The Ivy Openers

TigerBlog would like to thank whoever is responsible for this great honor. 

In some ways, he feels it's a long time coming, actually. Still, it means a lot. 

Okay, okay. It's not really about TigerBlog. Heck, he's not even sure what it is or where it is, only that a loyal reader and friend stumbled on it and sent it his way. 

Still, it does look nice, right? 

With that out of the way, TB can get to the main point of what he wants to talk about today — and it's not honoring himself.  He'll leave that to others. 

There have been, to date, 45 Princeton Athletic events for the 2025-26 athletic year. There have been some great non-league matchups and some exciting outcomes. 

What there hasn't been is an Ivy League game. If you recall a year ago, Princeton teams combined to win 17 Ivy titles, the all-time record in the league. What does this year hold? 

It all starts tomorrow, when the first two take place. And the opponent for both is Penn.

The women's soccer team starts its league schedule at Penn, with kickoff at 6 in West Philadelphia. Princeton is the defending league champion and Ivy tournament champion.

There aren't many sports where the Ivy League is as competitive as women's soccer. Remember, it was two years ago that four teams — half the league — reached the NCAA tournament. 

There are currently two Ivy teams in the RPI top 100, with Brown at 63 and Cornell at 79. The other six are all in the 100s. 

Princeton is currently at 121, and if it's any consolation, the Tigers are the highest ranked one-win team in the country. So far this season, Princeton is 1-3-3, despite having outshot its opponents by a combined 138-81. Penn comes into the game at 4-1-2.

The teams have one common opponent, and that's Villanova, whom Princeton defeated 1-0 and who beat Penn 3-1. That, of course, means next to nothing.

Princeton has scored seven goals so far this season, and those seven have come from six different players. Only Zoe Markesini has more than one.  

The field hockey team is home tomorrow at 5 against Penn, who in many ways is also at home. The Quakers have already played two of their four games at Bedford Field after starting the season at the Tiger Invitational, and they have yet to play any games on their own home field.  

There are two Ivy teams in this week's NFHCA Top 10, with No. 5 Harvard and No. 9 Princeton. The first RPI of the season will not be released until next week. 

Princeton comes into the league schedule after splitting a pair of games last weekend, both of which were scoreless through 60 minutes of regulation. The Tigers lost last Friday to No. 4 Syracuse and then beat No. 18 Rutgers Sunday, both in OT. The Princeton game-winner came from Ella Cashman, by the way, who also had the game-winner in overtime last year in the regular season against Harvard. 

Princeton is 2-2 on the year. The other loss was by a 3-2 score to No. 2 North Carolina, who was the most recent team to score a goal against Princeton in regulation. That goal came 2:21 in the third quarter of that game, which means Princeton has not allowed a goal in its last 147:39 of regulation time. 

Penn is also 2-2. The Quakers fell behind UNC 4-0 on opening day before scoring twice in the third quarter to get back into it. The Tar Heels answered with the final two of the day for a 6-2 win. Game 2 for Penn was against Princeton's Game 1 opponent, Old Dominion, and the Quakers won that game 4-2 (Princeton defeated ODU 2-1). 

The Quakers also have a 3-1 loss to Maryland and a 2-0 win over American. 

Penn is averaging 2.25 goals per game. Princeton is 13th in Division I in goals-against average, at 1.19 per game. 

Between now and the spring, the Ivy League will crown its champions in 34 different sports. Will past performance be an indicator of future success? 

There is nothing ever promised. It has to be earned on the fields. 

And it starts tomorrow.