ivy-best eight base stealers, Elle Joseph leads the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.37) and walks allowed per seven innings (1.62), and Libby Peoples leads in triples (five) and triples per game (0.13).Â
Series history: Princeton leads the all-time series with Yale 72-15 and has won 13 straight against the Bulldogs. Yale won the last game of the 2019 series, and Princeton has swept every series since, in 2022 and 2024 in New Haven, in 2023 and 2025 in Princeton, and a 2023 Ivy League Tournament game in Princeton. The Tigers have won 11 straight in New Haven, with Yale last winning the second half of a 2014 doubleheader before Princeton swept two in 2016, and three in 2018, 2022 and 2024. Last season against Yale, Princeton out-hit the Bulldogs .297 to .117, with Sonia Zhang hitting .556 (5-9). Brielle Wright threw 13 of the team's 19 innings as Princeton shut out the Bulldogs in all three games, outscoring Yale 17-0 across the three wins. Cassidy Shaw threw five innings and Keala Hollenkamp threw one. Isabella Fortini is the only returning Bulldog who had multiple hits in last year's series, going 2 for 7 (.286). Five Yale arms saw action against the Tigers last season, and four of the five are back. Emma Taylor threw nine of the 16 innings, accruing a 3.89 ERA.Â
The Ivy title run: Princeton has won the last four Ivy League titles, which are decided on regular-season play, and has hosted the last four Ivy League postseasons, including the 2022 Ivy League Playoff Series (winning two of three from Harvard), the 2023 Ivy League Tournament (made final, which Harvard won), the 2024 Ivy League Tournament (won), and the 2025 Ivy League Tournament (made final, which Brown won). Only one other time in Ivy League history has a team won at least four Ivy League titles in a row, and that was Princeton as well, which won seven straight from 1983-89.
Coaching staff: Princeton head coach Lisa Van Ackeren is in her 14th season at Princeton and is the dean of the current Ivy League coaches. All-time, Van Ackeren is the second-winningest coach in program history and is the fifth-winningest head coach in Ivy League history, at 277 wins. The top four, all former coaches in the league, are Harvard's Jenny Allard (688), Cornell's Dick Blood (623), Princeton's Cindy Cohen (559) and Penn's Leslie King (354). Princeton has won six of the nine Ivy League Coach/Coaching Staff of the Year honors since the award was inaugurated in 2015, including 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (no award in 2020 or 2021). Assistant coach Alyssa Davis is entering her seventh season, Ashley McDonald her second, and Nicole Arias her 12th.Â
Players Mentioned
IF/C
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballSoftball Highlights vs. Monmouth, 4-15-26
Wednesday, April 15
Softball Highlights vs. Penn, 4-12-26
Sunday, April 12
Softball Highlights vs. Penn, 4-11-26
Saturday, April 11
Softball Highlights vs. Brown, 4-4-26
Saturday, April 04