Thursday, October 24, 2024

A Soccer Doubleheader In Perfect Weather

So where does TigerBlog go to arrange to have the weather in Princeton be like this year-round? 

Is there an app for that? Are there forms he can fill out?

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It's a big weekend for Princeton soccer, both the men and the women. There will be a doubleheader Saturday on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, with the women against Dartmouth at 1 and the men against Yale at 4. 

The weather will be perfect. 

The field for the Ivy League women's tournament is officially half set, with spots clinched by Princeton and Columbia. There are two weekends left in the regular season, and there are all kinds of possibilities for the other two spots and the host role for the No. 1 seed.

Right now, Princeton trails Columbia by a single point in the standings, with the Lions at 4-0-1 for 13 points and the Tigers at 4-1-0 for 12. Oh, and Princeton ends the regular season at Columbia Nov. 2 (kickoff at 2).

The next three in the standings have Brown with eight points, Yale with seven and Cornell with six. The remaining games this weekend are Cornell at Brown, Columbia at Yale (the team who defeated the Tigers) and Harvard at Penn.

Should Princeton win out, it would have an outright Ivy title and would host the tournament. The same is true for Columbia. 

In addition to the implications for the women's tournament and championship, the game Saturday for Princeton will be Senior Day and Alumni Day.

Princeton leads the Ivy League in goals scored and fewest goals allowed, which is a pretty good combination. In fact, Princeton's 29 goals are six more than any other league team, and the nine allowed are five fewer than the next-best Ivy team. 

Princeton's RPI is 53, which is the best in the league. Columbia is next at 63.

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The Princeton men's soccer team also starts the weekend in second place in the league, though on the men's side, there are still three Ivy games to be played. 

Right now, Penn is in first place in the league at 4-0-0 for 12 points, followed by Princeton at 3-1-0 for nine points (with a loss to Cornell). Just as the women, the regular season for the men ends with a game against the team currently ahead of it in the standings, which also means that the men would be the host for the Ivy tournament by winning out, as would Penn.

No other team in the league can say that. 

In addition to the game against Yale this weekend and the home game against Penn Nov. 9, Princeton also has a game Nov. 2 at Dartmouth. The Big Green can't host by winning out, but they do have games remaining against the two teams they trail in the standings, beginning at Penn this Saturday night.

The Big Green have seven points, followed by Cornell with six, Columbia with four and the remaining three with three each. 

When it comes to RPI, Penn is the highest-ranked Ivy at 12, followed by Cornell at 18 and then Princeton at 66. 

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The new-look NCAA tennis world will have its individual singles and doubles championships in the fall, with direct qualification through the 13 ITA Regionals. Princeton's men competed in theirs last weekend at Penn and came away with qualifiers in both draws. 

On the single side, junior Fnu Nidunjianzan earned his spot by reaching the regional final. On the doubles side, Filippos Astreinidis and Paul Inchauspe won the championship, which also vaults them into the NCAA tournament. 

The Ivy League individual championships will be held this weekend, with the women at Penn and the men at Yale. 

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The women's hockey team has its first two ECAC games this weekend, as it travels to Yale tomorrow and Brown Saturday. Princeton is 2-0 after 7-1 and 11-1 wins over Robert Morris last weekend. 

The men's hockey team has a scrimmage Saturday night at 7 at Hobey Baker Rink against Waterloo. The opener for the men is still two weeks away, with home games against Harvard and Dartmouth Nov. 7 and 8.

The complete Princeton schedule for the weekend is HERE.


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