A Really Nice Touchdown

TigerBlog came back into the office yesterday at one point and was greeted with this question from his colleague Craig Sachson:

What was Maggie's last name?

With all due respect to all the other Maggies who have ever played sports at Princeton, TigerBlog knew immediately which one Craig meant.

"Langlas," he said. "From Missoula, Montana."

Maggie Langlas, Class of 2000, was a 1,000-point scorer and first-team All-Ivy League selection as a women's basketball player here. She reached her 1,000th career point in the same game as her teammate Kate Thirolf, also a first-team All-Ivy honoree, and that game was played at, of all places, the University of Hawaii.

Interestingly, as far as trivia goes, Langlas and Thirolf reached 1,000 points on the same court in Hawaii where Gabe Lewullis of the men's team had done so the previous season. Princeton had three straight players reach their 1,000th point at the University of Hawaii.

Langlas and Thirolf also aren't the only Princeton duo to reach 1,000 points in the same game. Just three years after they did it, Maureen Lane and Allison Cahill both went over 1,000 points in a triple-overtime win at Yale.

In addition to being great basketball players, Maggie Langlas and Kate Thirolf were both student workers in the Office of Athletic Communications. Back then, at football games, someone needed to be assigned to sit by the phone and answer it when wire services called looking for the score of the game, as well as call several outlets at the end of each quarter or after a score.

Maggie, then a freshman, jumped right in, during the last season at Palmer Stadium. TigerBlog can still hear her as she said:
"It's 7-0 Princeton."
Pause.
"What kind of touchdown?"
Pause.
"It was a very nice touchdown."

That's Maggie in a nutshell. It's likely that you have never met anyone nicer than Maggie Langlas.

Anyway, a quick search seems to reveal that she is now Maggie Langlas Ward, a lawyer involved in issues related to sports. Click HERE to see.

As for current Princeton Maggies, there's Maggie O'Connell, a sophomore on the women's volleyball team. This Maggie was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and a first-team All-Ivy selection a year ago, when Princeton won its second straight Ivy League title and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

Maggie O'Connell is from Katy, Texas, which is close to Houston. Hopefully Hurricane Harvey was kind to her and her family.

The women's volleyball team is off to another strong start for 2017-18. This weekend, the Tigers will be in Washington, D.C., playing at a tournament at American. Princeton takes on the host team tomorrow night at 7 and then plays Howard and Iowa Saturday.

Speaking of tomorrow, there is another soccer doubleheader on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, a big one at that. It's the reverse of a week ago, as the women's game will be first, followed by the men.

It begins at 4, when the women take on West Virginia, in a game that will be televised on ESPNU. The second game, which starts at 7, will match the men against SIU-Edwardsville.

Admission, of course, is free.

The women's game is a matchup of Top 20 teams. West Virginia, ranked sixth, owns wins over then-No. 1 Penn State and then-No. 5 Georgetown.. The Mountaineers also are coming off a season in which they went 23-2-2 and reached the NCAA championship game, where they lost 3-1 to USC.

Princeton is off to a 6-0 start, one that included a sweep of nationally ranked North Carolina State and Wake Forest on the road. Those wins pushed Princeton into the national rankings this week, at No. 20.

Princeton had shut out its first five opponents before New Hampshire scored a goal in last Sunday's game, leaving it at 1-1 midway through the second. Princeton responded in a big way, getting two goals to win 3-1. It's the kind of test that a team that's had everything come easily so far needed to have, and maybe that was the best sign from the Tigers so far this year.

Or maybe the best sign is that Princeton has gotten 14 goals this season, and they've come from six different players.

After West Virginia, Princeton will host Delaware Sunday at 4. If you want to see West Virginia twice this weekend, come back at 1 Sunday, when the Mountaineers take on La Salle on Myslik Field.

As for the men's game, SIU-Edwardsville is the defending Missouri Valley Conference champ. After that, the Cougar won two games in the NCAA tournament a year ago, beating Michigan State and Butler before a 2-1 loss to Wake Forest in the third round.

SIU-Edwardsville is 2-3 this year. Princeton and SIU-Edwardsville actually have a common opponent, Syracuse, whom Princeton tied 1-1 and whom the Cougars lost to 2-1.

So that's tomorrow's doubleheader.

Remember, admission is free.