This weekend brings with it November, which means that the fall Ivy League races are starting to wind down. As of now, no Ivy League championship has been awarded for 2008-09 in any sport, though the first two of the 33 that will be won in this academic year are guaranteed to be decided this Friday.
In all, five Princeton teams still have a realistic chance to think in terms of a fall Ivy League championship. That hardly means that any of the five will win.
The first two championships to be decided will be Friday, which happens to be Halloween, at the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country championships at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. Van Cortlandt Park has hosted 60 of the last 61 Heps cross country championships.
Princeton is the defending champion in both the men's and women's divisions. The women are a prohibitive favorite again and a legitimate national contender. The men's team is ranked higher than any other Ivy team, but there are several serious challengers, most notably Cornell, Dartmouth and Columbia.
The Ivy League field hockey championship essentially comes down to this Saturday's game between Princeton and Cornell in Ithaca. Both teams are 5-0 in the league; no other team has fewer than two league losses. The winner of the game will clinch at least a tie for the Ivy League championship and will also clinch the Ivy League's spot in the NCAA tournament play-in game, which either Princeton or Cornell will host Tuesday, Nov. 11.
Princeton has outscored its league foes 25-4; Cornell has outscored its foes 14-7. The loser of the game Saturday can still get a share of the league title with a win and a loss by the winner the following week, when Princeton its at Penn and Cornell is home against Dartmouth. Penn and Dartmouth are both 3-2 in the league.
The women's soccer race is pretty wide open heading down the stretch and can still go in all sorts of directions. Harvard, at 4-1-0, is in first after its win over Princeton Saturday night; Princeton and Columbia are next at 3-1-1. Princeton plays at Cornell and home with Penn. Harvard is at Dartmouth and home with Columbia, while the Lions are at Yale this weekend as well.
The best case scenario for Princeton is wins in its last two games, a Yale win over Columbia and a Columbia win over Harvard. There are countless other scenarios as well that yield one champion or multiple champions, and Penn and Yale are still mathematically alive in some scenarios. Princeton, with a strong RPI, is still alive for an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament should the Tigers not win the league's automatic bid.
The women's volleyball race is basically at the midpoint, and Princeton and Yale are tied with one league loss apiece, though Yale defeated Princeton 3-0 in New Haven in the first meeting. Princeton and Yale meet Nov. 15 at Dillon Gym.
Cornell is a strong third in the league race at 6-2, while Penn is at 4-3. The Quakers are the only team to knock off Yale in the league this season.
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