A Feel-Good Saturday For Princeton Lacrosse

TigerBlog spent eight hours at Sherrerd Field Saturday.

The occasion was a lacrosse doubleheader, first the men against Brown and then the women against Columbia. Here are some of the things he saw:

* Princeton won both games, outscoring its two opponents 34-13 (the men by a 17-7 count, the women by a 17-6 count)
* Both games were 8-3 Princeton at the half
* Between the two Princeton teams, a total of 67 players saw the field
* Both teams used all of their goalies, for a total of seven (four women, three men)
* Three different players scored their first career goal (Jake Vana for the men, Maggie Bacigalupo and Maddie Mitchell for the women)
* The two Princeton teams combined to take 89 shots

Oh, and both teams honored Sandee Moore at halftime.

Sandee is one of the "behind the scenes" people who work in the Princeton Athletic department. In her case, she has worked for the men's and women's lacrosse teams, making sure everything runs smoothly in those programs so that the coaches and players could concentrate on, you know, coaching and playing. 

Sandee is retiring after 20 years of doing just that. She has been a staple of both programs, and the love that both staffs have for her was clearly on display. 

Both ceremonies happened at halftime, on a day when the weather hardly cooperated. Chris Sailer, the Hall of Fame former women's coach, was out on the field. Look at the smile on Chris' face:

That tells most of the story, right?

There were other friends and family members. For instance:

That's Sandee, third from the left, along with a few of her best friends — Kim Meszaros, Karen Malec and Nancy Donigan. They've all worked in the athletic department since before Sandee did. 

And here is some of that Moore family. Sandee's husband Pat is next to her. On the end is her son-in-law, Princeton equipment guru Derek Griesdorn, with his wife Meg, who bailed on the final few minutes of helping TB with stats in the men's game to be with her mother.

It was all part of a feel-good Saturday for Princeton Lacrosse. 

The men's team started the day by falling behind 1-0 and 2-1, which was much better than a year ago, when Brown jumped out to a 6-0 lead and held on to win 13-12. This time, Princeton tied it on a goal by the amazing Cooper Mueller, who is as good as any shortstick defensive midfielder in the country, and then sprinted away from the Bears.

The women's team was challenged by an improving Columbia team, but the Tigers have too much firepower. In fact, they have so much firepower that their main firepower (McKenzie Blake, Have Dora and Jami MacDonald) didn't have to provide all the firepower.

The men went into the day knowing that a win over Brown, along with wins by Harvard (over Penn) and Yale (over Dartmouth) would mean the four teams in the Ivy tournament would be set, with two weeks to go. And that's exactly what happened. 

So now, for the first time since the birth of the Ivy tournament, the field is set this early. The four teams are Princeton, Cornell, Harvard and Yale. The location and matchups are still to be determined.

Meanwhile, the men are at Penn this coming Saturday at noon. And like the men, the women play their next game at Franklin Field as well, only in their case Wednesday at 8.

Princeton is the only unbeaten team in Ivy women's lacrosse at 4-0, followed by Brown at 4-1. Penn is one of three teams, along with Cornell and Yale, with two league losses. 

The Princeton men have an RPI of No. 1. The Princeton women have an RPI of No. 3. The game Wednesday night is just the first of a lot of remaining games over the next, well, who knows how long for Princeton Lacrosse.

There will be plenty stressful moments to come. This past Saturday? 

It was a Princeton Lacrosse love-fest.