Seven Haven

Raise your hand if you know why Johnny Vander Meer is famous. 

The answer is that Vander Meer, while pitching for the Cincinnati Reds in 1938, threw back-to-back no-hitters. That's something that nobody else has ever done, and in all likelihood, nobody else ever will. 

Vander Meer, by the way, had a career record of 119-121, so he was an unlikely candidate for the back-to-back no-nos. 

Why bring him up today? 

Haven Dora. 

In the entire history of Princeton women's lacrosse, no player had ever had seven assists in a game until Dora did so in her team's 15-14 win over Delaware. That gave her the outright school record. 

It last all of one game before she had to share the record with ... herself. Dora came back with seven more assists (and one goal) three days after the Delaware game in a 20-4 win over Hofstra (a team that had been 4-0). 

No wonder she wears No. 7.

Vander Meer, by the way, pitched his second no-hitter three days after his first one. That's unheard of these days. 

Dora, a junior who grew up by the Jersey Shore and a member of the gold-medal winning USA team at the U20 World Championships last summer, is an assist machine. In addition to the two seven-assist games, she also had one with six assists in a game last year against Dartmouth. Only four other players in program history had six in a game (Kyla Sears, Olivia Hompe, Erin McMunn, Sara Lloyd). 

Oh, and there was another game last year, in the NCAA tournament against Drexel, in which Dora had five assists, making her the only player in program history with four games of at least five assists. 

Dora went from three assists as a freshman to 40 a year ago, which tied Sears' single season school record. If she stays healthy, she will definitely be making a run at the career record of 98, also held by Sears.

Right now, she has 68, leaving her 30 away. That's five games if she continues to do the Vander Meer thing. 

Dora's big week earned her the USA Lacrosse Magazine National Player of the Week. She also leads Division I in assists per game (5.25) and is third in points per game (6.5). 

Elsewhere on the women's lacrosse team and a chase of the record book, there are the two Big Macs. The first is McKenzie Blake, who has 159, two away from tying Theresa Sherry for the No. 6 spot and three away from tying Lisa Rebane for No. 5. Sherry and Rebane, by the way, scored two of the biggest goals in program history, in overtime, in the NCAA Final Four (Sherry in the 2003 final against Virginia, Rebane in the 1994 semifinal, also against Virginia).

With four goals, by the way, Blake would tie Jesse Hubbard, who holds the men's all-time record with 163. 

Should Blake continue at her current season pace of 4.25 goals per game (which is sixth in Division I, by the way), she'll finish the regular season with 64 goals, which would leave her three away from Sears' all-time record of 209. 

The other "Mac" is Jami MacDonald, a junior. She currently has 69 goals and 42 assists, which gives her 111 career points. Will she catch her brother Mikey — the 2015 Roper Trophy winner as Princeton's top senior male athlete — for the family records?

Mikey MacDonald finished his career with 132 goals and 76 assists for 208 points. Hmmm. This will be close. Jami, by the way, was on the Canada team at the U20 championships that won silver.

The Tigers host Penn State this evening (5:30) and then play their Ivy opener Saturday at home at noon against Harvard. 

Penn State is 2-4 on the season. In the Nittany Lions' last game, they lost 14-8 to Cornell in they're only other game this season against an Ivy League team. Penn State does have eight Big Ten games to play after the game tonight. 

How's this for a league schedule: home against Maryland, at Northwestern, at Oregon, at Michigan, home against Rutgers, home against Ohio State, home against Southern Cal and at Johns Hopkins. 

Harvard will come to Princeton not having played since Feb. 26. The Crimson are 3-1, with consecutive wins over ranked teams (Navy, UConn).

Princeton is currently ranked 12th in Division I.