US College Sunday Part 3: Princeton’s Seventh Straight, Harvard’s 12 in a Row, and a Senior Day Rout for Cornell

BySportsCursor

Princeton just keep winning. The Tigers beat Saint Joseph’s 2-1 at home on Sunday, and that’s seven straight now after a 4-4 start to the season. Not bad for a team that looked ordinary in September.

Both Princeton goals came off penalty corners in the first half, Tabby Vaughan and Saylor Milone doing the damage. Saint Joseph’s pulled one back early in the third quarter and pushed hard for an equaliser, but goalkeeper Olivia Caponiti made a huge save with 46 seconds left to keep the win intact. That’s the kind of save that keeps a run alive.

Princeton already had the Ivy League tournament’s No. 2 seed locked up after Friday’s 7-1 win over Brown. They finish the regular season at Columbia on Friday, and if Yale beat Harvard on Saturday they could still grab a share of the Ivy title. Either way, nobody will want to draw this team right now.

Harvard, meanwhile, are the team everyone is chasing. The Crimson sealed a second straight Ivy League regular-season title with a 4-0 win over Columbia in New York, four different players scoring, and then came from behind to beat No. 20 Monmouth 3-1 at home on Sunday.

The Monmouth game was the better watch. Harvard fell behind early after a defensive turnover, but freshman Evie Smith levelled it, Martha le Huray scored the go-ahead goal in the final minute of the first half, and Elin van Sante finished it off from a penalty-corner rebound. Harvard outshot Monmouth 27-6 and didn’t allow the Hawks a single shot in the fourth quarter. That’s 12 straight wins now, the longest streak in the country, and Harvard (14-1, 6-0 Ivy) will host the Ivy League tournament. Their regular-season finale is against Yale on Halloween, and Yale will be desperate to spoil the party after booking their own playoff spot with a 2-0 win over Penn on Friday.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Boston College beat Stanford 3-0 in Newton, Massachusetts. The Eagles led 1-0 at half-time through a late first-half penalty corner, then added two more after the break, including another corner in the fourth quarter. Stanford goalkeeper Anya Jackson made seven saves, but the Cardinal couldn’t turn their early chances into anything. Stanford drop to 9-7 overall and 1-6 in ACC play, while Boston College move to 7-9 and 2-5. Stanford’s final home game is against Cal on Thursday, with a Senior Night celebration planned.

Cornell had the day’s most comfortable win, routing New Hampshire 6-1 on the Wildcats’ Senior Day in Durham. Megan Devletian scored on the first shot of the game after just 2:26, and by the time she struck again on a counter in the 34th minute it was 6-0. Emilly Coughlin got a late consolation for UNH, who fall to 4-10 while Cornell improve to 6-9. UNH wrap up their regular season at Bryant on 29 October, and the America East tournament starts on 1 November.

The tightest game of the bunch came in St. Louis, where Saint Louis beat Davidson 1-0. Ella Kappesser’s goal 11 minutes into the second quarter was all it took, and it survived a serious siege: Davidson outshot the Billikens 17-6 and won the penalty-corner count 16-3, but couldn’t find a way through. Davidson fall to 9-9 and 1-4 in Atlantic 10 play with one game left, hosting Lock Haven on Friday. Saint Louis move to 6-9 and 2-4.

Northwestern, Wake Forest, Drexel, Iowa and Lafayette were covered in Sunday’s Part 2 piece, and Maryland, Richmond and Towson in Part 1. This was the rest of Sunday, and it was worth waiting for.

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