A year after coming so close to the final four of the NCAA tournament, ending an emotional ride during which the tragic death of a teammate weighed on the team for two months, the Big Red of Cornell expected to be good again.
And, after a 2-2 start, Cornell is back on course with a six-game winning streak. The Big Red started its recovery by crushing Ivy League rivals Yale, Penn and Harvard, asserted itself further with a 16-14 victory at Syracuse, then held off Dartmouth 12 days ago, 8-7.
Then came an effort that was equally symbolic and convincing. With league rival Princeton on postseason life support for a change, Cornell lowered the boom on Saturday with a 17-4 rout, thus clinching a share of its 20th Ivy League title and officially eliminating the Tigers from NCAA tournament contention for the first time since 1989.
It was the Big Red's most lopsided victory over Princeton since a 21-5 road win in 1988, and Cornell became the first Ivy League school since Yale (1989-90) to defeat the Tigers in back-to-back years. Princeton had won or shared the past 10 Ivy titles.
No. 5 Cornell will try to complete its first perfect Ivy season since 1987 at No. 20 Brown on Saturday. A win would be worth an automatic NCAA bid, and the Big Red then would take aim at its first final four since 1988.
"We're going to enjoy it while we can. We know it won't be long before Princeton is back where everybody expects them to be," Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni said. "We're not a great team by any stretch. We have good players who compete hard and give us a chance to win. We've been opportunistic."
Cornell has won only 47.7 percent of its faceoff attempts, but its takeaway-oriented defense and relentless offense have made up the difference.
The Big Red is shooting a solid 31 percent for the season and averaging 14.5 goals during its winning streak, during which two players - junior midfielder Joe Boulukos and senior attackman Kevin Nee - have produced seven-goal games.
Against 3-7 Princeton, which had erupted for 31 goals and a two-game winning streak, Cornell took early leads of 4-0 and 8-1 and generated an amazing 62 shots.
"Last year was such a roller-coaster season," said Nee, alluding to the early-season, on-the-field death of defenseman George Boiardi after he was struck in the chest by a shot, a late-season surge by the Big Red and the 6-5 loss to Navy in the tournament quarterfinals.
