The Weekend Part II

The puck had just trickled across the goal line into the back of the net, touching off a massive gold medal celebration for the United States women's hockey team after a 2-1 overtime win over Canada yesterday afternoon. 

And still TigerBlog wasn't sure which team he wanted to see win the game. 

He's an American, after all — but the U.S. team didn't have any Princeton alums. The Canadian team had two.

Those two, Sarah Fillier and Claire Thompson, had to settle for silver after the very dramatic game, one that saw the U.S. tie it with two minutes to go and then win it in the 3v3 overtime. The format certainly ramps the drama way up, that's for sure. 

Fillier, who almost won it in the overtime, are now two-time Olympic medalists, after they both won gold four years ago in China. This is the eighth time that women's hockey has been contested in the Olympics; the gold medal count is now Canada 5, USA 3, Rest Of The World 0.

These Olympic Games are heading into their final weekend. Next up will be the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, where there figure to be many more Princetonians who will compete.

If you're going to watch the Olympics this weekend, make sure you also pay attention to the weekend in Princeton Athletics. TB ran down some of this weekend's events yesterday, and here are some others:

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There are two big men's hockey games this weekend at Baker Rink, both at 7, as Colgate is here tonight at Cornell tomorrow. '

The ECAC regular season has two weekends to go, and Princeton is currently in fifth place in the league, one point back of Harvard in the race for a first-round tournament bye and then home ice in the league quarterfinals. 

Colgate is in seventh place, with 25 points (Union is sixth with 27), while Cornell is in second, tied with Dartmouth at 38 points. Quinnipiac leads the league with 44. 

The Tigers will finish the regular season on the road next weekend, with a massive trip to Harvard and Dartmouth. 

The Princeton women will be off this weekend and then home in the ECAC quarterfinals next weekend.  

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The men's lacrosse team is at Maryland tomorrow at noon, hoping to bounce back after its 13-7 loss to Penn State in the season opener last weekend. The schedule will get no easier after this, as next up will be a home weekend next Friday and Sunday against Syracuse and North Carolina.

If you're following the rankings, then you know that Maryland was No. 1 until Syracuse defeated the Terps last week in the Dome, moving the Orange to No. 1 and Maryland to No. 2. North Carolina? Well, the Tar Heels enter this weekend ranked third. 

Princeton is 0-6 against Maryland since the start of the 2022 season and has not had the lead in the second half of any of those games. 

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Meanwhile, about 30 minutes north of College Park, the Princeton women's lacrosse team opens its season at Loyola (also at noon). 

Princeton is ranked ninth in the coaches' poll but dead last in a different Division I stat: The Tigers will be the last of the 133 teams in the country to start their season. Loyola is ranked 19th and has already played three games, with a win over Lehigh sandwiched between losses to Johns Hopkins and Florida. 

Princeton needs to replace its all-time leading goal scorer, McKenzie Blake, but there are returning impact players all over the field, including three on the Tewaaraton Award preseason watchlist: Dylan Allen, Haven Dora and Jami MacDonald. 

It's unlikely that MacDonald will set the Princeton career scoring record, but it is likely that she'll set the MacDonald family record. She enters her senior year with 189 career points, which leaves her 19 away from tying older brother Mikey, the 2015 Roper Trophy winner as the top male senior athlete. 

If you're wondering, the points record at Princeton is 307, held by Kyla Sears. MacDonald had 92 a year ago, so there is a chance. 

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The women's basketball team is home tomorrow at 5:30 against Brown in the only game this weekend. 

Princeton and Columbia are tied for first in the league at 8-2, one game ahead of both Harvard and Brown at 7-3.  There's a three-game drop from there to fifth place, where Penn is 4-6, which means that the four teams for Ivy Madness are pretty much dialed in. 

Princeton defeated Brown 58-49 in Providence earlier this season. The rest of this weekend's schedule is Columbia at Dartmouth, Yale at Penn and Cornell at Harvard. 

The men's race is much more balanced, with five teams separated by two games from third to seventh. Princeton, at 4-6, is currently one game back of fourth place, with a game tonight at Brown (7).  

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The complete weekend schedule can be found HERE.