Championship scenarios
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SHAREAs we enter November, we also enter the home stretch of most Ivy League seasons. So with just a few weeks remaining, here are title chances for all Fall teams. (Sports without standings -- such as cross country, rowing and golf -- are not included.)
Field Hockey (Currently Fourth place, with an Ivy League record of 3-2):
Val Cloud's team started out 1-2 in the Ancient Eight but has since won two in row over Columbia and Yale. But they still can only play the role of spoiler. No. 11 Princeton (6-0) has already clinched at least a share of the Ivy League title and NCAA berth, since it beat second-place Cornell, 4-0, on Saturday. Penn visits the Tigers next Friday and will look to spoil their perfect conference record and hurt their tournament seeding.
Football (Second place, 3-1):
Clearly, the team took a major hit when it lost to Brown, the only other undefeated team, 34-27, on Saturday. The Bears (4-0) now have a commanding Ivy lead that they probably won't relinquish since they finish with Yale, then doormats Columbia and Dartmouth. (The latter two are a combined 1-13 overall and 1-7 in the Ivy League.) Yet Penn is still only one game back with three to play; its best (but not only) shot is to win out and hope Brown loses to Yale.
Men's soccer (T-First place, 4-1-0, 12 points):
Of all Penn teams, Ruddy Fuller's club has the best chance of winning an outright Ivy League title. The simplest way to clinch the league would be to win its next two games. The Quakers first play Princeton (2-2-1, seven points) next Saturday and then host Harvard, which is tied for first, in the finale following game.
Otherwise, the Quakers can still win, but they'd need to watch out for Dartmouth (3-1-1, 10 points), which thrust itself into the title race by upsetting Harvard. If the Big Green beat Cornell next Saturday -- and considering Cornell is 1-13, 0-5 they probably will -- and Penn and Harvard both do not win that day, then Dartmouth would have at least a share of first place heading into the season’s final weekend. Brown, in fourth at 3-2-0, nine points, can technically still win the league if it wins out and the top three teams fail to win any of their remaining games.
Women's soccer (Fourth place, 2-2-2, eight points):
Despite returning every player from last year's championship team, the Quakers were officially eliminated from defending their crown on Saturday when Brown beat them, 1-0, in overtime. They lost too many league games they shouldn't have; they're 1-0-1 against two of the teams that are ahead of them (Columbia and Harvard) but are just 1-2-1 against teams below them.
Volleyball (Third place, 6-3):
The Quakers got two critical wins this weekend, beating both Columbia and Cornell at the Palestra. They are 2.5 games back of first-place Yale (9-1) and two games behind second-place Princeton (8-1). To win the championship, they almost certainly will need to win out, beating Yale Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown. Thus, they'd be 11-3 and Princeton and Yale would each have at least two losses. The Bulldogs and Tigers play each other on Nov. 15, so the Quakers would need the winner of that matchup to lose just one more game to setup a tie for the Ivy League title.