November 6, 2002: Sports
Sports Web Exclusives! The Varsity Typewriter column
Two
football wins the hard way
Beating Brown and Colgate
gives Tigers first four-game win streak since 1997
Cameron Atkinson ’03 has rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the Tigers’ wins this year, including 174 yards against Brown. (beverly schaefer)
By Sophia Hollander ’02
Cameron Atkinson ’03 looked down in astonishment. With Brown players strewn haphazardly across the ground cluttering his path, the Princeton tailback was still on his feet. Picking his way past splayed fingers and outstretched arms, Atkinson darted 82 yards for a first-quarter touchdown against Brown October 19.
Stepping lightly into the endzone, he shook his head in disbelief. But Atkinson, who rushed for a career-high 174 yards in the game, was not the only one executing narrow escapes.
In two harrowing games, the Tigers (4—1 overall, 2—0 Ivy) defeated Brown, 16—14, and Colgate, 14—10, extending their four-game winning streak – Princeton’s first since 1997 – and setting up a three-way tie for first place in the Ivy League between Princeton, Harvard, and Penn. Harvard was set to visit Princeton on October 26.
“There’s a lot of ways to win football games, and today we found a way to win when our play wasn’t great,” said head coach Roger Hughes in a post-game statement that has become a weekly variation on the same theme.
The Tigers nearly bungled a 16—0 halftime lead against Brown (0—5, 0—2), as the Bears scored 14 straight points and drove downfield with a chance to win in the final minute of the fourth quarter. But two interceptions by Jay McCareins ’05 in the game’s last four minutes preserved the Princeton victory.
It should not have been as close. The Tigers scored on their first three possessions, including a 36-yard field goal from Derek Javarone ’06 and a touchdown reception by Chisom Opara ’03, standing alone in the endzone.
Princeton’s superb defensive effort in the first half shorted out the connection between Brown quarterback Kyle Slager and All-American wide receiver Chas Gessner. Entering the game, Slager led all Division I-AA quarterbacks in passing, averaging 25.5 completions a game, while Gessner led in receptions, averaging nearly 12. Together, Gessner and Slager combined to provide the winless Bears with the division’s top passing offense — averaging 344 yards per game.
But by the end of the third quarter, Brown coach Phil Estes had yanked Slager and replaced him with untested Nate Poole, while Gessner’s offensive output continued to sputter.
Poole swiftly capitalized on a botched fake-punt attempt by Princeton on its own 30-yard line, taking only six seconds to find Brandon Buchanan for a 30-yard touchdown pass and putting Brown on the board for the first time. “If it works you’re a genius if it doesn’t, you’re an idiot,” Hughes said of the fake punt. “I was definitely feeling like an idiot.”
Brown inched back into the game until the final drive. Gessner dashed right to the Princeton 30-yard line, shadowed by defensive back Jay McCareins ’05, and leaped for the pass. But the low-slung ball slid right into McCareins’s arms. Princeton held Brown to its lowest point-total this season.
For McCareins, the situation is starting to feel familiar. Against Colgate on October 12, he made a one-handed interception with a just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter to preserve the Princeton victory.
Despite his recent spate of late-game heroics, McCareins sat solemnly in the press conference following the Brown game. “I got the opportunity to play an All-American today, and I just tried to play my best against him,” McCareins said. “I was able to come out with the ball.”
Hughes was more effusive. “Superlatives can’t express my emotion right now,” said Hughes regarding his team’s defensive effort. “Super. Terrific. Fantastic. Big players make big plays in big games.”
Who would Hughes most want covering the other team’s top offensive player?
“Jay,” he answered, and McCareins finally flashed a smile.
Sophia Hollander ’02 is a writer living in New York. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times sports section and a culture columnist for The American Prospect.
Esmeralda Negron ’05 photo by beverly schaefer
When the women’s soccer team needs a big goal this season, it seems
Esmeralda Negron ’05’s feet are always ready. As of October
15, she led the undefeated Tigers with seven goals. Of those scores, four
were game winners, including two overtime goals. “I like to be in
those positions in tight games. I keep up the intensity at those moments
because I know that I want to score,” said Negron after notching
the lone goal in Princeton’s 1—0 win over Rutgers October 8.
The win avenged the Tigers’ loss to Rutgers in the 2001 NCAA playoffs.
Negron showed glimpses of her clutch play last year, when five of her
six goals won games, including an overtime goal to give her coach Julie
Shackford her first win over Harvard. The only undefeated team in the
country and ranked 13th nationally, Princeton’s 11—0 start was
the second-best in program history. The team started 14—0 in its
inaugural varsity season of 1980. In women’s golf, Princeton beat
Brown by one stroke to win the ECAC Championships October 13. The Tigers
finished the rain-shortened, 27-hole tournament at Gettysburg with a score
of 467, while Brown finished at 468. Avery Kiser ’05 won a six-hole
playoff with Elizabeth Carpenter of Brown to take her second straight
ECAC title. Meg Nakamura ’05 tied for fifth, and Emma Stachowicz
’06 placed 10th. Men’s soccer’s sole bright spot in a down
year thus far is the play of freshman forward Darren Spicer, who has scored
the game winner in the Tigers’ two victories this year. After 10
games, his six points (two goals and two assists) lead the team. Baseball
alum Tom Hage ’96 tasted the champagne last month when his Newark
Bears captured the independent Atlantic League championship. Hage, who
started the year with the Boston Red Sox’s Trenton AA affiliate,
played 94 games at first base for the Bears and finished the season with
a .294 batting average, 23 doubles, 20 home runs, and 74 runs batted in.
By A.D.
Scores
Men’s Teams
Cross-Country
Oct. 19 10th at Pre-NCAA Invitational
Oct. 19 Second at Lafayette Invitational
Rugby (3—1)
Sept. 14 West Chester 29, Princeton 17
Sept. 21 Princeton 58, East Stroudsburg 0
Sept. 28 Princeton 36, Delaware 21
Oct. 12 Princeton 43, Penn 3
Soccer (2—6—4)
Oct. 9 Princeton 3, American 2
Oct. 12 Hartwick 3, Princeton 1
Oct. 15 Princeton 1, Loyola—Maryland 1
Oct. 18 Brown 1, Princeton
Sprint Football (0—4)
Oct. 11 Army 29, Princeton 0
Oct. 18 Cornell 10, Princeton 0
Water Polo (14—5)
Oct. 18 Princeton 18, Gannon 6
Princeton 18, Grove City 2
Oct. 19 Princeton 17, Bucknell 10
Princeon 9, Navy 8
Women’s Teams
Cross-Country
Oct. 19 17th at Pre-National Invitational
Field Hockey (7—5)
Oct. 9 Princeton 5, Delaware 1
Oct. 12 Princeton 4, Connecticut 3 (2OT)
Oct. 13 Boston University 2, Princeton 0
Oct. 19 Princeton 9, Brown 1
Rugby (5—0)
Sept. 14 Princeton 12, Kutztown 5
Sept. 21 Princeton 35, Bryn Mawr 0
Sept. 28 Princeton 24, Delaware 0
Oct. 5 Princeton 38, Penn 0
Oct. 11 Princeton 17, Shippensburg 0
Soccer (12—0)
Oct. 8 Princeton 1, Rutgers 0
Oct. 12 Princeton 2, Penn 1 (OT)
Oct. 19 Princeton 2, Brown 1
Volleyball (9—3)
Oct. 11 Princeton 3, Cornell 1
Oct. 12 Princeton 3, Columbia 1
Oct. 18 Brown 3, Princeton 0
Oct. 19 Princeton 3, Yale 1
