Ivy League! Tremble at Princeton's Autumnal Athletic Dominance (Sorry Football)!
Pop quiz, sports fans: if you ignore the football teams (hi sprint!), how many games have Princeton sports teams lost to Ivy League opponents this year?Zero. Zilch. Nary a one. You read that correctly: field hockey, men's water polo, women's volleyball, and both soccer teams are UNDEFEATED in Ivy League play. (Granted, men's water polo doesn't actually play in the Ivy League, but they beat Harvard and they're also undefeated in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern Division. Boom!)Maybe sometimes you flip over the Prince at breakfast and inadvertently catch a score or headline while trying to read the Quote of the Day. Maybe the big event of your athletic calendar this fall was the time you wandered over to the football stadium after tailgates because there were pretzels for sale inside. Maybe you had no idea we were nationally ranked in a couple fall sports. (By "you," of course, I mean me.)Consider this blog post a mid-season recap; a cheat sheet of reasons to care about Tiger sports this fall. Let's break it down, team by team!Field Hockey(9-2, Ivy 3-0)Holy crap, field hockey's good. How good, you ask? Prepare yourself.The team's ranked #4 in the country. Striker Kathleen Sharkey '12 leads the nation with 20 goals scored. And they already beat off the top team in the country, Maryland, 4-2, back in late September. Get down to 1952 Stadium!Next home game: Brown at noon this Saturday, Oct. 16.More Teams After the Jump!Men's Soccer(7-3-1, Ivy 2-0)The men's soccer team is riding a sweet six game win streak after a rocky 1-3-1 record to start the year. Even more impressively, they handed a nationally ranked Brown team their first loss of the year, 3-0. Midfielder Lester Nare '13 scored two goals in the game and was named the Ivy League and ECAC Player of the Week. And we're knocking on the door of the national poll - we got 23 votes this week, fifth highest of any unranked team.Next home game: Harvard on Sunday, Oct. 24Women's Soccer(8-4, Ivy 3-0)With nothing but wins in the Ivy League, Princeton women's soccer stands alone in first place atop the conference. It helps to have players like Caitlin Blosser '13 and Jen Hoy '13. Blosser had 6 goals and 7 assists on the season, and was named the Ivy League Player of the Week for a four goal week earlier this season. Hoy's seven goals lead the Ivy League. Seriously, don't mess.Next home game: Harvard on Saturday, Oct. 23.Men's Water Polo(10-5, Ivy* 1-0)I know I know, they don't play in the Ivy League because there is no Ivy League for water polo. But that doesn't mean they haven't been making moves this season. The team is ranked 17th in the country, and there are only a couple schools east of the Mississippi ranked higher. Also, did I mention we beat Harvard?Next home game: Johns Hopkins at 1:30 p.m this Saturday, Oct. 16.Women's Volleyball(8-6, Ivy 3-0)The Lady Tigers have won four straight, including three consecutive Ivy League victories over Penn, Brown, and Yale. Lydia Rudnick '13 has been named Ivy League Player of the week both weeks of league play this season; her 4.12 kills per set lead the Ivy League and put her 28th in the nation. [Thanks to commentor "08" for the reminder about volleyball!]Next home game: Harvard at 7 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 15.So that's what the year's looked like so far. There are countless players who are having killer seasons; I've only just scratched the surface of the wealth of awesome happening on the sports fields this fall. If you're a football fan, you've at least been able to enjoy wide receiver Trey Peacock '11, who led the FCS in receiving yards for the first few weeks of the season. And if you're a sprint football fan, well, unfortunately there is no silver lining for you. But luckily for you, there are plenty of other Princeton teams equally deserving (and slightly more winning) of your cheers this fall.