Harvard vs. Cal highlights the weekend ahead in the Ivy League

Here’s a look ahead at this weekend’s Ivy League teams

Ivy League teams offered up mixed results on the season’s opening day on Tuesday. Princeton and Dartmouth were impressive in their season-opening wins over Rider and Vermont, respectively, while Harvard recorded a strong road win over Northern Illinois. Brown suffered a narrow defeat to Bryant, while Columbia played a strong game, before ultimately losing to Albany, on the road, in overtime.

There were many terrific performances, but the most impressive just may have come from Columbia freshman, Kaitlyn Davis. Davis recorded 23 points and 13 rebounds to open her career, and gave the Lions a strong inside presence on a team that is quite guard heavy. Princeton’s Bella Alarie continued where she left off, recording a 22 point, 8 rebound performance, in the Tigers dominating 33-point win over Rider.

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Most teams are back in action this weekend, and the game of the weekend in the league will take place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard will welcome the Golden Bears of California on Friday night. Another Ivy League freshman, Lola Mullaney, made her presence felt immediately in the Crimson’s season-opening win, as she recorded 25 points, including six 3-pointers in the game. Senior Jeannie Boehm was the inside presence for head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith, as she recorded a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. This is a big non-conference contest for Harvard. The game is set for a 7:00pm ET tip and can be seen on ESPN+.

Cornell will kick-off their season on the road, as they travel to New York’s state capital to take on the Albany Great Danes on Friday evening, before taking the trip to Texas, where they will play TCU on Sunday afternoon. Head coach Dayna Smith will look to get the Big Red back to Ivy Madness for the second consecutive season.

Pennsylvania will also get their season underway this weekend, as they play host to Siena on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. Eleah Parker will look to get the Quakers off to a good start in 2019, as they have their sites set on an Ivy League championship. Penn defeated Siena, 58-51, in last year’s season-opener in New York.

The two-time reigning (note: not defending) Ivy League champion, Princeton Tigers, will travel to our nation’s capital to play George Washington on Sunday. The Colonials are coming off of a season-opening win of their own, as they defeated Villanova, 68-56 on Tuesday.  The Tigers helped first-year head coach, Carla Berube get her first career victory on Tuesday, and this will offer up a really tough road test, for this veteran Princeton team.

Columbia, following a tough overtime loss to Albany on Tuesday, suffered another defeat to St. Joseph’s Thursday night. While Davis led the Lions in the opener, another freshman, Abbey Hsu, led Megan Griffith’s squad in scoring last night with 22. Sophomore Sienna Durr will look to get the Lions into the win column this weekend, as they welcome Fordham to Levien Gymnasium on Sunday for a 2:00 p.m. start.

Yale, whose opener against Providence on Tuesday was suspended at the half due to a clock malfunction, is off until next week. That game, which saw Yale trailing the Friars 40-33 at the half, will be continued in December. Brown and Dartmouth are also off until next week.

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