A Little History

Every now and then, TigerBlog likes to acknowledge the fact that Princeton University was actually founded as "The College of New Jersey" back in 1746.

By the way, do you know what year the name was changed? And where the campus first was located, back in 1746?

The answers are: 150 years later and Elizabeth. The College of New Jersey spent one year in Elizabeth and then spent nine years in Newark before moving its current location.

TigerBlog wonders why the decision was made to relocate. And what would Princeton be today had it stayed in Newark as this time?

Nassau Hall was the site of the entire campus from 1756 until a second building was constructed in 1803. Do you know what that building was? Stanhope Hall.

It wasn't until 1896 that the name was changed to Princeton. You know what that means right? It means that this institution has spent more time as "The College of New Jersey" than it has as "Princeton University." It won't be until the year 2046 that Princeton will catch up.

So with that little history lesson, TigerBlogs wants to congratulate two people from the current edition of The College of New Jersey, the one that used to be Trenton State College back when TigerBlog was in the newspaper business, covering a ton of events on the Ewing campus.

First, there's Tommy McCarthy, the son of former Princeton men's basketball and football play-by-play man - and current Philadelphia Phillies TV voice, as well as a voice of the NFL and the NCAA tourament - Tom McCarthy. Tommy was recently named the New Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Year in baseball.

Then there's Sharon Pluger, the longtime field hockey and women's lacrosse coach at TCNJ. Sharon earlier this season went over 500 wins as the lacrosse coach, to go along with nearly 600 in field hockey. Her current Lions are ranked No. 1 in Division III as they enter the NCAA tournament; should TCNJ win it all, that would mean 21 NCAA titles for her (she currently has nine in field hockey and 11 in lacrosse).

Think about that. Also, consider that Mercer County is the home of two of the greatest women's college lacrosse coaches ever - Pfluger and Princeton's Chris Sailer. Both are, not surprisingly, in the Hall of Fame.

Sailer has won three NCAA Division I championships. She also has won 14 Ivy League championships and four Ivy League tournaments (there have only been nine of them) and will be taking her team to the NCAA tournament for the 25th time.

Sailer's 13-10 win over Penn Sunday in the Ivy tournament final was the 398th of her career, which ranks second only to Cindy Timchall, who has won 507 games at Northwestern, Maryland and Navy.

Princeton will play Friday at 4 against Syracuse at Boston College. The winner of that game will take on the host Eagles in the second round, looking to advance to the quarterfinals after that.

Obviously, if Sailer gets two wins this weekend, it'll put her at 400 wins for her career.

Speaking of round numbers, Princeton freshman Kyla Sears has 60 goals for the season. That's a lot.

The Princeton single-season record is 75, set a year ago by Olivia Hompe. Sears' 60 put her in second, which means that the two highest single-season goal totals in Princeton history have been the last two years.

Hompe, currently a volunteer assistant, also has the career record with 195. If you take the 60 that Sears has now and simply multiply it by four, then that would bring her to 240.

That's a lot of margin for error for the Princeton record. 

As for the Ivy League record, it's 249, held by Francesca DenHartog of Harvard. DenHartog played from 1980-83, and yet she remains the only Ivy League women's lacrosse player ever to have reached at least 200 goals.

DenHartog, by the way, was the first winner of the Ivy League women's lacrosse Player of the Year award. She actually won it in 1980 and 1981, as a freshman and sophomore. She'd become a four-time first-team All-Ivy League selection, but she was not the Ivy Player of the Year her junior or senior years.

In 1982, it was Harvard's Maureen Finn. In 1983, it was Harvard's Maggie Hart. Princeton's first winner, by the way, wasn't until 1994, when Jenny Bristow won.

TB wonders why DenHartog didn't win her last two years. Were Finn and Hart just better? Is there someone he can ask?

Maybe he can find someone who was DenHartog's teammate?

Hey, he knows one. Chris Sailer, who was a first-team All-Ivy selection herself in 1980 and 1981 at Harvard.

And, as fate has it, TigerBlog will be doing another podcast with Chris Sailer this week.