For many Ivy League teams, the end is near (or already here). This weekend wraps up the regular season for baseball, softball, and men’s lacrosse, while women’s lacrosse and golf crowned their league champions last weekend.
Penn won its first-ever Ancient Eight title in women’s golf to go with its fourth-straight conference crown in women’s lacrosse, and Columbia outplayed the field at Baltusrol to take home its third-consecutive men’s golf title.
That wacky New England weather means that there are still plenty of games to be played on the diamonds before this weekend’s home-and-home series between travel partners, but the picture in men’s lacrosse is even murkier, with five teams competing for three open spots in the tournament.
Ready for the madness? Let’s take a look around the Ivies.
MEN’S LACROSSE
Another weekend, another fallen titan. Not to be outdone by its female counterpart, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team took out league-leader Princeton—then ranked sixth in the nation—by an 11-8 count on Saturday, its first win against the Tigers since 1990. That upset has thrown the Crimson back into the heat of the playoff race and complicated the picture even further.
Penn, which has already wrapped up its Ivy season, is eliminated from tournament contention. Despite the loss, Princeton is in the tournament and has clinched at least a share of the title. No one else is safe. To get in, all No. 19 Harvard has to do is win—no easy task on the road at No. 17 Yale.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
After running the Ivy table, Penn easily claimed the top seed in the tournament. It’s joined in the dance by 5-2 Dartmouth and 4-3 Cornell and Princeton. That leaves Harvard, at 3-4, on the outside looking in.
The Crimson did its part by beating Columbia on the road on Saturday, but the Tigers upset the Big Green in overtime, snatching the last spot from Harvard’s grasp. Though the Crimson did beat two of the teams that made the field in Princeton and Cornell, that one-goal loss to Brown a month ago proved too much to overcome.
Penn hosts the tournament and will play the fourth-seeded Tigers on Friday night. The Big Green and Big Red tangle on Friday afternoon, and the winners will play for the tournament championship and automatic trip to the NCAA tournament on Sunday.
BASEBALL
The Gehrig Division managed to actually play a full schedule this weekend, and with four games to go, Columbia holds a two-game lead over Penn. But that lead is not safe, as the squads will clash in a crucial home-and-home series this weekend to determine who goes to the Ivy League Championship Series.
Dartmouth and Brown split their Saturday twinbill, and the Big Green won the first game today to take a one-game lead in the division standings. Game two was rained out and will be played tomorrow, as will Harvard and Yale’s second doubleheader. The Crimson sits two and a half games back of Dartmouth heading into this weekend’s home-and-home series between the two squads.
SOFTBALL
The defending Ancient Eight champs have all but locked up their place in the Ivy League Championship Series, as Cornell claimed at least a share of the South Division title with a series sweep of Columbia this weekend. The Big Red needs to win only one game against Princeton this weekend (or have Penn lose once) to take the crown outright—which shouldn’t be a problem, as the Tigers have fallen from grace and now sit at 5-11 in Ivies.
Meanwhile, up in the North Division, Harvard took care of business today, completing a four-game sweep of Yale to move two games ahead of the Big Green in the division race. Dartmouth and Brown, who split Saturday’s games, will meet again tomorrow in a makeup twinbill.
The Crimson’s trip to the ILCS is not yet secure, though, and this weekend’s showdown with the Big Green will once again determine the division winner.
Sophomore Rachel Brown, the reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Week, picked up both wins today with 10.1 innings of scoreless work, striking out 19 in the process.
