A Staggered Saturday

So if you were looking for TigerBlog yesterday morning and didn't see it, that's because TigerBlog set it to post at 12 pm instead of 12 am.

That happens once or twice a year, so you're set for awhile. In the meantime, please accept TB's apologies. 

What? You thought he forgot to write? Never. 

He's especially not going to forget now that there is so much going on. Here it comes, everyone. It's almost time for the first weekend of the first crossover season this year.

The fall/winter crossover isn't usually as busy as its winter/spring counterpart, but there is plenty that will be coming down the pike in the next few weeks. 

This weekend you'll have huge events for fall teams who are chasing championships and postseason bids, as well as the opening weekend for men's and women's hockey. By next weekend you can add men's and women's swimming and diving to the mix, and then men's and women's basketball season opens shortly after that.

For this weekend, both hockey teams are away - the women at Yale and Brown and the men at Army. Those are real games, by the way, and not scrimmages.

For today, TB will stay focused on the fall. Specifically, there are four teams on campus Saturday, beginning at 11 am and then staggered throughout the day so that you can see every minute of all four events. All four will either directly decide the Ivy League championship or go a long way towards doing so.

TB will go chronologically. 

First, there are the Ivy League Heptagonal cross country championships at the West Windsor course, with the women at 11 and the men at noon.

On the women's side, no Ivy League team is ranked in the national poll. If you go to the regional polls, Princeton is ranked fourth in the Mid-Atlantic Region, behind usual suspects West Virginia, Villanova and Georgetown. Penn is ranked eighth in the region. 

There are then five other Ivy schools ranked in the Northeast Region, led by Harvard, Columbia and Yale at 4-5-6.

What does this mean for the women's race? It figures to be close.

There are two nationally ranked men's teams, Princeton (No. 18) and Harvard (No. 25). What does this mean for the men's race? It also figures to be close.

There aren't too many events on the Ivy League calendar each year that TigerBlog likes more than Heps cross country. Each of the schools has a tent with alums and friends, and the day has a party feel to it. The colors when the teams line up at the start are awesome, and trying to figure out who won as you watch the runners come to the finish line is always challenging.

When the two races end, it'll be time to walk over to Sherrerd Field for the soccer doubleheader against Cornell. It starts at 1 with the women and then continues at 4 with the men.

There are two games left in the women's regular season, and here is where things stand: Brown is 5-0-0, followed by Princeton at 4-1-0 (with a loss to Brown) and then Harvard and Penn at 3-2-0. Princeton plays Cornell (1-4-0) and then Penn next weekend. Brown has Penn and then Yale (1-4-0). Harvard has Dartmouth and Columbia (both 1-4-0).

Since Ivy soccer goes by three points for a win and one for a tie, Brown has 15 points, followed by Princeton's 12. Brown also holds the tiebreaker for the automatic NCAA bid.

At the same time, Princeton is ranked 14th in Division I in RPI, followed by Harvard at 16 and Brown at 22. Clearly everyone is in the hunt for NCAA tournament spots (and even home games). Also clearly, the Ivy title goes through Brown, who would need to lose a game to open the door for a shared title.

On the men's side, there are three weekends left. The standings now are: Princeton (12 points), Cornell (nine points), Yale (eight points) and then Penn (five points). Those three are Princeton's last three opponents, beginning with the Big Red Saturday.

So here's how much the race can swing in one weekend. Should Princeton defeat Cornell, Penn lose or tie its game against Brown and Yale lose to Columbia, then Princeton would clinch at least a tie for the Ivy League championship and earn the league's automatic NCAA bid, even with two more games to play. On the other hand, a Cornell win over Princeton puts the Big Red in control of the automatic bid and leave the two tied for first.

That's a lot for one weekend. Of course, these are the weekends you play for, right? Princeton has won five straight games and six of seven and is at its best now. Cornell is ranked 24th in the RPI, by far the highest in the league (Yale at 61 is next). Princeton, at 111, is actually behind those two and Harvard (89) and Penn (103).

What does it mean? It means that every game is a challenge. 

It's the theme of the weekend at Princeton actually. That's four huge events, staggered for your viewing ease.