Sunday, November 2, 2008

All square (or triangle) in Ivy Women's Soccer


Princeton's 4-0 win over Cornell Saturday, coupled with Harvard's 1-1 tie at Dartmouth and Columbia's 2-1 win at Yale leaves all three teams tied atop the Ivy League with one weekend to go. The Tigers, Crimson and Lions stand at 4-1-1 in the league with 13 points.

Speaking of 4-1-1, here's the info you'll need to know what would have to happen for Princeton to get an Ivy League title, whether shared or outright, and possibly an NCAA tournament automatic bid.

Harvard and Columbia will play on Harvard's Ohiri Field at 11 a.m. Saturday. Penn will visit Princeton at Roberts Stadium at 4 p.m. Saturday.

If Harvard wins...
The Crimson will have 16 points and Princeton would have to beat Penn to gain a share of the Ivy title. Harvard would get the NCAA auto bid because of its 2-1 win over Princeton on Oct. 25 at Roberts Stadium.

If Columbia wins...
The Lions would have 16 points and Princeton would have to beat Penn to gain a share of the Ivy title. Princeton would have the NCAA auto bid thanks to the Tigers' 2-1 OT win at Columbia on Oct. 18, courtesy of Sarah Peteraf's second golden goal this season.

If Harvard and Columbia tie and Princeton wins...
The Crimson and Lions would have 14 points and Princeton would have 16, giving Princeton an outright Ivy title and the NCAA auto bid.

If Harvard and Columbia tie and Princeton also ties...
The three teams would finish with 14 points and all three would share the Ivy title. Harvard would get the NCAA auto bid thanks to its 1-0-1 record against the group.

Since Harvard and Columbia are playing each other, no scenario exists where Princeton could lose and still gain a share of the Ivy title.

Even if Harvard takes the NCAA auto bid, the Tigers have hope for an at-large bid thanks to the team's 11-2-2 record, which, of course, would be enhanced with a win to end the regular season. At-large bids for the Ivy League in women's soccer happened every year from 1998-2005, though only the league champ has advanced to the postseason the last two years. Three (or more) teams from the Ivy League have gotten bids on several occasions, including 1982 (Princeton, Harvard, Brown), 1994 (Brown, Harvard, Dartmouth), 1999 (Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton, Harvard), 2000 (Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton), 2001 (Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton, Harvard), 2002 (Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth) and 2004 (Yale, Harvard, Princeton).

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