While Harvard wrestler J.P. O’Connor made history this weekend, becoming the first Crimson grappler to finish the season undefeated as he captured a national championship, another Ivy League school made some history of its own.
Cornell’s men’s basketball and women’s hockey teams are both playing the role of Cinderella in their respective NCAA tournaments—the first-ever wins on the national stage for both teams.
After dismantling Temple, 78-63, on Friday, the Big Red men’s hoops squad made a statement yesterday, earning an 87-69 win over Wisconsin to earn a trip to the Sweet 16.
Cornell’s first-round win was the first for an Ivy League school since Princeton won its tourney opener in 1998, and it is now the first Ancient Eight squad since Penn in 1979 to advance to the second weekend of play.
The Quakers made a run all the way to the Final Four that season.
The Big Red draws top-seeded Kentucky in its Sweet 16 matchup, a team that is on an offensive roll in the tournament so far. The Wildcats hit the century mark in a 100-71 win over East Tennessee State in the first round before beating up on Wake Forest, 90-60, in Round 2. But the squads will tangle in Syracuse, N.Y. on Thursday—just an hour away from Ithaca.
While the Cornell men were making waves in Jacksonville, Fla., the women’s hockey team made an impressive run of its own in the NCAA Frozen Four in Minneapolis, Minn.
After the ECAC auto-bid failed to deliver home-ice advantage to the Big Red, Cornell came to Cambridge on March 12 with a mission. And the Big Red proved that it’s well on its way to becoming the next Ivy powerhouse, routing Harvard, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.
Cornell then took out No. 1 Mercyhurst in a 3-2 overtime win in the national semifinals on Friday, earning a spot in the national championship game against Minnesota-Duluth yesterday.
The national title game was one for the ages, as the triple-overtime battle was the longest game in championship history. Big Red goaltender Amanda Mazzotta made a title-game-record 61 saves, but Bulldog forward Jessica Wong brought her team’s fifth national championship back to Duluth with 33 seconds remaining in the third overtime period.
Though its Cinderella run was stopped just short of the national crown, Cornell women’s hockey has a lot to look forward to—all three of its All-Americans return to Ithaca next year, as does Olympian Rebecca Johnston.
All in all, it was a good weekend to be a Big Red fan—and oh yeah, Cornell left the NCAA wrestling championships with an individual winner and a team runner-up prize too.
