It may not have the history of Yankees-Red Sox or Lakers-Celtics, but over the last decade the heated women's lacrosse rivalry between Virginia and Princeton has been almost as intense.
In 1993, the Cavaliers downed the Tigers 8-6 in overtime to win their second national title in three years and deny Princeton its first. Last year, Virginia again got the best of the Tigers, who this time entered the final undefeated but exited empty-handed as the Cavaliers ended an 11-year national championship drought with a 10-4 victory. Virginia's ascension back to the top of the women's lacrosse world was especially sweet considering who they dethroned to take the crown --- Princeton entered the 2004 game as the defending national champion thanks to their defeat of the Cavaliers in the 2003 final.
Saturday will mark the latest chapter in this storied rivalry, as No. 3 Princeton travels to Klöckner Stadium to take on the 2005 version of the Virginia women's lacrosse team, currently ranked No. 4 in the country. Despite their high rankings, both teams enter the game with chips on their shoulders: Virginia lost its No. 1 spot two weeks ago when it was upset by Penn State 10-7, while Princeton suffered the same fate a week later, losing 3-1 to the Nittany Lions and relinquishing the No. 1 ranking it had obtained as a result of the Cavaliers' earlier loss. With both teams looking to rebound from their Penn State losses and reestablish themselves as forces in the hunt for the national championship, Saturday's match up figures to rival the intensity of the postseason slugfests that preceded it.
"We've played them in the national championship game two years now," Virginia star attacker Tyler Leachman said. "It's always a huge game when we play them. It's always a tough game."
Virginia coach Julie Myers expressed a similar sentiment and stressed that her team will be prepared to battle the Tigers.
"I think it's an important match up, clearly," Myers said. "A lot of our rust is gone, so I think we'll be sharp. There's a little more focus and intensity to our practices now."
One thing Virginia has to its advantage is the presence of senior All-Everything midfielder Amy Appelt, the consensus Player of the Year in 2004 and Lacrosse Magazine's Preseason Player of the Year for 2005. Last year, Applet scored four of Virginia's 10 goals against Princeton in the final, and recently notched the 300th point of her career in a game earlier this season. With the Cavaliers aiming to penetrate the stingy Tiger defense and win Saturday's showdown, look for Appelt to be right in the center of things.
Princeton "has probably been on our minds since the last time we played them," Applet said. "We always get fired up to play them. They're a great, competitive team. It's really fun to play them, so we're all really excited to do well against them."
An excited and focused Cavalier team battling it out with one of their biggest, most talented and bitter postseason rivals: like Yankees-Red Sox and Lakers-Celtics, this is not one to miss. Game time is 1 p.m.
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