Friday, November 8, 2024

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:

 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:

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.

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