Ivy League Hoping It's 2022 All Over Again

Could it be 2022 all over again?

The Ivy League certainly hopes so. And last Friday and Saturday offered a heck of a parallel to that memorable lacrosse season for the Ancient Eight.

Between Dartmouth’s victory over Vermont on Friday, and the rest of the Ivies picking up victories the following day, it marked the first time since March 5, 2022, all seven teams contributed to an unblemished weekend.

(There is an argument to include the week after that, when six Ivies won from March 11-13. The only one that didn’t was Dartmouth, which had defeated Vermont the Tuesday prior but had a weekend open date.)

Bottom line, it’s an enticing comparison, considering the postseason representation just a season after the Ivies were effectively absent from competition as the COVID-19 pandemic entered its second year. Six teams reached the NCAA tournament. Penn, Yale, Princeton, Cornell and Brown were all seeded. Princeton advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2004. Cornell made it to Memorial Day.

Last weekend offered encouragement in a number of precincts. Penn continued its solid play under first-year coach Taylor Wray by hammering Delaware 14-6. Yale handled Boston University just a week after losing its opener to Army. Defending national champ Cornell traveled west and took down Denver 13-9.

The headliners, though, were Princeton finally getting the better of Maryland after several frustrating encounters in recent seasons. And Harvard picked off Syracuse in the regular season for the second consecutive year. It marked the first-ever win over a No. 1 team for Harvard.

Toss in this week’s results, and the Ivy League is 15-5 (.750) in the season’s early stages. That’s not quite on the same pace as the 39-10 (.796) non-conference record the Ivies amassed prior to Selection Sunday in 2022, but it’s better than the 32-17 (.653) mark amassed last year.

One other thing worth mentioning: An unblemished Ivy weekend is a rarer thing than one might guess. Prior to 2022, the last time all seven teams contributed to a perfect weekend was Feb. 21-22, 2009.

Some perspective on how long ago that was: Max Seibald was just starting a successful run at a Tewaaraton Award under then-Big Red coach Jeff Tambroni. Bill Tierney was still coaching Princeton. Brian Voelker was still on Penn’s sideline in a victory over Drexel (the school he would jump to that summer). Dartmouth beat Hartford, a school that has since moved to Division III.

But in one echo, Harvard took down an ACC school coming off a trip to the NCAA semifinals (in that case, Duke).

Of course, a good weekend in February offers no guarantees other than more tough games to come, including quite a few this weekend. Just ask Cornell (which meets Richmond in a rematch of last year’s NCAA quarterfinal), Penn and Princeton (which both face North Carolina and Syracuse) and Yale (which visits Penn State). 

The chance to burnish an already strong start is waiting in the next few days.

Feb. 20-21, 2026            

Dartmouth 14, Vermont 10
Brown 8, Providence 7 (OT)
Cornell 13, Denver 9
Harvard 13, Syracuse 12
Penn 14, Delaware 6
Princeton 13, Maryland 12
Yale 16, Boston U. 11

March 11-13, 2022

Princeton 16, Rutgers 11
Brown 10, Stony Brook
Cornell 16, Penn State 15 
Harvard 14, Michigan 9 
Penn 8, Villanova 7 
Yale 16, Denver 13

(Dartmouth beat Vermont 8-7 on March 8)

March 5, 2022                

Brown 22, Providence 10
Cornell 14, Ohio State 11
Dartmouth 11, Siena 9
Harvard 16, Fairfield 12
Penn 10, Penn State 9
Princeton 10, Georgetown 8
Yale 13, Massachusetts 12

Feb. 21-22, 2009

Brown 13, Lehigh 12
Cornell 18, Binghamton 6
Dartmouth 11, Hartford 10 (2OT)
Penn 9, Drexel 8
Princeton 14, Canisius 6
Yale 13, Holy Cross 8
Harvard 9, Duke 6