Fan Of The Week

Each weekend, hundreds of athletes across eight Ivy League schools compete across all kinds of fall sports.

And, in the beginning of the new week, the Ivy League recognizes athletes from each sport in a variety of ways. 

This week, for instance, Princeton has had the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week in women's soccer and field hockey. Neither was a huge surprise.

Pietra Tordin was the women's soccer honoree after she scored three second-half goals to turn a 2-0 lead into a 5-0 lead on the way to an 8-0 win over a Brown team that had not lost in 29 straight Ivy League games. The three goals moved Tordin, a junior, into 12th place all-time at Princeton in goals scored. 

The big Princeton win came on the same field where Brown had beaten Princeton 6-1 two years earlier. That's 15 goals in two games between the teams on the new Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium.

Also, remember that this week is the week where all eight Ivy schools have a midweek league game. For Princeton, that will bring Penn to Myslik Field tomorrow night at 6.

The current Ivy standings have Princeton and Columbia at 2-0-0, Yale at 1-0-1, Brown and Cornell at 1-1-0 (both with a loss to Princeton), Penn at 0-1-1 and Harvard and Dartmouth at 0-2-0.

Meanwhile, Beth Yeager was the field hockey honoree. Princeton scored four goals in two games this weekend — and Yeager had two goals and two assists, with a goal and two assists in a 3-1 win over Cornell Friday and then the lone Tiger goal in a 2-1 loss to Syracuse Sunday. 

And where does Yeager, also a junior, rank in career goals at Princeton? How about 12th? She's also 12th in points too. 

There's a certain balance there between the two. 

The field hockey standings have Princeton and Harvard at 3-0, followed by 2-1 Brown and then four 1-2 teams (Penn, Cornell, Columbia, Yale) and 0-3 Dartmouth. 

Princeton has played 10 games to date but only two have been at home. The Tigers have six regular season games left, of which five will be at home, beginning Friday at 4 against Brown and then Sunday at 1 against Delaware. 

The Princeton-Harvard game will be in Cambridge a week from Saturday. 

So that covers Players of the Week and such. Ah, but what about a Fan of the Week? 

For that, TigerBlog nominates this man:

Who is this? That would be Mike McGowan. And who is that? 

His daughter Gracie is TigerBlog's boss a senior on the field hockey team. TB said the first part because Gracie does most of the social media posting for field hockey and men's lacrosse. TB's role is to make graphics and clip videos. Gracie then takes what TB sends her and turns it into the majority of the content you'll see on the social media feeds for the two teams.

Here's an average conversation between the two:

TB: Hi Gracie. Here is the graphic.
GM: That's perfect.
TB: Thank you.
GM: But can you change the photo and make the font a little smaller and use a different background?
TB: What happened to perfect? 

Gracie came to Princeton from Lake Forest, Ill. This past weekend, Mike drove from the family home there to see the games at Cornell and Syracuse. 

It's 720 miles from Lake Forest to Ithaca. It's 55 miles from Ithaca to Syracuse. It's only 710 miles from Syracuse to Lake Forest.

During the games he attends, by the way, Mike keeps a running commentary for the international parents who cannot make it to see their own daughters play. Princeton's field hockey team has 24 players, 12 Americans and 12 foreign. It's a big-time service he provides.

When Princeton's game against Syracuse ended Sunday, it was around 1:45 or so. By the time the postgame tailgate ended, it was probably around 3. 

Mike then hopped in his car and drove home. He said he was only going to stop once. 

Since it's an 11-hour drive, he wouldn't get home until after 2 am. 

When TB woke up yesterday, he texted Gracie to ask her if her dad had gotten home okay. Turns out he did. 

That's a lot of dedication to watch your daughter play. On the other hand, Gracie McGowan is a senior. Is it worth all that time and effort. It is, 100 percent. TB would have done the same, and he knows a lot of other parents who would as well. 

That's Fan of the Week worthy, no?