Drafting Abby, And Tigers-Greyhounds On A Perfect Spring Night

For all of you Princeton fans who bought Dallas Wings stuff, or just started rooting for the team, after its selection of Bella Alarie, good news.

You can still root for the Wings now that Alarie is retired. The WNBA held its annual draft Monday night, and the Wings selected Princeton alum Abby Meyers with the No. 11 pick of the first round. 

To TigerBlog, Meyers will always be "Princeton alum Abby Meyers," as opposed to "Maryland's Abby Meyers," even though Meyers was the Terps second-leading scorer this past season. It's the same as referring to Michael Sowers as being from Duke, as opposed to Princeton.

Alarie, by the way, was also pretty excited about her former team's selection, as you can see here:

From one @PrincetonWBB legend to another …

One @IvyLeague POY to another …

One @WNBA 1st round draft pick to another …

One @DallasWings to another … @bella_alarie 🤝 Abby Meyers ‘22

🧡🖤💙💚 pic.twitter.com/hAKpp7C318

— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) April 11, 2023

That is Princetonian stuff right there. If you didn't know, Meyers and Alarie grew up close to each other in Montgomery County, outside of Washington, D.C. 

Next up for Meyers is making the roster and establishing herself as a WNBA regular. The Wings had a need for shooting and scoring, and they chose five perimeter threats among their six picks. Meyers, at No. 11, was the fourth selection for Dallas, who also grabbed Villanova's Maddie Siegrist, the nation's leading scorer, at No. 3.

TigerBlog has always been a big Meyers fan. In fact, he wrote this about her back in 2018, after Princeton defeated Penn 63-34 in the Ivy League tournament final in a game in which Meyers nearly outscored Penn in the first half:

She plays with complete control, composure and confidence, not to mention extraordinary skill. As great a shooter as she is - and it was almost stunning yesterday when the ball didn't go in when she shot it - she might be a better ballhandler. 

TB sends his congratulations to Meyers. He also sends his congratulations to the Princeton and Loyola women's lacrosse players, coaches, fans and officials on tonight's weather forecast.

A little more than a year ago, Princeton traveled to Loyola for a midweek game. How was the weather in Baltimore that night? It was horrific. It poured the entire game, and the temperature was around 40. The wind kicked up and down the field to make it even more fun.

Loyola won that game 16-15. Princeton came out of that game with so many sick players that it had to push its next game back three weeks. 

TigerBlog spoke to Tiger senior Kate Mulham as part of the Princeton Laxcast, and she called the game "almost like a fever dream." She should know — she had a 103 fever afterwards.

The teams meet again tonight at 7 on Sherrerd Field. TB starts with the weather forecast: Clear skies, 75 degrees. That's at 7. There is a zero percent chance of rain. It's basically the complete opposite of last year.

As for the game, it's the last non-league game of the regular season for Princeton. Loyola comes into the game with a 10-2 record, including a 5-0 Patriot League mark. The 11th-ranked Greyhounds, whose losses have been to No. 9 Florida and and No. 1 Syracuse, have scored at least 19 goals in each of their last three games.

The Tigers defeated Columbia 19-4 Saturday afternoon to go to 2-1 in the league. Grace Taukus pushed her career point total to 95, while Kendall Dean, Lane Calkins and Abigail Roberts all had their first career goal.

Princeton has another quick turnaround after tonight, this time to its game Saturday at home against Brown. After that, it'll be a game Wednesday at Penn, followed by a trip to Dartmouth for a game three days later and then Senior Day at home against Harvard on April 30. 

The Ivy League standings look like this: Penn is 3-0, followed by 3-1 Yale and 2-1 Princeton, 2-2 Harvard, Cornell and Brown and then 1-3 Dartmouth and 0-4 Columbia. 

The top four teams meet in the Ivy League tournament at the home field of the No. 1 seed. Princeton is assured of at least a tie for the league championship by winning out. Penn would get an outright title by doing the same. There could also be a three-way tie at 6-1 between Princeton, Yale and Penn, though there's a long way to go.

In the meantime, there's the game tonight against Loyola. It doesn't have any Ivy implications, but hey, what better way is there to spend a 75-degree evening?