Penn at Princeton, Saturday 11/3/18 at 7PM I get that this forum and twitter are all totally consumed by the P5 conferences, and little else. Well I am VERY excited about this final Ivy League match for the 2018 season. I love that it's effectively a conference championship game. No doubt the schedulers putting the travel partners against each other last pays dividends for huge rivalries such as this get to take on additional weight. And I don't believe any of the prognosticators that would have Princeton either "on the bubble" or first team out. They went 6-0-0 on the road, have an RPI 32 and a national rnaking of 24. They're officially IN according to me according to any and all metrics, and if they get the win tomorrow, it's just a formality. If I step back and look at the bracket predictions objectively, I think what's actually happening here is most experts would want to have Princeton beating Penn for the autobid, but since Penn's currently unbeaten in conference, it's bad form to put Princeton on your bracket and leave Penn off, because as it stands, it's currently Penn's to lose, until the match is played. But still, Princeton is theoretically the lock for a bid, and that's all that should matter. Ironically, Penn is on a theoretical bubble of sorts here, but their record suggests they're in line for an autobid so they are listed on most brackets as of today. They're a real catch 22 for bracket makers. However, if PENN should win or even draw, they'll in fact take that rare autobid, their first appearance in NCAA's since all the way back in 2010. Penn for their own right has given up just 4 goals in 15 contests and is a very formidable offense as well. But Princeton is a tough place to play so I think they'll be fortunate to come away with either a 0-0 or 1-1 result. Will be interesting to see who can score first, but no lead will be safe. I'm expecting a very back and forth type box score, either 1-0 in favor of Princeton, or 1-1 in favor of Penn's bid. And unlike actual conf tourneys, there are no PK's in this one! It's winner take all, but a tie would favor UPenn because they'd still be on top of the table. The game is streaming... Let's watch, or better yet attend (Saturday night lights) and post your thoughts here about the match! Any predictions? I take Princeton winning, 1-0.
Ok, I take back what I said about an at large for Princeton. It was clickbait title but nobody fell for that and bites. I see they really won't have any signature wins and their 4-3-1 or 4-3 against the top 100 would be seen as too pedestrian. Regardless, whichever team from Ivy gets in -but I assume now that will be Princeton, will be very formidable.
My 1-0 Princeton prediction held up, though Penn put forth a valiant effort in the 90th minute with 3 corner kicks and 2 shots. Too little too late. I can't figure out Princeton facilities. 8.4 million soccer specific stadium, only ten years old, and they relocate most of the season to turf, claiming "field conditions". An article suggests they might even move the field entirely to expand buildings. I think the Roberts soccer stadium was an attractive place to play, so moving majority of games to lacrosse's turf field seems like such a letdown and I can't imagine players and staff being thrilled about it.