Game Week

TigerBlog has always said that if he didn't work for Princeton Athletics, then he'd still be a huge fan. 

As he does work here, he's both. It's a pretty good way to make a living. 

Someone else who is as big a Princeton fan as anyone is also someone whose work you've seen regularly, even if you don't realize it's hers or know her name. That would be Shelley Szwast.

In case you don't know the name, she's a photographer who has done a great deal of work for Princeton through the years, especially with men's and women's hockey and men's and women's lacrosse. Beyond that, she's just a huge fan, as you can tell by this tweet of hers from yesterday:

I don’t know who needs to hear this but…

If you haven’t been stalking the composite calendar like I have…

There are events this week!

Let’s GO Tigers! 🐯🙌

— Split Second Photo (@Split2ndPhoto) August 23, 2021

That made TB laugh. By the way, if you ever see Shelley at a game, say hi. She'd love to talk to you. That's just how she is, always upbeat, always smiling and always happy to be at Princeton game.

Photographers, by the way, see games in a unique way, through a lens. They're always looking for the picture that tells the story of that game, in much the same way that the a sportswriter is looking for the right words to sum things up. TB has always loved seeing photographers who beam when they know they got just the right shot. 

The composite schedule to which she refers is one of the most clicked on pages on goprincetontigers.com. In fact, at times it's the most clicked on page.You can click on it HERE.

The composite schedule is just what you'd think it would be. It's a listing of all upcoming Princeton athletic events sorted by date, with every event for that date listed on the calendar.

If you go there now, you'll notice that there are events already scheduled for this weekend. How about that? 

Princeton opens the 2021-22 academic year with women's soccer games Friday and Sunday at home. The season opener is against Loyola Friday at 7, and St. Joe's is at Princeton Sunday at 11.

Also, as a reminder, the men's and women's soccer teams are playing this season on Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium while construction of the new facility near Jadwin Gym is ongoing.

The start of any new academic year is always an exciting time. It's what has kept TB in this profession for so long. Each year when he first started out at the newspaper, he said he would keep doing this for one more year. Then that year would go by and another one would be ready to start, and he'd say "okay, one more year." Now he's approaching 40 years in sports.

This year will be even more special, for obvious reasons. And it'll be a reminder that none of this is to be taken for granted.

The women's soccer team plays its third game a week from Thursday with a trip to George Mason. The next day, five more Princeton teams will make their debut - men's and women's cross country, women's volleyball, men's soccer and field hockey. One more team, the men's water polo team, plays the next day.

The men's soccer team opens at home against Rutgers. The field hockey team opens at home and has a lot of field hockey for you to watch in a short span, as Princeton will host Penn, Louisville and North Carolina in Ivy vs. ACC doubleheaders Friday and Sunday.

UNC, by the way, has won three straight NCAA titles, including one this past spring, when the NCAA's fall teams had their championship seasons due to the pandemic. Princeton's most recent game was the NCAA championship game in 2019 against the Tar Heels, whose only loss in the spring 2020 season came against Louisville. 

And that weekend is just the start for September. 

You can follow it all on the composite schedule.