Winner (maybe) takes it all for W. Lax

Boy, is this familiar.

Just like last year - and the year before - the Ivy League women's lacrosse title comes down to Penn and Princeton.

The two rivals are set to face off tonight at Franklin Field, and the winner will win the Ancient Eight championship.

Sort of.

If the Quakers (11-0, 5-0 Ivy) earn their third straight win over Princeton (10-1, 4-0), then Penn will clinch at least a share of the title, since the worst they could be at season's end is 6-1 if they lose to Brown (6-5, 2-2) Saturday in their last Ivy game.

However, since lacrosse - unlike other Ivy sports, such as basketball - uses head-to-head record, not a playoff, to determine the Ivy champ in the event of a tie, the win over the Tigers would clinch the team's fifth-ever NCAA appearance.

Meanwhile, Princeton would be in control of its own destiny with a win over Penn. At 5-0, the Tigers could then clinch the title with victories over No. 14 Dartmouth (6-4, 3-1) and Brown.

But the Big Green can complicate things. Although the Quakers beat their New Hampshire opponents Saturday in a thrilling 7-6 overtime match, Dartmouth can force a three-way tie if Penn loses tonight, Dartmouth beats Princeton Saturday and the three schools win their other games.

In that case, the automatic bid would be determined by goal differential. Penn leads the pack at plus-75. Princeton is in second at plus-56 and Dartmouth is in last at plus-28.

Then again, even if Penn were to not win the auto-bid, at 11-0 with wins over No. 4 North Carolina, No. 11 Boston University, No. 14 Dartmouth, No. 17 Penn State and No. 18 Cornell, the Quakers already have a strong resume for an at-large bid. And that's not even including chances to beat No. 15 Stanford or upset dynastic No. 1 Northwestern.

That's all fine and dandy, but the Quakers just want to win tonight and get it over with.

Just like they did in 2008 - and in 2007.

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