Ivy League women's lacrosse has been the stomping ground of Princeton in the first half of this season.

The Tigers (9-1, 5-0 Ivy) have already clinched a tie for the title. After stellar wins this past week, Princeton has surpassed its nearest Ivy competition.

The Tigers squared off for two games last week against Yale and Penn. The Elis (7-1, 2-1), standing in second place in the league, were no challenge for Princeton, losing 17-7.

The loss broke Yale's seven-game winning streak and extended Princeton's winning streak to eight games.

Penn (4-4, 3-2) also succumbed to Princeton's fury, 15-6. Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week Cristi Samaras scored four goals in the victory for the Tigers.

Samaras became the fourth Tiger in as many weeks to win the League's top offensive honors after scoring 10 goals and assisting on three others in Princeton's two victories.

Connecting on four goals against Penn and six against Yale, the sophomore attacker also became the League's overall leading scorer with 32 goals and 20 assists. Her combined 52 points helped Princeton to earn at least a tie for the Ivy League title in its two unbalanced victories.

Princeton needs losses by both Yale and Dartmouth, or a victory against Cornell this week, to secure the title outright, which would be its third in four years.

Dartmouth, last year's title winner, cannot yet be counted out. The Big Green (6-3, 2-1) beat the Big Red handily, 19-8. The 19 goals tied Dartmouth's record for goals in a league game.

The Big Green has two crucial road games at Yale and at Brown over the next few days.

For Cornell, (4-5, 0-4) the loss to Dartmouth marked another Ivy setback. All was not lost for the Big Red last week, however, as it defeated both Colgate, 13-7, and Vermont, 14-6.

Cornell's victories were a result of tenacious defense, as represented by the selection of senior Amy Carpenter as Defensive Player of the Week.

Carpenter became the Big Red's first player to win the honor this season after playing solidly over a three-game span.

Offensively, she tallied five goals and four assists, highlighted by her six point showing in the Vermont victory. Defensively, Carpenter had three ground balls against Colgate and five ground balls and an interception against Vermont.

Penn stunned Brown, 10-8, to knock the Bears out of the title picture.

Brown (7-2, 1-2) moved down to fifth place in the league after the close match with Penn, but stands to regain momentum with games versus Harvard and Dartmouth this week.

The Crimson (1-5, 0-3) suffered at the hands of top-ranked Maryland, 17-1. Of Harvard's five losses this season, four have come to teams currently ranked in the top 10--No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Loyola, No. 5 Princeton, and No. 7 Yale.

It is the extremely tough competition which Harvard has faced this season that has posed a great obstacle for the team. With Brown traveling to Cambridge on Wednesday and Cornell arriving on Saturday, however, Ancient Eight match-ups could prove successful for the Crimson on its home turf.

Harvard faces Brown today at 4 p.m. at Ohiri Field. The Bears are looking to avenge their recent Ivy losses, and the Crimson is looking forward to playing in its own League.