The Remarkable Donovans

TigerBlog had just arrived at Van Cortlandt Park last week for the Ivy League Heptagonal cross country championships when he saw a familiar face.

Well, he saw a lot of familiar faces. This particular one, though, was unexpected.

It belonged to Suzanne Zywicki, Princeton's Class of 1984 and a loyal track and field alum. She was a high jumper for Peter Farrell's women's track and field teams, and she was a member of six different Heps team champs.

Before any of that, though, she grew up in the house next door to TigerBlog. She was one of five sisters, the second-oldest. In order, it went Ellen, Suzanne, Carol and then identical twins Nancy and Patty. It was good to hear they were all doing well, though TB was saddened to hear that their parents, Al and Maureen, had both passed away. They were very nice, very sweet people.

TB had seen Suzanne only once in the last 40 or so years, and that was briefly at the retirement event for Farrell. When he was doing his book on the first 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton, TB did make sure to include her picture. 

At one point last Friday, TB and Suzanne took a picture together. The idea was to send it to their respective siblings to see if anyone could recognize the other person in the photo.

TB sent it to BrotherBlog, and to his childhood friend Corey as well. They both had the same response: No idea.

Suzanne sent it out and within a minute Nancy knew who it was. TB was honored. He was also surprised that neither BB nor Corey got it right.

Speaking of sisters, TigerBlog yesterday posted a feature story about the four Donovan sisters, all of whom played field hockey at Princeton. You can read it HERE.

There is a lot to the story, and TB doesn't want to give it away. He'll give you this, which is how the story begins:

The corners of Claire Donovan’s lips have started to curl upwards, and yet there are already tears in her eyes even in the nanosecond before her lips reach a fully formed smile. 

Her two emotions at that moment are wildly conflicting, and for that she apologizes, though there is no need. As she continues to talk, though, her words get a bit lost, momentarily at least, as the incongruity of smiling lips and teary eyes fully resonates. 

This is the story of the Donovan family and its remarkable connection to Princeton University, and specifically to Princeton field hockey. It is, more than anything else, a love story.  

It's also a long story, one that is told over the span of five decades, through multiple generations. It starts on the Princeton campus. It is still playing out on the Princeton campus. 

And it is on the Princeton campus, in that one fraction of a moment, on a bench next to a bus that’s about to take the Tiger field hockey team on another road trip, during a weekend when the Donovan family once again mobilizes around that fact, while her current teammates are scurrying to head out, while there is movement all around her, Claire Donovan has done something that, in a blink, could have been missed. It isn't, though, because time has stopped now, and as it does, it becomes crystal clear that this tiny moment is in reality the sum total of all of all of those decades, and as such it's so easy to realize exactly what has just happened. 

Claire Donovan has given away the ending.

The first Donovan to play field hockey at Princeton was Kaitlin, who graduated in 2010. Her sister Amy played with her on the 2009 team, when Kaitlin was a senior and Amy was a freshman. Amy would be a three-time All-Ivy pick who would win a national championship on the 2012 team.

Next came Annabeth, the 2013 Ivy Rookie of the Year and a 2014 first-team All-Ivy selection. The last is Claire, a current senior on a team that just won the Ivy League championship and who will play in the NCAA tournament next weekend, after finishing the regular season at Columbia Saturday.

TB tried to think of another family that had four siblings compete for Princeton. He came up with a bunch of threes, including the Reinprechts in field hockey. Are there fours that he's overlooking?

Even if there are, have their been four siblings whose careers have spanned as long as the Donovans? The Donovan parents, John and Katy, met at Princeton when they were both in the Class of 1986 (John was a lacrosse player). 

It's hard to imagine that this is the last season with a Donovan on the field hockey team, at least for this generation. This past Saturday was Senior Day. There were 18 people in Claire's picture. That might be a record.

Anyway, TB invites you to read the story and learn more about them. They are certainly a remarkable group. Their story is unique, emotional and incredible. 

A Two-Title Weekend

As TigerBlog walked towards Jadwin Gym yesterday morning, he was greeted by the sight of a giant orange and black dinosaur.

For some reason, he knew exactly who was inside the costume. It had to be Kim Meszaros. By the way, if you haven't been checking out the staff directory of late, Kim is now Associate Director of Athletics for Staffing and Administration.

That's her official title. TB told her he knew it had to her because she is "the fun one."

As it turned out, Kim wasn't the only one who was dressed for the orange and black holiday. 

That's a lot of your Princeton senior athletic administration right there. This is a fun place to work, clearly.

The weekend was fun, that's for sure, as Princeton racked up its first two Ivy League championships of the fall.

It started Friday in New York City at the Ivy League Heps cross country championships, which as always is one of TB's favorite events on the calendar. One of the great traditions of Heps at Van Cortlandt Park is trying to find a place to park, something that took TB longer than either race would take.

TB stood at the races with his newest colleague, Kendall Moore, who is new to the Princeton Office of Athletic Communications. She's a recent grad of FDU, the Division III one in Florham, where she played field hockey. She also graduated from Red Bank Catholic High School, which is the same high school as what Princeton men's basketball Ivy League Player of the Year (Bob Scrabis, obviously).

The women's race was first, and the as the pack ran past on the start, pretty much all of the spectators immediately ran across the long field to get another glimpse of the runners. TB stayed where he was, as did Kendall, who was a bit surprised that everyone had vanished. 

At the end, Princeton finished second, a close second, to Harvard, by a 54-63 count. 

Next up was the men's race. Beforehand, TB was told that Harvard figured to go 1-2 in the race but that Princeton still had a great shot at the team championship. As it turned out, that was exactly what happened.

It's not always easy — actually, make that it's never easy — to figure out the team score as the runners come by at the end. It starts out simply enough, but then once they all come flying through, it's next to impossible to keep adding in your head.

Harvard did have the first two. Princeton then finished in third (Anthony Monte), fourth (Connor Nisbet), eighth (Daniel O'Brien) and ninth (Duncan Miller) before Harvard's next two were 11th and 12th. Clearly, this was close.

When would each team's fifth, and final scorer, get there? Harvard's No. 5 looked like he had a line to the finish until Princeton's Jarrett Kirk beat him after an incredible sprint for the final 25 yards or so to take 14th.

At first, it looked like Kirk had given Princeton a one-point win. As it turned out, he'd given the Tigers a three-point win, and he clinched the Heps title when he passed the 16th place runner, who finished eight seconds behind him. Still, Kirk had no way of knowing that at the time, and his finish was crazy impressive.

With that as Championship No. 1 for the year, next up was Sunday's field hockey game against Brown. Princeton went into the weekend needing either a win in one of its last two games or a Harvard loss in one of its last two games to win the Ivy title and the league's automatic NCAA bid. 

Harvard and Cornell played Saturday, and that game went into overtime before the Crimson won. TB was happy about that, because you never want to win the championship without playing.

For 30 minutes against Brown, the two highest-scoring teams in the league combined for exactly zero goals and three shots. Princeton broke through in the third quarter when Autumn Brown (on her birthday) tipped in the first goal, and then Sammy Popper sealed it with one of her own in the fourth.

The win gave Princeton its 27th Ivy League championship, as opposed to the rest of the league combined, which has 25. The Tigers return to the NCAA tournament after missing it last year; the program has not missed the NCAA tournament in consecutive years since 1992-93.

And, because Harvard won its game, Princeton got to have its spontaneous on-field celebration, complete with plenty of jubo photos. 

Next up for Princeton is the regular-season finale at Columbia and then the NCAA selections Sunday night at 10. The Tigers are very much in the mix to be one of the host sites for the first two rounds.

Orange And Black Day

Happy Halloween everyone.

Is there a more perfect day? You can walk up to anyone and they give you candy. How great is that? 

One thing that's always bothered TigerBlog about this day is that the Halloween movies and episodes of TV shows always show everyone, especially teenagers, in the most perfect costumes. C'mon. Nobody ever has a perfect costume, unless there's a costume department to draw from before filming.

TB can't remember ever having a perfect costume, or even a really good one. Maybe that one year when he was a giant M&M. That's about it.

There really are few things better during the life of a parent than having little kids on Halloween. The anticipation of the day is tremendous, and then their sheer joy of accumulating candy is almost unmatchable. Plus, as a parent, you know that you'll be eating about half of it anyway. 

It's also a big day for the colors orange and black (see: Halloween double stuff oreos). Does that color scheme sound familiar? 

The Princeton campus was flooded with more orange and black than usual this weekend, as it was Homecoming. It was also perfect weather for a Homecoming Day football game between Princeton and Cornell.

The Tigers were favored and needed to win the game to take another step towards playing for another Ivy League championship in the final three weeks. The game was also Princeton's first since a big win over Harvard a week before.

So what happened? 

Well, Princeton hardly played a perfect game, but the Orange and Black's record, much like the orange and black holiday, remained perfect.

Princeton defeated Cornell 35-9 in a game that wasn't quite the blowout that it might seem. At the same time, it wasn't quite a squeaker either.

In fact, there was only one moment where it seemed like Cornell might make it a game, and that's when Matthew Jester turned in what might be Princeton's Play of the Year. It came in the third quarter, after Cornell had scored a touchdown to make the score 19-9.

The Big Red lined up to go for two, which made sense. Were it successful, it would have made it a one-possession game at 19-11. Instead, Liam Johnson tipped a pass to Jester, who caught it about five yards deep in the end zone. He started the other way, knowing he had more than 100 yards to go to turn two Cornell points into two Princeton points instead.

He was still about 90 yards away when he found himself about to be taken down by a Cornell offensive player turned defender. Not to be stopped, Jester simply hurdled him and then continued on his way.

When he reached the end zone, it was 21-9 Princeton.

So good, you have to see it twice. @NCAA_FCS // #SCTop10 #JUICE24 🍊🥤 pic.twitter.com/I1fxcQJ8rt

— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) October 29, 2022

That was sort of the theme of the day, Princeton defenders turned into ball carriers. The Tigers intercepted four passes, and that doesn't count Jester's play on the conversation attempt. Those four picks kept Cornell out of the end zone on one (Michael Ruttlen Jr.), set up touchdowns on two others (CJ Wall and Dawson De Iuliis) and resulted in a touchdown on the fourth (Johnson, who brought one back 89 yards for a score). 

The other theme for the day, or for the season, was the extraordinary gifts that belong to Andrei Iosivas. The senior wide receiver/decathlete caught 10 more passes for 155 more yards and two more touchdowns. He leads the Ivy League in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, and his 111.1 receiving yards per game also lead the FCS.

Added all together, Princeton is now 7-0 for the fourth straight season. Princeton is also the last unbeaten team in the Ivy League, with a 4-0 league record that leads 3-1 Harvard, Yale and Penn.

The Tigers finish the year at Yale and home against Penn, but before that comes this weekend's home game against Dartmouth. That's the same Dartmouth who had been 7-0 each of the last three years, and the same Dartmouth that traditionally plays Princeton tougher than anyone.

To be perfect at this time of year is something not to be taken for granted, even if it's happened four straight years now. In other words, now November is arriving, every week becomes tougher and tougher.

Ah, but first there is the last day of October. Enjoy the candy. And don't worry if your costume isn't great.

Happy 100th

When he passed away in 1995 at the age of 95, Donald Griffin could say that he had personally met someone in every Princeton class dating back to 1858. 

His obituary referred to him as "Mr. Princeton," and who would ever argue that? He was the face of the Alumni Association for 60 years, and there currently is an award for excellence in management that is given annually at Princeton that is called the Donald Griffin Award.

For all the time he spent associated with Princeton University, perhaps his single greatest moment came exactly 100 years ago today. 

It was on that day — Oct. 28, 1922 — that Princeton defeated the No. 1 team in the country, the University of Chicago 21-18, in one of the most famous football games in the first 100 years of the sport. For starters, it was the first football game ever broadcast on the radio.

Then there was the matter of the significance of the game. The win propelled Princeton to the 1922 national championship, and the 1922 Tigers would be known as the "Team of Destiny."

The game at Chicago ended with an epic goal-line stand. Donald Griffin made the last stop, alongside the legendary Pink Baker. 

This is what Walter Trumbull wrote afterwards in the New York Herald: 

"After one of the most brilliant battles ever fought on a football field, Princeton, seemingly beaten, came back with courage which was superb and fighting spirit that flamed and crackled, to turn defeat into victory. The Princeton players will deserve their place in Princeton's hall of fame, for, in all the history of Princeton football, there were never men who accomplished more than did these men upon a foreign field."

As a sidelight, Donald Griffin's granddaughter Cynthia Griffin Ferris became a three-sport athlete at Princeton in her own right, and she is featured in TigerBlog's book on the first 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton (click HERE for more information). When TB spoke to her for the book, she mentioned how her grandfather took her to Palmer Stadium when she was little to watch Princeton football and how she'd sit between him and Baker at the games.

Princeton had three more games after defeated Chicago in 1922 and had no let up. Fast-forwarding 100 years, another Princeton football is unbeaten, also with four games left in the season.

The 2022 Tigers bring a 6-0 record into tomorrow's game on Powers Field against Cornell (kickoff at 1). Princeton comes in off its 37-10 win at Harvard last Friday night in one of the best all-around performances Princeton needs to mirror the 1922 team and refocus after the big win.

In its last three seasons, Princeton has gone into Week 7 against Cornell needing a win to set up a showdown in Week 8 against Dartmouth in games that featured two 7-0 teams. This time, Princeton needs to keep winning as the Ivy race moves past the halfway point.

It's still possible for a late-season matchup of unbeatens, and that would come in Week 10 if Princeton and Penn both win their next three. It's way too early to consider that, though, as both teams have major hurdles left to clear before they can worry about that.

For Princeton, it starts against a Cornell team that is 4-2 on the year, 1-2 in the Ivy League. After that, Princeton is home against Dartmouth, at Yale and then home against Penn. None of those four are layups.

The Ivy standings right now have Princeton and Penn at 3-0, with Harvard and Yale at 2-1. Cornell and Dartmouth are 1-2 and looking to make the race more confusing.

This weekend starts tonight, with Yale at Columbia. Tomorrow's games have Penn at Brown and Harvard at Dartmouth in addition to the Princeton-Cornell game.

Will the 2022 Princeton Tigers match the perfect record of the Team of Destiny? There might as well be 100 years between now and the end of the season, before such conversations can happen in earnest.

First, there are four games to be played, and all four of them will be extremely challenging. 

It'll be Princeton-Cornell at 1 on Powers Field tomorrow. Today? Happy anniversary to the Team of Destiny.

Welcome To Crossover Season

Welcome to the start of those two most dreaded words: Crossover Season.

This Homecoming weekend on the Princeton campus, you can see the field hockey team play for an Ivy League championship and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and the women's ice hockey team play its season opener. 

If you want to travel a bit, you can see the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City tomorrow and keep going up I-95 to Harvard for Saturday's men's hockey opener. 

That is the definition of crossover.

It only gets more intense in the next few weeks as more and more winter sports start and fall events get bigger and bigger. If TigerBlog is counting correctly, there are 10 Princeton teams who have regular season events this weekend: men's and women's cross country, men's and women's hockey, field hockey, men's and women's soccer, football, women's volleyball and men's water polo. There's also a wrestling Orange vs. Black scrimmage on Powers Field before the football game, and a men's golf event at Baltusrol, but those are not official intercollegiate events.

In two weeks, that number swells to 13, or probably 14. That's a lot of teams, a lot of athletes, a lot of events and a lot of behind-the-scenes work. 

For this week, it's 10.

It's also the first chance you have to see the women's hockey team in a regular season game, which also means a chance to see Sarah Fillier. Once she steps on the ice for Princeton, she'll join Bill Bradley and Ashleigh Johnson as the only two athletes ever to win an Olympic gold medal and then come back to compete at Princeton.

The Tigers, ranked 10th, host No. 4 Colgate (9-0) and No. 6 Cornell this weekend. The game against Colgate tomorrow night is Black Out Baker night. You can see more information HERE, including this: 

Princeton brings back the scorers of 48 of the team's 58 goals from last season, led by Maggie Connors (13) and Annie Kuehl (10).  Connors has 61 career goals, good for 14th in program history. A 20-goal season would lift her to eighth.

The Heps cross country meet is one of TigerBlog's favorite annual Ivy sporting events. The races take place tomorrow at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City, which is a great spot for watching the runners and enjoying the accompanying atmosphere.

The Princeton men are ranked 19th nationally and second in the Mid-Atlantic Region, behind Villanova. No other Ivy team is ranked in the Top 30, though Harvard was until the most recent poll. 

There is no Ivy League team ranked in the Top 30 among the women, though there are three teams ranked in the top five in both the men's and women's polls: Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State and BYU.

Princeton is ranked fifth in the Mid-Atlantic Region for the women, one spot ahead of Penn. In the Northeast Region, you have four Ivy teams ranked: Harvard (3), Dartmouth (6), Columbia (9) and Cornell (15). 

Another Princeton team that can win an Ivy title this weekend is the field hockey team, something that could actually happen Saturday, one day before the Tigers play their game against Brown (Sunday, noon, Bedford Field). Harvard hosts Cornell Saturday at 11 am; should Cornell win that game, Princeton would be assured of no worse than a share of the league championship and would have the league's automatic NCAA bid. Cornell took down Louisville, the No. 4 team in the country, in its last game.

Regardless of what happens in that game, Princeton gets at least a share of the title and a spot in the tournament with a win against Brown or next week at Columbia. Mathematically, at least, a four-way tie for the championship is possible, but there is no way Princeton missed out on the automatic NCAA bid with a win in either of the last two games.

Oh, and the feature story TB mentioned earlier this week will be up next week, instead of this week.

HERE is the complete schedule for this weekend.

Oh, and of course there is the football game Saturday at 1 against Cornell. TB will have more on that tomorrow, of course, including the fact that it's the 100th anniversary of one of the most historic moments in all of Princeton Athletic history.

City Boy

 

TigerBlog has never been a city guy. 

He's always preferred a beach, or a river, or a big park. Cities are usually too dirty and too busy. 

There are exceptions, of course. To that list, he can now add Barcelona.

TB had never been to the Spanish city prior to last week's trip with the men's lacrosse team. The group started in Andorra, which he never knew was an independent nation (and has been since 1278). 

Now Andorra, that's TB's kind of place, with its mountains, lakes, streams, views and best of all, lack of crowds. TB probably walked a total of 20 miles or so in the four days that he was there, most of that uphill or downhill.

It was a week ago today that the team left for Barcelona. TB was apprehensive at first, since it's of course a huge city, one with a population of nearly two million. Would he like it there? 

The answer was a most decisive yes. In fact, it's vaulted to the top of his list of favorite cities, along with Dublin, which he went to on the men's lacrosse team's 2008 trip there.

Where to start to talk about Barcelona? 

The food was tremendous. The architecture is tremendous. You can walk down La Rambla, which is a center of culture, commerce and cuisine. You can walk through the 1992 Olympic venues. There are beaches. There are cathedrals. There's something for everyone.

One of the city's biggest attractions is the Sagrada Familia, a still-unfinished church that is the work of famed architect Antoni Gaudi. The team toured the cathedral and was overwhelmed by it.

There was also the bike tour of the city. The team was divided into three groups, and TB's group went off with a guide named Alvaro Garcia. And where is Alvaro from? Dallas. The one in Texas.

Alvaro moved to Spain with his wife and two children six years ago. He was running a travel business prior to Covid, and he's working toward doing virtual tours of cities around the world. He also runs these bike tours, beginning in the old city.

He took the group on about a six-mile loop. Along the way, there was a church that used headstones of Jewish dead as part of its building materials, courtesy of the Spanish Inquisition. You can still see the Hebrew names on the side of the church to this day.

There was another church that also had something visible on it. This time, it was a huge ad for Samsung. It's caused quite a stir in the city about its appropriateness, as it is helping to raise money to rebuild the building. 

Through the ride, Alvaro was the perfect guide. He spoke about the sites and their histories, but he didn't overdo it. He was engaging and funny. The ride was great.

At one point, the ride took everyone through a park that had a plaque for every gold medalist in the 1992 Summer Games. Alvaro asked the group to find the plaque for the Dream Team. TigerBlog added that Princeton had a gold medalist in 1992, swimmer Nelson Diebel, and that would be a good one to find as well.

That was easy. 

The team also made a stop at a school and spent two hours with a bunch of kids who had never seen lacrosse before. The players showed them the basics, worked with them, signed a bunch of autographs and answered a million questions. It was tremendous to watch how much everyone enjoyed it, players and children.

There was also the trip to Camp Nou, the home of the Barcelona soccer team. Princeton attended the game last Thursday and saw Robert Levandowski score twice in the first half as Barca rolled over Villarreal 3-0. 

The stadium seats 99,354, which makes it the largest soccer stadium in Europe. Barcelona's crowd is electric for the entire game, with flags, singing, a banging drum, chants and everything you'd expect from an event like this. 

It was a staggering scene, both before the game, as nearly 100,000 descended on the area around the stadium. Included in that was a rather interesting choice for the soup of the day:

It was craziness. For someone who has spent his life going to games, this one was something special.

Lastly, there was a park where the team practiced and played, and behind it was a beach and the Mediterranean Sea. It was a hot afternoon, with temps in the low 80s. When the lacrosse piece was over, the entire team went around to the other side of the fence, down to the beach and jumped in.

They splashed around, dove in and out and generally had an incredible 45 minutes or so. TB didn't jump in. He just watched. 

He's been fortunate now to go on four of these trips, and he's pretty sure that nobody who has been on any of them will ever forget them. What stands out the most and for the longest will be the moments like the one in the sea, where it was just a bunch of teammates who were thrilled to be together in someplace new, someplace amazing. 

Barcelona is such a place.

A Tale Of Two Big Wins

Sometimes, you just have the right picture when you need it.

If you went to goprincetontigers.com yesterday, you saw the story about the Ivy League weekly football awards. Princeton had two winners — quarterback Blake Stenstrom was the Offensive Player of the Week, and Ryan Butler was the Rookie of the Week — after the 37-10 win over Harvard.

For Butler, by the way, that's four times in six weeks that Butler has been the Ivy Rookie of the Week. Butler now has nine rushing touchdowns, ranking him ninth in the FCS in rushing touchdowns per game. He also has caught one for another TD.

And there was the perfect picture to go along with the story, a great shot of the two winners together. You can see it HERE.

Speaking of Ivy Players of the Week, Princeton field hockey player Gabby Andretta did not win — again. 

TigerBlog can understand. Andretta plays every minute of every game and pretty much never has any stats. In fact, she has started all 73 games Princeton has played in her career, and here is the entirety of her career stats: two shots, no goals.

Don't let that fool you, though. She has had a huge impact on every game she's played. It's just that it doesn't really translate into individual honors to play the defensive position she plays. 

Each time TB has nominated her for Player of the Week, he's written the same thing: impossible to quantify but always makes a huge impact.

She did it again Sunday against Harvard, in a showdown of Ivy unbeatens that figured to go a long way towards deciding the league championship. Princeton won the game 4-2, putting the Tigers in the driver's seat towards a league title (which would be the program's 27th) and the NCAA tournament automatic bid.

Princeton scored three times in the first 8:10 and then added insurance after the Crimson made it a 3-2 game in the third quarter. Andretta led a defense that held the Crimson to seven shots for the game, of which four came off a penalty corner in the third quarter that led to one of the Harvard goals.

That was one of two Harvard corners in the game. That's extraordinary. Harvard had 37 corners in its previous three games combined. 

If you count up the number of times that the ball entered the circle and how many times Andretta handled it when any miscue would have resulted in a corner, you begin to understand the impact that she has on the game.

With that win, Princeton improved to 5-0 in the league, with a game Sunday at home against Brown and then a trip to Columbia the Saturday after. The Tigers need a win in either game to clinch at least a tie for the Ivy title, and a win in either game would mean the automatic NCAA bid. 

By the way, TB will be posting a feature story on the field hockey program's remarkable Donovan family. Claire, a senior, is the last of the four Donovan sisters to play for the Tigers, and the family impact on the program has been extraordinary. 

Meanwhile, 3,000 miles away from the field hockey game, there was the matter of Princeton-Stanford water polo. Princeton, ranked ninth in the country, was playing at No. 3 Stanford, a team that was 10-0 against the Tigers heading in.

Make that 10-1. 

Roko’s game-winner! It’s the first win in 11 games for Princeton over Stanford! https://t.co/vFSA0ya6rT pic.twitter.com/SAt7wFtcu3

— Princeton Water Polo (@Pwaterpolo) October 23, 2022

Roko Pozaric scored with 13 seconds left to give Princeton a stunning 11-10 win over the Cardinal. HERE, by the way, is the stort TB wrote about Pozaric a year ago, before Princeton left for the NCAA tournament.

How stunning? Stanford's story referred to it as a "rare non-MPSF loss." Stanford is one of the gold standards of the sport of water polo, and by gold standard, consider that the team has won 11 NCAA titles and been the runner-up 11 other times.

To take down the Cardinal is a major accomplishment. Princeton is 11-1 now in the month of October and clearly playing its best at the right time. You can see the Tigers at DeNunzio Pool Saturday, with games against St. Francis and Iona. 

Waking Up To A Big Win

On his final night in Barcelona, TigerBlog finally got to have paella.

Seafood Paella, at that. Paella, TB learned, is not really a big part of the cuisine in Barcelona, which is part of Catalonia, which would love to be its own country. It even has its own language, though as TB's guide on the bike tour of the city pointed out, Madrid would never allow it to happen. 

That, of course, doesn't stop the protesters who show up every day to scream for Catalon independence. And it doesn't stop the Catalon flags that have added a freedom star in the middle from flying everywhere.

The paella, by the way, was awesome. It's still Spain, after all.

TB will have some more about Barcelona, specifically about the soccer game, tomorrow. For today, though, he wants to share with you what happened when he woke up Saturday morning.

The men's lacrosse team flew home yesterday. TB came back a day earlier to be at the Princeton-Harvard field hockey game. 

As such, he had to head to the airport Saturday morning. The first thing he did when he woke up was to check his phone to see who won the Princeton-Harvard football game.

The game in Cambridge kicked off at 7 pm, which was 1 am in Barcelona. It ended around 4 am Barcelona time.

TB can't remember the last time Princeton played a football game that he either was not at, did not watch on TV or online, did not listen to the radio or at least did not check the LiveStats. That last one he did when Princeton shut out Penn 28-0 in 2016, when TB was last on a foreign trip with men's lacrosse. 

For this game, there was nothing. Just sleep, wake up and check.

It was a different experience.

Of course, he checked before he put on his glasses, and so he had to confirm it when he put them on. Yes, Princeton did dominate Harvard, winning 37-10.

There's a lot to unpack from this year's Princeton-Harvard game, starting with last year's Princeton-Harvard game. As you know, Harvard came away from that game thinking it had been robbed. Whatever side of the "should the timeout have been given" argument you land, the only thing everyone could agree on was that this year's game between the teams figured to be fascinating. Harvard, it seemed, had been pointing to this day for 52 weeks.

So what happened? Princeton played a dominating all-around game, especially in the second half, and ran away from the Crimson.

It was a wildly impressive victory on the field, and it was equally as impressive inside the helmets. That's where Princeton had to really be sharp and not get caught up in the emotions. 

Seemingly, that's exactly what the Tigers did.

Princeton put up 469 yards of offense and held Harvard to 303. The Crimson managed 10 points, none in the second half, and this after the team came in leading the Ivy League with 32 points per game. That's more than three times what Princeton allowed.

After scoring a TD late in the first half to make it 14-10 at the break, here was Harvard's second-half drive chart: punt, turnover on downs, turnover on downs, interception (Mason Armstead), interception (Michael Ruttlen Jr.).

This was Princeton's second half drive chart: touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, victory formation.

What more can you possibly ask for from a team? Keep in mind, all this happened in a game that matched two 2-0 Ivy teams, and added in that layer of leftovers from last year. 

The Princeton passing attack continues to be highlight reel stuff each week. Andrei Iosivas tied Dylan Classi with his third 100-yard receiving game of the year, and in fact one of then has been in triple figures in each of the last five games. 

Ryan Butler continues to look like someone who will make a run at some career records, as he ran for 80 yards, rushing for a touchdown (his ninth rushing TD of the year) and caught another TD.

Next up for Princeton is a Homecoming Day matchup with Cornell this Saturday on Powers Field. There were two unbeaten showdowns in the league this weekend, as Yale and Penn met in Philadelphia when they were also both 2-0. Penn won that one 20-13. TB watched the winning touchdown drive on his phone at baggage claim at Philadelphia Airport.

Down the road Princeton still has both of those teams and a Dartmouth team that always gives the Tigers trouble after the Cornell game. The season ends at Yale and home against Penn. There's a long, long way to go.

The game Friday night in Cambridge was a big step in the right direction, though. And it was about as impressive as it gets.

Sadness

TigerBlog was all set to tell you about the amazing experience he and the men's lacrosse travel party had at the Barcelona-Villarreal game last night.

Today's not the day for that, however. Not with the news of the passing of Princeton junior Misrach Ewunetie. Here is the University's official statement:

It is with great sadness that we share heartbreaking news about the death of Misrach Ewunetie ’24.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the Department of Public Safety have announced that Misrach’s body was found on campus earlier today. An autopsy will determine her cause of death, but they said there were “no obvious signs of injury and her death does not appear suspicious or criminal in nature.”

Since Misrach was reported missing on Sunday, the Department of Public Safety has been working closely with local and state law enforcement and does not believe there is any related threat to campus or the surrounding area.

Misrach’s death is an unthinkable tragedy. Our hearts go out to her family, her friends and the many others who knew and loved her.

We are planning an opportunity for students to join together and remember Misrach. Information about the gathering will be shared separately when details are known.

We know this is an upsetting time for our community, especially Misrach’s fellow students. There are many people and resources on campus that are here for you. Members of the University community may contact the following resources for support, guidance and counsel:

Students

Counseling and Psychological Services

• Call 609-258-3141 during business hours.
• After hours, contact the counselor on call by calling our main number 609-258-3141 and pressing 2 to speak with the counselor on call.

Faculty and staff

Carebridge

• To speak with a licensed professional and begin counseling, call Carebridge at 800-437-0911. Counseling services are available 24/7.
• Carebridge offers free, in-person counseling at the Employee Wellness Center at 350 Alexander Street on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Schedule your appointment online. Parking is available onsite.

All other inquiries should call the Princeton University Emergency Hotline at 609-258-7000.

Princeton is a close-knit community, and we mourn Misrach together.

My thoughts are with you all,

VP W. Rochelle Calhoun

As the parent of a recent Princeton grad, TB can't possibly fathom the pain that the Ewunetie family must be feeling. It's impossible to comprehend.

When TB went to goprincetontigers.com yesterday, he found the lead story was of the passing of the great Ralph DeNunzio. He was a giant among Princeton alums, not to mention a real gentleman who had a huge kind heart and always a nice word. 

Ralph was 90 years old. You can read more about him HERE and HERE.

All of this comes one week after TB attended the funeral of 28 year old Brett Incollingo, who played high school lacrosse with TigerBlog Jr. and then played at Stevens Tech when current Tiger head coach Matt Madalon was an assistant coach and current men's lacrosse Director of Operations Drew Cottrell was a teammate. 

Brett was an intense athlete with a huge personality. TigerBlog saw him grow up and develop into a great player, not to mention a super nice kid from a great family. He was also about the best looking guy you ever hoped to see.

Brett took his own life for reasons that TB cannot understand. Whatever happened to Misrach, TB again can't begin to understand. Ralph was fortunate to have lived such a long and wonderful life, and yet learning of his passing still stung.

The other thing TB was going to write about tonight was the football game at Harvard. It's a very big game between Ivy unbeatens, to be followed tomorrow by another showdown of Ivy unbeatens when Yale goes to Penn. The game tonight kicks off at 7 and can be seen on ESPNU.

If you watch the game, enjoy it.

At the same time, though, please think of the Ewunetie family, the Incollingo family and the DeNunzio family. Think of the pain they're in, and share the sadness that they are all feeling today. 

TB will tell you about the Barcelona game next week. And he'll talk about the big football game too.

Today, though, is a day of sadness. It's not a day to try to understand or contemplate the unfairness. It's just a day to be sad, and to recommit to caring deeply about those you love. 

TB sends his deepest condolences to those who are mourning. 

What's Been Going On?

So here's a quick rundown of TigerBlog's Wednesday:

He and the rest of the Princeton men's lacrosse travel party woke up in Andorra, had breakfast and got on the bus to come back to Barcelona. Before departing, TB made sure to say goodbye to the amiable young man who worked in the hotel restaurant. His name is Gonzolo, and he is off for a week's vacation of his own on the Spanish beaches.

If you've been reading this week, you've read about just how incredibly beautiful Andorra is. TB cannot recommend visiting the tiny country enough if you appreciate nature's best handiwork. If you're a skier, go in the winter.

Okay, so it was about two hours on the bus, back into Spain and then towards Barcelona. Then there was a stop for lunch and then another hour into the city, where the first stop was practice and the second stop was a clinic and some quality time with the children of a local school. Then it was into the hotel and dinner, but not before basic lacrosse demonstrations, lots of pictures, all kinds of smiles and a chant of "Tigres, Tigres."

Today's highlight? That would be the soccer game between Barcelona and Villarreal tonight. The wildest sporting event TB has ever attended was a World Cup qualifier between El Salvador and Costa Rica. He's guessing the game tonight will exceed that.

In the meantime, TB has spent a little time catching up on what's been going on in Princeton Athletics this week.

First, there was the women's basketball team and its No. 24 preseason national ranking. It's a first in Ivy League women's basketball history.

Obviously the Tigers will be without graduated Ivy League Player of the Year Abby Meyers, but everyone else is back, plus a highly regarded incoming class and some players who are back from injuries. The preseason ranking is yet another testament to the growth of the Princeton women's program over the last 12 or so years, to the point where it is now among the very best in the country.

Last year was an incredible one for the Tigers, who went 14-0 in the league, won the Ivy tournament, defeated Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament and lost by one at Indiana to fall just short of the Sweet 16. As ridiculous as it seems, opening night for Princeton is a little more than two weeks away, as the Tigers host Temple on Nov. 7 and then Villanova on Nov. 11.

Then there was the men's soccer team's 5-0 win over Virginia Tech. Walker Gillespie had himself a three-goal night, matching the three that Kevin O'Toole had a year ago against Harvard. 

Next up for the Tigers is a doubleheader on Myslik Field against Cornell, with the women at 1 and the men at 4. Those games are Saturday, TB should mention.

There's a huge field hockey game Sunday, as Princeton hosts Harvard in what you might have expected in the beginning of the year to be the showdown in the Ivy League. Going back to the 2017 season, Princeton and Harvard are 56-0 against the other six Ivy schools.

This year they're both unbeaten at 4-0, though five of those eight wins have come by one goal. But hey, unbeaten is unbeaten.

The winner of this game will need only to win one of its remaining two games to clinch the league's automatic NCAA bid, as well as at least a share of the championship. That was the case last year (and the three years before that as well).

Last year's game showed just how even the two were in 2021. Regulation ended 1-1. Nobody scored in 20 minutes of overtime. Harvard won in penalty shots. That was the margin that got the Crimson the championship.

TB will be at Bedford Field for that game, which starts at noon. First, though, he has two more full days in Barcelona, including the soccer game tonight. He'll let you know just how cool that game is tomorrow.

He'll also be talking about another big Princeton-Harvard game for this weekend.