Appreciation Week

Welcome to College Sports Communicators Member Appreciation Week.

Yesterday TigerBlog wrote about all of the people who made all of last weekend's events at Princeton run smoothly, and as you saw, it took an army of them. 

Those in the Office of Athletic Communications? They also were swamped over the weekend. 

In fact, in all between home and away games, there were 40 total events. Every single one of them had a preview story, postgame story and graphics pregame, in-game and postgame. That was a lot of words and a lot of time on PhotoShop for everyone involved. 

Just like the events crew, the communications group is not one that finds itself in the limelight very often. Here is the lineup of those who made all of that content come your way this weekend (alphabetically): Andrew Borders, Elliott Carr, Warren Croxton, Chas Dorman, Joanna Dwyer and Alex Henn. 

Warren gets a special shoutout. He was at football Friday night for a game that didn't end until 10 pm. Where was he just 16 hours later? Courtside for the women's basketball game at DePaul, which, by the way, is in Chicago.

That's a big-time performance. 

Joanna does too. The rookie out of Elon College has seven sports at Princeton — and six of them competed this past weekend. She was in New England, where the women's hockey and men's water polo teams both competed, while she also had both men's and women's swimming and diving and men's and women's tennis with their own competitions. Remember — they all required stories and graphics, especially when there were school records set in men's swimming.

Anyway, once again, TigerBlog salutes his hard-working colleagues on Appreciation Week. And all of the others out there in the profession, both in the Ivy League and throughout the country.

If you really want to appreciate those who work hard, check out any Division III website you like and go to the athletic communications section. Then see how few people are listed (usually one or two), and then count the number of teams the school has.

This weekend is a bit tamer, though it is not without its big events, including NCAA tournaments for women's soccer (at Virginia Friday at 7) and field hockey (at Saint Joseph's against Boston College Friday at 1:30) and the Ivy men's soccer tournament at Penn. 

Between last Sunday and this Friday, though, there is only one event on the Princeton Athletic calendar, and it comes up tonight at 7 on Carril Court at Jadwin Gym as the women's basketball team plays Villanova in its home opener.

If you were on the team's social media yesterday, you noticed that there is a shirt giveaway tonight (while supplies last). The front of the shirt recognizes the 2024 Ivy League championship, and the back lists the all-time league titles in program history.

How many are there? Well, is 18 a lot? 

Princeton is 1-1 on the very young season, having opened with a loss at Duquesne and then rolling past DePaul 79-58. Hey, the team owed it to Warren to win, right? 

It's way too early to draw any conclusions about anything for the coming season, what with the Ivy tournament a mere four months away. If you are going to make any guesses about the Tigers, though, it's that Madison St. Rose will score a lot of points.

Rose already has an impressive resume as the 2023 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and a 2024 second-team All-Ivy League selection and Ivy all-tournament team selection. So far, through two games, she has put up 22 and 24 points while averaging nine rebounds. 

She went from 8.8 points per game to 14.8 last year, and she came into this season with 704 career points. The last three players to lead the team in points per game in a season have been Bella Alarie (four times), Abby Meyers and Kaitlyn Chen (twice). 

They are all-time greats in the program. St. Rose is on the verge of joining that rare air.

Villanova is a perennial postseason team that reached the final of the WBIT a year ago (the WBIT is the women's equivalent of the men's NIT). The Wildcats have played only one game to date this season, a 64-56 win at home against Wake Forest. 

Oh, and if you're at the game tonight, go find Warren at the scorer's table and tell him you appreciate him. He deserves it.

That Was Fun

John Mack, the Ford Family Director of Athletics at Princeton, sent an email out to the staff yesterday thanking everyone for everything that was done this past weekend to make so many events go so smoothly.

To paraphrase one part of the email, Mack mentioned how happy everyone seemed to be, despite how much had to get done. 

Yesterday afternoon, TigerBlog was talking to the very amiable Melissa Stephens of the Princeton Varsity Club, and she said it must have been a long weekend at the Ivy field hockey tournament. TB's response was three words: It was fun.

In fact, TB also mentioned that to someone else with whom he spoke this weekend. To paraphrase TB, he said something like he "definitely found the right career, since the games still get him fired up after all these years."

That's the way it has to be, and that's always been TigerBlog's way of thinking. If you don't love the games, you can't work in college athletics. Why would you want to work all those nights and weekends otherwise? 

This weekend was as busy as any TB has seen here. There were the two Ivy League tournaments — field hockey and women's soccer — that were added to an already typically loaded crossover season schedule, and that made it something different than has ever happened here.

And yet, everything went smoothly. 

If you don't consider all of the moving pieces that go into a weekend like this, that's good, because it means it's all under control. That doesn't happen accidentally though. 

TB reached out  to Princeton's Associate AD for Event Operations Karen Malec and asked her if she could remember any weekends like this one. If there has ever been anyone who has worked here and done so much while ducking any chance to be in the spotlight, it's Karen Malec, a former Princeton University Presidential Award winner. 

This is what she said:

"Everything was a blur."

When TB first texted Karen yesterday, she responded by asking him to call her. Then she did what she always does: gave all the credit to her staff.

"They did it all," she says, "and I supported them."

There were a lot of "them" out in force this weekend. TB doesn't want to overlook anyone, but here's just some of the rundown:

* the field hockey tournament was run by Ieisha Jackson and Shane Williams
* the women's soccer tournament was run by Samantha Gudger and CJ Ford
* Karen and CJ covered the men's soccer game against Penn Saturday (which had a huge crowd)
* Karen covered men's hockey Friday night
* Ieisha and Michael Huggins covered football Friday night
* Jon Kurian covered men's hockey Saturday night
* Kaitlin Dobiesz and Jack Jephson covered the swimming and diving meets Saturday
* Ryan Statham and Matt Duker covered tennis at the new Meadows Facility
* Mike Mix covered women's volleyball in Dillon Gym

They were there before sunrise over the weekend. 

"We all bounced around from one thing to another," Malec says. "We enjoy what we do. This is what you look forward to, and it's a challenge when your teams are doing so well. Everyone contributed, and everyone had a positive attitude."

The two tournaments also required Princeton Athletics staff to serve as team hosts. Those who helped out were Melissa from the PVC, Jess Muroff, Tiffani Stefanchik, Mike Medley, Katie Lytle, Nancy Donigan and Gabby Callaway.

Now you can multiply that out across every division of the department, and you get a sense of what went on this weekend. And that doesn't even take into account all of the PA announcers, student-workers, stat-keepers, camera operators and everyone else who was there. Oh, and Shelley Szwast. How many pictures must she have taken?

Like Karen Malec, these are not people who seek out the spotlight. To do almost every job in Princeton Athletics, you have to be okay knowing that there are a handful who get all the glory and a big portion who get none.

It's definitely a "check your ego at the door" situation.

It's also something that can't be a chore. It has to be a labor of love. 

Just ask Karen Malec, who said this: "We're all exhausted now, but we all had a fun time."

It was that kind of weekend at Princeton. 

NCAA Bound

On a weekend when, among other things, freshman Patrick Dinu set a school record in his first swim meet, the women's hockey team went on the road and won twice, Paul Inchauspe qualified for the NCAA men's tennis championships, the women's volleyball team swept to clinch its spot in the Ivy tournament, the men's and women's basketball teams both got big-time performances while combining to win three games — where in the world to start? 

How about with Alexandra Barry of the women's soccer team? 

The Princeton women hosted the Ivy League tournament this weekend and overpowered two opponents to clinch an NCAA tournament spot. First it was Harvard in the semifinals, a game won by the Tigers 3-1, and then it was yesterday's game against Brown, won by the Tigers 2-0.

It's safe to say that Brown did not enjoy its time on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium this year. The regular season game, as you may recall, was an 8-0 Princeton win. Add in yesterday's final, and that makes it 10-0. Shots between the two games favoried Princeton 34-13.

Before the game yesterday, TigerBlog had a conversation with someone about what the after-effects of such a lopsided first meeting would be. Would it give a false sense of security to the Tigers? Would it be a great motivator for Brown? Would it not matter?

In the end, who knows? 

The goal-scorers for Princeton were Drew Coomans and Lily Bryant. Goalkeeper Tyler McCamey made three saves for the shutout.

So where does Barry figure into all of this? 

The first goal of the game came from Coomans, with 11 minutes to go in the first half. It was an incredible play on Coomans' part, trapping the attempted clear from Brown and then lofting the most perfect shot you'll ever see into the net.

Barry was on the other side of the play. When the goal was scored, the look on her face ... well, you can see it for yourself:

Both of 'em from our Ivy League Tournament final win today at Roberts as Drew Coomans and Lily Bryant scored in our 2-0 victory! pic.twitter.com/vNo3Ld7yvg

— Princeton WSoccer (@PrincetonWSoc) November 10, 2024

That is pure jubo, no? 

Yes, it is.

The second goal was also a pretty one, as Bryant one-timed a corner kick perfectly into the net as well just after intermission. The celebration behind the goal can also be described as "jubo."

Oh, and in case you've forgotten what "jubo" is, that's short for "jubilation."

The game Friday saw Pietra Tordin score twice and Kayla Wong score once as the Tigers built a 3-0 lead. The two wins came in Year 2 of the Ivy League tournament, and Princeton becomes the first team to win the regular season and tournament titles.

The reward is the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Tigers will find out their postseason draw this afternoon at 4 with the Selection Show on NCAA.com.

The Ivy League champion field hockey team found out last night what its own NCAA fate was to be. Unlike the women's soccer team, who can watch the selections and relax knowing that "Princeton" will come up at some point, the field hockey team had to sweat it out for eight hours yesterday.

Princeton went 7-0 in the league during the regular season to win the championship and then defeated Columbia 4-0 Friday in the first semifinal. Harvard then took down Brown 1-0 in overtime in the second, setting up a rematch of last year's first Ivy tournament final.

And just like a year ago, and just like the regular season this year, the final score was 2-1. Last year, it was Harvard who won the tournament on a goal with 34 seconds to go. This year in the regular season it was Princeton who won in overtime.

And yesterday, it was Harvard who won a thrilling game, also in overtime. It was scoreless until Harvard scored with 2:35 to play, but Princeton came back to tie it when Beth Yeager set up Ella Cashman with just 59 seconds to go to force the OT. 

The game ended a bit before 2. The selections wouldn't be announced until 10. That was a long time to wait it out. 

In all likelihood, it looked like it would be Princeton, Ohio State and UMass for the last two at-large spots. As it turned out, it was Princeton and UMass.

The wait wasn't very long for the Tigers, who found out quickly that they'd be matched with Boston College at St. Joe's Friday. Just like that, the sadness of losing eight hours earlier turned to, well, jubo.

The Weekend Part II

TigerBlog was at Bedford Field during yesterday's Princeton field hockey practice session when junior Ella Hampson walked by.

"Christmas music?" she said as she heard the song that was playing on TB's computer at the time. "Isn't it early for that?" 

Well, yes, it is a little early for Christmas music. Uh, no, TB wasn't listening to Christmas music, unless the 1979 Blondie song "Dreamin'" qualifies as Christmas music. 

Also, TB's friend and colleague from the Ivy office Rachel Schermick put together this video from the four teams at their practices:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Ivy League (@ivyleague)

 Very clever. For the record, TB got them all right except for Pop Rocks.

And with that, welcome to the busiest athletic weekend on the Princeton campus that TigerBlog can remember.

As you probably recall from yesterday, things are so busy around here this weekend that TB couldn't fit it all into one offering. 

He mentioned the Ivy League field hockey tournament (which starts at 11:30 today with Princeton vs. Columbia on Bedford Field) and the men's soccer game tomorrow at 2 against Penn that will decide the Ivy League championship and tournament host. 

So what else is there? A ton.

The field hockey tournament isn't the only one on campus this weekend. The women's soccer event begins today as well, with an automatic NCAA tournament bid on the line as well. The women's soccer games start a bit later than the field hockey ones, so if you're trying to maximize your viewing, you can definitely get to both.

The first game matches No. 2 Columbia and No. 2 Brown, with kickoff at 1. The second game matches No. 1 Princeton and No. 4 Harvard at 4:30.

The championship game is Sunday at 1. 

These are the same four teams who were in last year's first Ivy tournament, with the same first-round matchups. That one ended with a Harvard win over Brown in the final. 

Princeton comes into the game with the Ivy League's Offensive Player of the Year, Pietra Tordin. If you recall, the regular season began with Tordin in Colombia (the country, where she won bronze with the U.S. at the U-20 World Cup) and ended a week ago at Columbia (the college, where she scored the only goal in the 1-0 win that brought the championship and tournament to Myslik Field).

And then there's the football game. It's a 6 pm kickoff on ESPNU, and it matches the Tigers and Dartmouth. Princeton is unlikely to get into the mix for the championship this season, but it could throw the race into a bit of turmoil with a win tonight.

Dartmouth enters the game tonight in a three-way tie for first at 3-1, along with Harvard and Dartmouth. Are there really only three games left in the Ivy football season? 

At the same time that the football is starting on Powers Field, the men's hockey season is opening at Baker Rink. This is more than just Game 1 on the 2024-25 season; it's also the first game for Ben Syer as the Princeton head coach. 

This is the start of Syer's 26th season as a college coach but first as the head man behind the bench. Syer has previously worked at Cornell and Quinnipiac.

Princeton is playing Harvard tonight and Dartmouth tomorrow night, both at 7.

And while it's not on campus, there's also men's basketball not that far away — at the Cure Insurance Arena in Trenton, where Princeton plays Duquesne at 8:30. 

That's just a taste of what's going on. TB could keep going, but he'll leave it up to his friend and colleague Chas Dorman, who posted this earlier in the week:

The Staff In Tiger Town Is Ready!

4️⃣0️⃣ Total Events Thurs-Sun
1️⃣5️⃣ Home Events
2️⃣ Conference Championships
1️⃣ National TV Game

🧡🖤💻📸🎥🤳🧑‍💻👩‍💻🎟️🏆🎉🎊 https://t.co/Y06mHikDlk

— Chas Dorman (@ChasDorman) November 7, 2024

So here's a little snippet of how this weekend is going. Consider what yet another friend and colleague, Warren Croxton, will be doing.

First, he'll be at the football game at 7 tonight against Dartmouth as the Office of Athletic Communications contact. He'll be on a plane early Saturday morning, and he'll be at his next game, at 2 Eastern time. 

That would be the women's basketball game at DePaul. He's also the women's basketball contact.

It might seem like a lot, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

Okay. It's time for the weekend to be off and running.

The Weekend, Part I

So TigerBlog wrote this once, back in 2010:

When TigerBlog was a kid, there was nothing worse on TV then the dreaded "to be continued ..." It meant that the show you were watching was going to be spread out over two parts, and you'd have to wait an entire week to find out what happened.

On the TV show "Batman," all of the episodes were either Part I or Part II, so you knew going in for a Part I that it was going to end with Batman and Robin about to be ground up in a huge garbage disposal or sawed in half or something like, and even though you knew they weren't, it still was a pain to have to wait to see how they'd get out of it.

As an aside, think of how many problems the Joker or the Riddler could have saved himself by simply staying there to make sure that the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder actually did get dropped into the vat of acid when the sand ran out, rather than leaving the room and assuming it would happen as planned. The same holds true for James Bond movies, by the way.

And then there were all the shows that didn't usually have a Part I and Part II but every now and then snuck a "to be continued" in on you. Those were even worse than "Batman," because you rarely saw it coming until just before the end, when it became obvious that the story couldn't be wrapped up in time. 

Just so you know, today will be one of those days for TigerBlog. If you think he hasn't gotten done but time is running out, there will be a "To be continued" on this one. 

As you know from reading yesterday — and from generally paying attention — this weekend is insanely busy for Princeton Athletics. There's too much to cover in only one day.  

So where should TigerBlog even begin? 

He'll start with field hockey. Why? Because the Ivy League tournament starts for Princeton at 11:30 tomorrow morning, so if you read later in the day, you might realize that you be parked either at Bedford Field or in front of ESPN+ at that time.

Princeton is the Ivy League champion, having won the regular season at a perfect 7-0. Princeton is also ranked 10th in the RPI, with two top 10 wins (over Maryland and Harvard) and another top 20 win (over Rutgers). The easiest path to the NCAA tournament is to get the automatic bid that goes to the winner of the Ivy event, but the Tigers will be right on the bubble if they don't. The same is true of Harvard.

The games start at 11:30, with Princeton against fourth-seeded Columbia followed by second-seeded Harvard against No. 3 Brown. 

The Princeton-Columbia game will match the Ivy League's Offensive Player of the Year (the Tigers' Beth Yeager) against the Ivy League's Defensive Player of the Year (Columbia goalie Katie Wimmer). Neither of those awards was particularly shocking. 

Yeager had more than twice as many points as any league player except for one, Brown's Katie McCallum, and Yeager has 17 more than McCallum (39-22). Wimmer, on the other hand, made 122 saves this season, which is exactly twice as many as any other league goalie (Harvard's Tessa Shahbo made 61). Plus, Wimmer's save percentage of .824 also was the best in the league. 

Wimmer is fourth in Division I in saves per game. Yeager is fifth in points per game and seventh in goals per game in Division I. For Yeager, by the was, that's three Ivy Offensive Player of the Year awards in three seasons with the Tigers.

The championship game will be Sunday at noon. The NCAA selections will be Sunday at 10 pm.

What next? 

The men's soccer team is home Saturday at 2 against Penn. Keep in mind that the regular season for men's soccer runs a week later than it does for women's soccer and field hockey.

The season finale is a big one. Actually, it's the same situation as the one the women's team faced a week ago, other than the fact that this one is at home. 

Last Saturday the women went to Columbia needing a win to be the No. 1 seed and host for the league tournament — and got it, 1-0, on a Pietra Tordin goal. This time, the men need a win to also be the host and No. 1 seed. 

On the other hand, a tie or a Penn win sends the tournament to Philadelphia and gives the Quakers the Ivy title. Should Princeton win the game, then the two would finish as co-champions.

As far as the tournament goes, either Princeton or Penn will be the top seed and host. The one who isn't will play Cornell in the semifinals, as either the two or three seed, not that it matters much beyond what color jersey and who gets first choice of a bench.

The No. 4 seed will either be Dartmouth, Harvard or Brown. 

Penn is 6-0-0 in the league right now. Princeton is 5-1-0, with its only loss to Cornell. 

To be continued ...

Busy Bodies

Now that was quite an opening night for the Princeton men's basketball team.

Princeton came from 16 points down to rally past Iona 81-80 on Carril Court Monday night. The game had an intensity level that certainly superseded the date of early November. 

It was a showcase of what you can see all year from the Tigers, which is to say that any time you have a chance to see Xaivian Lee, Caden Pierce and the rest of the team, you should take advantage of it. Lee went for 27 points against Iona, including the game-winning foul shots with three seconds to play.

Lee was then on the postgame interview headset for the ESPN+ broadcast, where he said this: "Every day at the end of practice we shoot free throws for 10 minutes. I tried to pretend it was an empty gym, took my time and thankfully they went in." 

Not to get too far ahead on basketball season, but the way Lee controls a game is so impressive. As Pete Carril used to say: "He's got every shot in the deck," and in this case, that includes getting to the basket, pulling up from deep and nailing the stepback three-pointer, something he did multiple times against the Gaels.

TigerBlog watched the game on his television from his couch while he did work to prepare for the upcoming Ivy League field hockey tournament. It's something that is taken for granted now, that any game you want to watch is there for you. 

This isn't something that magically happens. For the overwhelming majority of events you watch, it also doesn't happen because ESPN sends a crew over. 

Nope. This originates with Cody Chrusciel and his multimedia staff  — Dave Turner, Mike Galayda, Drew Miller and Aylin Arifkhan. 

TB remembers interviewing Cody when the position was first created, when TB and Mollie Marcoux Samaan Skyped with Cody while he was in Europe with UMass men's basketball. At the time, it was pretty clear where the profession was going. Having someone in that position who was ready for the explosion that was to follow was imperative.

And in that respect, Princeton Athletics and Princeton fans everywhere are lucky that Cody signed on. And that Steven Mayer gave Princeton the Levine Broadcast Center. And that Princeton invested in the resources — and people — necessary to make it all work.

This week, especially this Friday, will be a challenge unlike any that the multimedia department has faced yet, TB believes. 

Consider this: Between 11:30 Friday and 1 Sunday, Cody's team will produce 17 broadcasts across eight sports in eight different venues, utilizing 15 different broadcasters. 

That's a lot. 

It was already going to be a busy weekend, with the overlap between fall sports and winter sports well underway. It got even busier when Princeton won the Ivy League championships in field hockey and women's soccer, which earned both teams the right to host their respective league tournaments. 

By the way, hosting the league tournaments means doing all three games on the weekend, not just the ones where Princeton plays. 

For the tournaments alone, that means a field hockey game Friday at 11:30 (Princeton vs. Columbia) and 2:30 (Harvard vs. Brown), with a women's soccer game at 1 (Columbia vs. Brown) and 4:30 (Princeton vs. Harvard).

Oh, and did TB mention there's a home football game Friday at 7? And home women's volleyball at the same time. And if that's not enough, how about the season opener for men's hockey, also at 7. 

When you're watching, just remember how much planning has gone into giving you the chance to do so.

It also puts a great deal of pressure on the communications staff as well. There are all of those games, plus home tennis, plus men's basketball in Trenton Friday at 8:30 against Duquesne plus women's hockey and men's water polo on the road. 

That's all Friday.

It'll all get done. It always does. 

It's just that those involved deserve a bit of a hat tip every now and then. For communications, that would be Andrew Borders, Elliott Carr, Warren Croxton, Chas Dorman, Joanna Dwyer and Alex Henn. Oh, and TB as well.

Not that they do it for any recognition. They do it because it's a passion. And because of how much pride they all have in Princeton Athletics.

Being busy bodies like this? 

It's not easy. It does beat the alternative.

It's Really 8:16, Lloyd

Do you remember TigerBlog's friend Pattie Friend? 

She was the woman whom TB met in the Nassau Diner back in March. Her husband Lloyd was a member of the Class of 1965, and she had just moved back to Princeton from North Jersey. 

As it turns out, Mrs. Friend is about the biggest Princeton Athletics fan TB has ever seen. Here's a list of sports that she's attended in just the time since they've met: men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, softball, baseball, women's tennis, men's tennis, women's rugby, football, men's soccer, women's soccer, field hockey, men's volleyball, women's volleyball and men's water polo. Did he miss any? 

Actually you can add men's basketball, which she attended last night. She has season tickets for the women and men. And TB is sure that she'll be going to way more winter events. 

Can anyone else match that number of sports seen? 

Lloyd passed away in 2008, but Pattie has continued to be active in the Reunion activities of his class. She also has remained great friends with many of the members of the 1964 football team, and she was able to spend time with them Saturday, when they were back to be honored at the football game. 

Her last name certainly suits her. She makes Friends everywhere she goes.  

After TB wrote yesterday about the end of Daylight Savings Time, he heard from his friend Mrs. Friend about how she'd always say the same thing to him when the clocks changed, something like: "It's 7:16, but it's really 8:16." Every year. Every time.

She laughed as she said it. TB could hear a little more in her voice, though. It was a great memory for her, which made her laugh, and yet it was also a reminder that her husband is no longer here.

Lloyd did not pass away from cancer, but Pattie's way of remembering him reminded TB of the messages he received after his story last week on the women's soccer players who have been impacted by the disease.

You can read it HERE if you have not already done so.

The response to the story that TB received was overwhelming. In fact, he's pretty sure that no other story he's written has gotten him this much feedback.

It was a series of emails or texts of people who all had similar stories to tell, of their own experiences in dealing with someone close to them whom they lost or who fought their way through it or both.

TB wanted to share some of what he heard, both because of the raw emotions of those who wrote to him and also because of how much it was helpful to all of those out there who have been in this position. TB will leave out names and specifics, though he will say that not everyone who reached out to him was someone he knew.

There was this:

Finding it hard to type this. I read your story while sitting next to my brother, in his hospital bed, as we await more test results. He is battling lung cancer and things are not going well. He fell the other day, and now we’re worried he may have broken bones on top of everything else. He is suffering. I’m not sure how long he has left. Like you, I lost a parent at 55. My dad died of lung cancer. He didn’t see me get married, or never met my two daughters. I miss his sage advice to this day. Cancer truly sucks. Your piece was powerful. Thank you for writing it. 

That was the basic tone of the messages. There was this too:

I lost one of my childhood best friends to metastatic breast cancer in the summer of 2012. Her daughter, had just turned 16, and her son, a basketball player, was heading off to his first year as a college student-athlete. She would have been 59 this past Saturday and her daughter, now 28, living on her own in Brooklyn, decided she wanted to spend the day with me, so we were sitting at the men's soccer game together thinking about all that had happened since that awful summer; we laughed and cried. It was good. 

And, quite succinctly, there was this one:

My eyes are a little glassy at the moment. I lost my best friend from high school 3.5 years ago to pancreatic cancer. Sadly, yes, we can all relate. 

There were others. Lots of them.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to reach out. TB is sorry for all of your losses and struggles. 

As the last one said, yes, everyone can relate. 

If you're struggling, just remember what Summer Pierson's yellow bracelet says: "No one fights alone."

Four Titles

Well, that was depressing.

No, not all the Ivy League championships Princeton won Saturday. TigerBlog is talking about the fact that it was pretty much dark by 5 yesterday. Why in the world can't there be Daylight Savings Time all year? 

Oh well.

Those Ivy championships? That was not depressing. How could it be when this past Saturday Princeton teams won three Ivy League championships and finished off an outright championship in a fourth.

Before he gets into that, though, he does want to mention that tonight is opening night for Princeton men's and women's basketball. The men are home against Iona, with tip-off in Jadwin Gym at 7. The women open their season at Duquesne at 5, also on ESPN+.

Basketball season already? 

Meanwhile, back at the Ivy championships on Saturday, it was quite a few hours there for the Tigers.

Pretty Nice Little Saturday.

🧡🖤🏆#BackToTheBest pic.twitter.com/I89mEAl0oT

— Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS) November 3, 2024

It started at 11 am with a win by the women's cross country team at the Ivy League Heps on the new course at Princeton Meadows. It ended five hours later when the women's soccer team closed out its own outright championship at Columbia. 

In between, the men's cross country also won at Heps and the field hockey team, who had already clinched at least a tie for its Ivy League championship last weekend, finished its regular season at a perfect 7-0 with a 1-0 win over Yale. 

The women's cross country team ended Harvard's streak of four straight championships and in the process won for the first time since 2015. How did the Tigers do it? With four runners in the top 8.

Mena Scatchard, from North Yorkshire, finished second overall and first among the Tigers. North Yorkshire is about three hours north of Shrewsbury, where competitive cross-country running originated in the early 1800s.

Scatchard's time of 20:04.7 was the third-fastest 6K time in women's Heps history. It also left her as the only runner to cross the finish line in a span of 25 seconds, after Columbia's Phoebe Anderson ran the second-fastest Heps time ever (the great Abbey D'Agostino of Dartmouth holds the record).

Anna McNatt was third overall in 20:17.1, followed by teammates Alexis Allen and Meg Madison in seventh and eighth. Princeton's championship was wrapped up when Emma De Jong finished 20th. Princeton had a score of 40; Harvard was in second with 53.

Next up where the men, who finished off their fourth-straight Heps championship with five runners who came in between fifth and 14th: Myles Hogan (fifth), Nicholas Bendtsen (eighth), Connor McCormick (11th), Jackson Shorten (13th) and Harrison Witt (14th). 

Team-wise, that added up to 51 points, 11 better than the Crimson.

The field hockey game started on Bedford Field at the same time as the men's cross country race. Princeton had clinched no worse than a share of the championship a week earlier with a win over Dartmouth, and with that win the Ivy League tournament was headed to Princeton this coming weekend.

At stake Saturday, though, was an outright title for Princeton versus a spot in the Ivy tournament for Yale, who battled all the way before Beth Yeager's penalty stroke goal with 3:14 to go gave the Tigers a 1-0 win.

The rest of the results of the weekend finally sorted out the crowded field, and so here are your field hockey matchups for the tournament: No. 1 Princeton vs. No. 4 Columbia Friday at 11:30, followed by No. 2 Harvard and No. 3 Brown at 2:30. The winners will meet Sunday at noon, with an automatic NCAA bid for the winner.

And that left women's soccer. 

Princeton went to New York City knowing that a win would mean an outright championship, while a tie or Columbia win would mean an outright championship for the Lions. Pietra Tordin's goal off a free kick was all Princeton needed, winning 1-0 and earning the big prizes: Ivy title and Ivy host. 

The women's soccer tournament will also be held this Friday and Sunday, also with the same four teams. The semifinals Friday will have No. 1 Princeton against No. 4 Harvard at 4:30, after the game between No. 2 Columbia and No. 3 Brown. The winners will play at 1 Sunday for the automatic bid. 

Oh, and the men's soccer team? It got two goals from Nico Nee to win at Dartmouth 2-1, forcing its own showdown Saturday at 2 on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, which would host the Ivy tournament the following weekend with a Princeton win. A tie or a Penn win sends the tournament to Philadelphia.

1964, 1969, 1989

The last book that TigerBlog read was "Semisweet: An Orphan's Journey Through The School The Hersheys Built."

It was written by Johnny O'Brien, Princeton Class of 1965. His story is an amazing tale of survival, learning, growth, hardship and sorrow, from his time as a pre-school age boy all the way through high school.

When he first attended the school, it was intended for orphan boys. His story hints at his designation as an orphan, and TB doesn't want to give any spoilers. You really need to read this one yourself. 

You can get it HERE on Amazon. It's worth it. Ask yourself what would have become of you had that been your upbringing.

If his name is familiar, that's because Johnny O'Brien made the leap from the Milton Hershey School to Princeton, where he played on the football team. After he left Princeton, he embarked on a long career that eventually brought him back to the school where he grew up, becoming its Headmaster. 

The only time TB ever spoke with O'Brien was in 2005, when he was awarded the Class of 1967 Citizen-Athlete Award for his contribution to sport and society. There have been few more deserving winners. 

TB hopes to see him again tomorrow, when Princeton hosts Cornell at 1 on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. 

O'Brien will be here along with many of his former teammates. If he does get the chance, he'd love to tell him how much his book moved him and how much respect he has for what he's been through and how much he's helped so many others. 

The occasion will be the 60th anniversary of the 1964 football season. That team went 9-0, with four straight shutouts in midseason to boot, and Princeton wrapped up the perfect season with a 17-12 win over Cornell in front of 32,000 at Palmer Stadium.

Led by legendary players like Cosmo Iacavazzi, Stas Maliszewki and Charlie Gogolak and coached by Dick Colman, the 1964 Tigers remain one of the very best teams in program history. You'd be hard-pressed to make a list of the top five Princeton football teams ever without including the 1964 group.

Those Tigers will be honored on their anniversary, but they won't be the only Princeton team in the building. Or, for that matter, on the field to celebrate.

In addition to the 60th anniversary of 1964, this is also a major anniversary for two more of Princeton's 13 Ivy titles.

Colman would coach Princeton through the 1968 season, and he was loyal to his single-wing offense until the end. By then, pretty much every football team everywhere was using what is now known as the T-formation. 

Colman's replacement in 1969 was Jake McCandless, and he scrapped the single-wing, putting the quarterback under center. His first team at Princeton would win an Ivy title as well, finishing in a three-way tie with Yale and Dartmouth.

The 1969 Tigers won their first five Ivy games before falling to Yale 17-14 in the second to last game of the season. Needing a win over Dartmouth to clinch a piece of the championship, the Tigers rolled 35-7, this time with 35,000 at Palmer. 

Dartmouth, by the way, came into the game with a perfect record and had outscored its opponents 285-48. Princeton's 35 points in that one game represented 42 percent of the points Dartmouth allowed all season.

The 1989 team also went its final game needing a win to get a share of a championship. This time, the opponent was again Cornell, who scored first but then saw Princeton answer with three touchdowns in the 21-7 win. 

The first of those touchdowns for Princeton, by the way, came on a fake field goal. That championship would be the first of three for head coach Steve Tosches. 

It'll be a day of great nostalgia and mini-Reunions for Princeton Football. It'll also be a chance for the team that has alternated a loss with a win through five weeks to get back to .500, both in the league and overall. 

Kickoff is at 1. The weather will be perfect. 

Come to the game. 

And read Johnny's book.