Playing By The Rules

The more TigerBlog watches the video of Coulter Mackesy's fourth goal against Rutgers from last Saturday's men's lacrosse game, the more he thinks it just might be the single greatest shot he's ever seen.

If you missed it, here it is again:

And if you missed and care about lacrosse, you're in the minority, because this goal has literally several hundred thousand views across a bunch of different platforms and outlets. 

This goal is extraordinary on so many levels. First, he does it all by himself. Second, his hands are only free for a blink of an eye and the ball is on its way. Third, the goalie appears to be tracking it but simply can't catch up to the velocity. And finally, the location is absolutely perfect.

Add it all together, and it was a completely unsavable shot, unless you happen to be TigerBlog Jr., who texted his father to say "I would have had it," even though he would have had no chance at it.

The goal came in a 16-11 Princeton win, one that helped vault the Tigers further up the national rankings. Princeton has now gone from unranked to either No. 3 or No. 4 in every poll after a 4-1 start that has seen the team take down the No. 3 team on consecutive weekends, first Georgetown and then Rutgers. The only loss is to No. 1 Maryland.

Does this mean it should be smooth sailing for Princeton through the Ivy League? Hah. Hardly. 

If you didn't check out the rankings, you now have six Ivy League teams ranked, and the seventh receiving votes. The Ivy League has produced 10 NCAA championship teams (six of those from Princeton) and countless NCAA teams, but what it never, ever has had is the kind of depth it does now.

The Ivy League starts its conference schedule this weekend with three matchups, all of which are top 20 matchups. That's insane.

For its part, Princeton takes on Penn at home Saturday at 1. The Quakers are the lowest ranked team Princeton will play in four weeks - they are ranked sixth. 

Every league game will be a battle. There are no gimmes at all in the Ivy League this year. The seven Ivy teams are a combined 26-6 on the year.

Beyond that, Ivy teams have won their last 16 games. No Ivy team has lost a game this month. And this is against some tough, tough schedules.

TigerBlog, of course, is very excited about the start Princeton has. Like the league it plays in, this team is a deep one, a team that has already had to deal with injuries and has been able to succeed despite them. 

TB had other exciting news this past week as it relates to lacrosse. He learned he's been selected to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Rules Committee, for a four-year term that starts this September.

To this point of his career, TigerBlog has been quite active in the sport in many ways, mostly on the statistical side. He's helped create and write the NCAA official statistician's guide, and he's been the official stats person for the NCAA championships every year since 2005.

When the opportunity came to apply for a spot on the eight-man rules committee, he jumped at it. To write the stat rules, after all, you need to basically go through the rule book and come up with a way of assigning statistics to every situation. 

He's always been a big stickler for the rules in sports. It tortures him when he sees professional coaches and athletes in situations where it's clear that they don't know the rules.

Since he's found out he's going to be on the rules committee, he's heard from a bunch of people who have suggestions as to what rules need to be changed and how. To be honest, he doesn't yet know how the process works, and he'll be doing a lot of listening at first. 

At the same time, he has his own ideas as well. The previous rules committees have done a great job of improving areas of the game that needed addressing, such as the pace of play and the face-off. Too much of an overhaul isn't always a good thing.

It'll be a fascinating exercise, that's for sure. TB is certainly looking forward to it.

Before then, though, there is the rest of this season, one that in a league as loaded as the Ivy League should be equally as fascinating.