If you are into lacrosse at all, then you can't ask for more than you're getting tomorrow on Sherrerd Field.
The short of it is that there are two games, both of which will decide the Ivy League championship. One of them matches a pair of unbeaten teams in their regular-season finale; the other is helping to end an unprecedented league season.
You can add in two Senior Days, the final regular season home game for a legendary coach and a moment of silence for another, and it's going to be an emotional afternoon with some high stakes.
It begins at noon with the Princeton-Cornell men's game. That will be followed by Princeton-Yale women at 3.
What you're left with is a Saturday unlike any other the facility has seen.
Starting on the men's side, Princeton and Cornell are two-fifths of the five-way tie for first place in the Ivy League, as those two plus Yale, Harvard and Brown are all 3-2. Penn has completed its league schedule at 3-3. Dartmouth is 0-5.
The games this weekend have Cornell at Princeton, Harvard at Yale and Dartmouth at Brown. As of now, the five teams tied for first all have a mathematical chance to host the league tournament, and the scenarios to determine the four teams in the field are incredible, more so than they've ever been since the tournament began in 2010.
These tiebreakers are so complex that the way that Princeton could host would come down to goal-differential in the head-to-head matchups of three teams who would be at the top if Brown, Yale and Princeton win.
No matter what happens, there will be at least a two-way tie for first place, and possibly a three-way tie for first. There will also be either a three-way for fourth or four-way tie for third, requiring tiebreakers all over the place.
The winner of the Princeton-Cornell game is assured of a share of the league title and a spot in the tournament. The two have combined for 56 Ivy championships and by far have the most of any two teams (Cornell with 29, Princeton with 27, nobody else with more than 10).
TigerBlog could give you a bunch of notes about the game, but none of them matter. For instance, a week ago, he told you that Princeton and Harvard were 1-2 in the Ivy League and then played a game with 35 goals.
The game will be preceded by a moment of silence in memory of Richie Moran, the legendary Cornell coach and lacrosse ambassador who passed away earlier this week. Moran, in addition to be an iconic figure in Cornell athletic history, was also the great-uncle of Pat Moran, a Cornell grad and current Princeton men's lacrosse Athletic Fellow. TB spoke with an emotional Moran about his great-uncle; you could read about their relationship HERE.
The men's Ivy League tournament situation won't be settled at the end of the Princeton-Cornell game. Dartmouth-Brown starts at 1. Harvard-Yale starts at 2. If all three home teams win, Princeton hosts.
Also, Princeton is still ranked No. 2 in RPI and owns wins over Nos. 3-5-6-8-12. It's NCAA at-large chances are solid.
As for the women, the picture is much clearer. Princeton is 6-0. Yale is 6-0. This math is easy.
The winner of the game is the outright Ivy League champion and the host of the Ivy League tournament next weekend.
Brown, Cornell and Harvard are all 3-3 in the league, with Brown at Harvard and Dartmouth at Cornell. Clearly, the winner of Brown-Harvard will also be in the tournament. Like the Big Red men, the women are also in with a win and even with a loss if Penn also beats Columbia (which is Sunday). The only way Cornell can't get in is if Columbia beats Penn, Dartmouth beats Cornell and Brown beats Harvard.
Whew.
Beyond all that, there's the fact that this is the final regular-season game for Chris Sailer as Tiger head coach. There will be a large group of alums there to celebrate the woman who has coached Princeton for 36 years.
What do you get the coach that has everything?
— Princeton Women's Lax (@princetonwlax) April 28, 2022
Her own bobblehead!
Lucky fans at Saturday's game against Yale will have a chance to receive a special Chris Sailer bobblehead to help celebrate her final regular season home game! pic.twitter.com/4HElTyFw7V
To recap, it's Princeton-Cornell men at noon and Princeton-Yale women at 3. There will be championship celebrations after each for the winner. The weather figures to be perfect.
What could be better for the last Saturday of April?
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