The Princeton Tigers took sole possession of the lead in the race for the Ivy League title this week with a 2-0 win over Harvard. Brown moved up a notch from last place with its victory over Cornell; Penn stayed on the bottom with a loss to fifth-place Yale.
Dartmouth and Harvard are now tied for second place in the league, and will resolve their differences next weekend.
Princeton 2, Harvard 0
The battle of the unbeatens ended with the Princeton Tigers (9-3, 5-0 Ivy) atop the second-place Harvard Crimson (10-4, 4-1) last Saturday in Princeton, NJ.
The game was well matched, but Princeton was able to convert its opportunities to goals. The first score of the game came with 11:39 to go in the first half, when Princeton senior Hilary Matson collected a rebound off of Harvard freshman Katie Zacarian's goalie pads and shot the ball into the goal.
Harvard came near to tying up the score early in the second half, but a shot by senior Maisa Badawy went just wide of the cage. The game stayed scoreless for most of the half, but with 7:30 left in the game, Princeton sophomore Ilvy Friebe sent a diving sweep past Zacarian to tally the insurance goal for the Tigers.
The Tigers outshot Harvard 15-8 in the game. Princeton goalie Kelly Baril recorded three saves and her fifth shutout of the season, while Zacarian had nine saves.
Princeton must win both of its two remaining Ivy contests against Cornell and Penn to take the Ivy title outright, and one to claim a share of the title. Harvard must win against both Dartmouth and Columbia to have a chance of a shared title with the Tigers.
Brown 5, Cornell 1
The Brown Bears (7-6, 1-4) dominated the traveling Cornell Big Red (7-6, 3-2) on Saturday. Cornell drops to fourth place in the league.
Brown started off the scoring less than three minutes into the game, when Susanna Garcia put in a goal off of a penalty corner. Seven minutes later, Megan Patterson put in another goal for the Bears, followed by a goal by Brown midfielder Ashley Wallace with 12:41 left in the half. Brown's Cara Gardner put in the last goal of the half two minutes later, putting the Bears up by a score of 4-0.
The second half showed more Brown domination, as Nikki Gamer put in a goal for the Bears just 23 seconds after the whistle. However, Cornell was able to put one back to avoid the shutout. Big Red junior Ashleigh Snelson scored on a penalty corner with 2:52 left in the game.
Cornell goalie Maureen Sullivan posted 14 saves in the game, while her Brown counterpart Annie Owens had one save. Brown outshot Cornell 26-3.
Cornell will host Bucknell tomorrow for a non-league game. Brown is not back in action until Sunday, when they travel to Philadelphia to face Penn.
Yale 3, Penn 2
The Bulldogs (3-12, 2-4 Ivy) prevailed in this overtime game, while Penn (3-10, 0-4) dropped its fifth overtime loss of the season.
With 17:41 left in the first half, Yale's Stephanie Dolmat-Connell opened scoring for the game. The game stayed at a 1-0 score into the halftime break.
Less than three minutes into the second frame, Penn's Ali Corsi tied up the score, 1-1. Corsi scored again at the 12:46 mark, putting her team up 2-1.
However, Yale was not going to be kept down. Dolmat-Connell tied the score at 2 with her second goal of the day, forcing the teams into a 7-a-side sudden death overtime.
At the 9:54 mark in the overtime period, Bulldog Christine Anthony put back the winning goal of the game.
Both goalkeepers, Yale's Krissy Nesburg and Penn's Katie Davis, recorded nine saves in the game.
Penn has a busy schedule this week, hosting Penn State on Wednesday, Columbia on Friday, and Brown on Sunday. Yale goes on the road, facing Virginia on Saturday and Duke on Sunday.
