WLax: also 1 win from Ivy title

[RichH]

The women play Friday night at Harvard for at least a share of the Ivy Championship.  It would be their first ever.  Let's Go Red!!

From http://cornellbigred.cstv.com/sports/w-lacros/spec-rel/042506aaa.html

[Q]WHAT HAPPENS IF...: A win over Harvard would give Cornell a 6-1 Ivy League record, eliminating Dartmouth (5-2) from title contention. A loss would mean Cornell would finish tied with the Big Green pending Princeton's Saturday game at Brown. A Princeton win and a Cornell win means the two teams tie for the league title, with the Tigers taking the automatic bid thanks to its head-to-head win on April 1. A Princeton loss and a Cornell win gives the Big Red an outright title and the automatic berth. A Princeton win and a Cornell loss gives the Tigers the outright title, while losses by both teams mean there will be a three-way tie atop the league standings at 5-2 (Cornell, Dartmouth and Princeton).


A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING: With a win over Harvard, Cornell would claim at least a share of its first-ever Ivy League title. The Big Red finished second in 2002, going 6-1 to finish behind only Princeton, who went unbeaten that season en route to the national title. The 6-1 Ancient Eight record would also tie its best ever conference mark. [/Q]

Harvard is 4-10 overall and 2-3 Ivy.  Princeton plays 4-9 (1-4) Brown on Saturday.

[Chris \'03]

Cornell won 17-8 last night to wrap up at least a share of the title: http://cornellbigred.cstv.com/sports/w-lacros/sched/corn-w-lacros-sched.html

At 11-2, the team is in good shape for the NCAAs (8th in RPI, with Stanford (19) and Rutgers (28) left on the schedule). If they win out, there's a reasonable chance of a home game the 13th. Could be an NCAA double header if the men get a home game as well.

[Ben Rocky '04]

Congrads to the women's LAX team for receiving their first Ivy title.

[RichH]

The women lost to Stanford 5-4 Sunday in Cambridge.  Unlike the Men, they don't have the luxury of the Ivy AQ, so this probably nudged them a little closer to the bubble.  They're #9 in both the 5/1 LaxPower poll and RPI.

Final game of the regular season is Saturday at Rutgers.

[Chris \'03]

WLAX selection show is tonight at 8:30 on CSTV.

Cornell is likely in after beating Rutgers to close the season 12-3 (6-1). They finish with RPI #10, and SOS #11 (based on the points system). Of course the selection criteria is convoluted (http://www.laxpower.com/update06/binwom/ncaa01.php) so it's anybody's guess if Cornell will benefit from a first round home game or not. Given the committee's love affair with geography a matchup with Princeton, Dartmouth, or BU could be coming next week.

[Chris \'03]

Cornell will get a chance to avenge an early season two goal loss to Notre Dame in the NCAA first round. Winner plays Georgetown (or perhaps Monmouth). All the players are gone from the national semi vs. the Hoyas but it would be nice to get another crack at them in the tournament.

Complete bracket is here: http://www.ncaasports.com/lacrosse/womens/brackets/straight16_dyn/2006/DI

Weird draw overall. 5 of 8 first round games are rematches. Third place Dartmouth is the only Ivy to be seeded (co-champ Princeton is unseeded @ #2 UVa). More travel required than for the men's draw.

Aside: I think this is the first year the women's and men's final four are both on Memorial Day weekend. The men are in Philly and the women are in Boston. I think this is terrible for the women's game. The best solution is to have both championships on the same field and weekend, but if that's not going to be the case, they shouldn't directly conflict in separate cities. Consolidating the finals would be great exposure for the women's game.

[Chris \'03]

Evidently, Georgetown has been penalized for not reserving enough hotel rooms for the visiting team last year and will not host any games this year. Thus, if Cornell and Georgetown win this week, unseeded Cornell would host the #3 seed in a quarterfinal game.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote Chris '03]Evidently, Georgetown has been penalized for not reserving enough hotel rooms for the visiting team last year and will not host any games this year. Thus, if Cornell and Georgetown win this week, unseeded Cornell would host the #3 seed in a quarterfinal game.[/quote]
Only the NCAA could dream up stuff like this. ::screwy::

[Chris \'03]

[quote Al DeFlorio][quote Chris '03]Evidently, Georgetown has been penalized for not reserving enough hotel rooms for the visiting team last year and will not host any games this year. Thus, if Cornell and Georgetown win this week, unseeded Cornell would host the #3 seed in a quarterfinal game.[/quote]
Only the NCAA could dream up stuff like this. ::screwy::[/quote]

It gets better... the visiting team last year was TOWSON. It's like saying Cornell didn't reserve enough rooms for Cortland.

But you know they only enforce this stuff against low profile sports teams. I'm not sure they'd even do this to a men's lax program.