More Than Just Spoilers: Ivy Race Is Tight
by Justin Feil | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
With less than two weeks left in the regular season, there is three-way tie for the fourth and final spot for the inaugural Ivy League Tournament, and there is still a chance at a five-way tie for third place behind Dartmouth and Penn.
Here’s what it would take to leave Princeton (3-1), Brown (2-3), Yale (2-3), Cornell (2-3) and Harvard (1-3) all with 3-4 records in Ivy play:
- Brown beats visiting Cornell on Friday. Then on Saturday, Harvard beats visiting Princeton and Yale beats visiting Columbia.
- The following week, Harvard falls at Dartmouth and Penn wins in Princeton.
- And on the final weekend, Harvard wins at Columbia, Brown loses at Penn, Cornell tops visiting Yale, and Dartmouth wins at Princeton.
Hardest to foresee of the scenario is a Harvard win over
Princeton this weekend, but Princeton lost to Cornell, which lost
to Harvard, so nothing is out of the question.
“It’s been amazing,” said Brown head coach Keely
McDonald. “It’s made everyone a little hungrier all
season.”
In the event of a tie, the first tiebreaker for the Ivy tournament
is head-to-head, then the best cumulative record against all other
tied teams. If there is still a tie of cumulative records, the
higher seed goes to the team that has beaten the highest seeded
team outside of the tie. If there is still a tie, a random draw
will be conducted by the Ivy League executive director.
At 5-6 overall, Princeton’s best chance to make the NCAA tournament for a 13th straight season and 18th time in the last 19 years is winning the Ivy League tournament. “I think it would be a very, very, very long shot to get an at-large berth,” said Princeton head coach Chris Sailer, whose team is 5-7 overall after Wednesday's loss to Maryland. “We’re pretty clear we have to win the Ivy tournament. But if we could win out, people would have to give us a look.”
Two of the Tigers’ final three opponents are ranked and all will visit Princeton Stadium. No. 6 Penn visits next Wednesday and the regular season concludes with a visit from No. 7 Dartmouth. The Tigers have won only one home game this season…
Cornell followed up its upset of Princeton by playing Dartmouth tough in a 9-6 loss.
“In more recent games, we’ve been putting a 60-minute effort together,” said Big Red head coach Jennie Graap. “It allowed us to get a victory over Princeton. We’re starting to get better. We’ve improved to the extent able to play a full game.” Cornell’s loss to Harvard is the Crimson’s only Ivy win this season.
Brown has won five of its last six games, and tested Dartmouth before falling, 9-7. They have won three straight, all on the road. “We need to take care of the ball, hustle and just play our game,” said McDonald. “Staying within ourselves has been important to us in all of our games.”
The Bears have outscored opponents, 80-42, in the first half of games.
Columbia (0-5) continues to look for its first league win of the season. The Lions play at Yale on Saturday. They cut an 11-6 halftime deficit against Brown to two twice in the final 18 minutes but got no closer.
When Yale freshman midfielder Devon Rhodes scored eight goals against Harvard, it matched the highest output by a Yale player in 10 years. The Ivy record for goals in a game is 11 by Tracy Ball, a 1981 Yale graduate who is the mother of current Bulldog junior midfielder Logan Greer.
Harvard comes out of a nine-day break after trailing No. 4 Virginia by just a goal at halftime to play four games in 11 days to finish the regular season. Freshman midfielder Jennifer VanderMeulen leads the conference in scoring with 34 goals. She is seventh in the country in goals per game (3.5).
Every team except Columbia is in the mix for a spot in the
inaugural Ivy tournament, which will determine the NCAA automatic
qualifier. The regular season will determine the Ivy champion
only.
“It makes it tougher for the teams that have a better
record,” Sailer said. “For the other teams, it’s
more than being a spoiler now. It’s trying to get in the
tournament.”
