Feature: Top 10 games of the year

10. Cagers return to the Dance

The men’s basketball team entered its first-round NCAA Tournament game as a definite underdog, facing a strong No. 4-seed Kentucky. In the opening minutes, the Wildcats showcased their athleticism, jumping to an early 11-2 lead. The Tigers, led by junior guard Doug Davis, fought back and were down by only one point at halftime. Princeton came out with similar ferocity out of the break, relying on its suffocating defense to claw out a 42-37 lead for its largest advantage of the day. After the Wildcats responded with a 10-2 run, senior guard Dan Mavraides tied the game in the final minute with a fadeaway jumper that hit nothing but net. But Kentucky’s star guard Brandon Knight banked a difficult shot off the glass with two seconds left, his only points of the contest, allowing the Wildcats to just barely escape and eventually reach the Final Four.

9. A loss is nearly avenged

The opening event at the recently-constructed New Meadowlands Stadium was last year’s Konica Minolta Big City Classic — a lacrosse spectacle that saw Princeton fall to the Syracuse Orange by a lopsided 13-4 margin. Little more was expected of the Tigers when they took on No. 1 Syracuse at Princeton Stadium. For the first two periods, Princeton looked lifeless and weary as a sharp, aggressive Syracuse side took advantage and opened up a 5-2 lead. Then, in the third period, the Tigers showed the resolve and grit that defined their injury-riddled season to claw their way back to a 5-5 tie. Though two late goals sealed the result in Syracuse’s favor, the game was a shot in the arm for a reeling Princeton team: The squad won its next two matches before suffering close, heartbreaking losses to end a difficult season.

8. Late free throws cap major victory

The women’s basketball team made enormous strides in the 2009-10 season, reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time, but one hurdle remained: a victory over a major-conference team. Princeton got that a day before Thanksgiving, dramatically defeating University of Southern California. USC had a one-point lead and the ball late in the game but missed a pair of free throws, and senior guard Addie Micir was fouled with five seconds to play. Micir calmly sank both foul shots and the Trojans could not get a final shot off in time as Princeton claimed a 60-59 victory.

7. Tigers top Quakers in OT

The fourth-seeded women’s lacrosse team traveled to Philadelphia for the Ivy League Tournament, taking on a Penn team that had won five consecutive league titles in the semifinals. The teams kept the score tight throughout, and six lead changes left the score tied at eight at the end of regulation. In overtime, Princeton won the opening draw control and took possession, and, with 30 seconds left, sophomore midfielder Charlotte Davis passed from behind the net to sophomore attack Jaci Gassaway for the deciding score. Gassaway added her fourth goal to end the first leg of overtime 10-8, and the Tigers won the tournament two days later by defeating Harvard.

6. Princeton falls in NCAAs

After clinching the Ivy League title with an undefeated league season, the men’s soccer team hosted University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In the 32nd minute, Princeton scored first, as junior forward and Ivy League Player of the Year Antoine Hoppenot curled the ball past the goalkeeper directly off a corner kick. But after two counterattacking goals by striker Levi Houapeu, the Tigers found themselves down 2-1 with 77 minutes left. Princeton had a chance in the closing minutes with senior midfielder Josh Walburn’s free kick, but UMBC ultimately held on for the upset and ended the Tigers’ season.

5. Culbreath scores game-winner in double OT

It was, as they say, a perfect moment. Less than a year before that cool fall night, running back Jordan Culbreath was fighting to recover from aplastic anemia — a condition many thought would keep the 2008 first-team All-Ivy pick off the gridiron forever. But on Sept. 25, 2010, there he was: the star of the show. Princeton had battled Lafayette for four quarters and one overtime period, only to see the score tied at 33-33. Then, in the last possession of the game, Culbreath received the ball and ran, scoring a touchdown and bringing the emotional night to its victorious climax. Princeton did not win another game all season, but on that night — at that moment — the Tigers, and Culbreath, were on top of the world.

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4. Swimmers edge Harvard

Heading into the final event of the men’s Ivy League swimming and diving championships, the 400m free relay, Princeton and Harvard were separated by just 7.5 points. Either team would claim the title with a first-place finish. The Crimson’s Oliver Lee touched out Princeton junior Colin Cordes at the wall, but Columbia’s relay finished three seconds ahead of either, allowing Princeton to stay ahead of host Harvard and win 1400-1394.5. Sophomore Stevie Vines was named the Diver of the Meet after winning the 3-meter competition and placing second in the 1-meter, while junior Jonathan Christensen won three events in the pool.

3. Tigers topple No. 1 Terps

The field hockey team, having won its first six games of the season, faced its first test against No. 1 Maryland at home. Princeton was winless in the previous 11 years against the Terrapins, who had defeated the Tigers in the previous year’s NCAA semifinal. Princeton opened up the scoring when junior midfielder Katie Reinprecht found the net off sophomore midfielder Julia Reinprecht’s penalty corner. Shortly afterwards, junior striker Kat Sharkey drove down the field and passed to Katie Reinprecht, who backhanded the ball into goal. Maryland striker Katie O’Donnell brought the Terrapins within one goal, but the Tigers stormed down the field immediately afterwards, with Katie Reinprecht on the assist and Sharkey beating the keeper. Sophomore midfielder Molly Goodman scored on an empty Terrapin net to make the final score 4-2, sealing the upset.

2. A double triple crown

For the first time in Ivy League history, the Princeton runners claimed two triple crowns in the same year. Late on Sunday afternoon, the men’s and women’s track teams clinched the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship, with the men beating out Cornell by 11 points and the women outscoring the Big Red by 19 points. The men’s team held its breath until the last event, the 4x400m relay, in which the team of freshman Tom Hopkins, junior Ricky Kearney, junior Austin Hollimon and senior Mike Eddy finished in 3 minutes, 11.79 seconds, beating Cornell by two seconds. The women finished in style as well, clinching the title with a record-breaking victory in the 4x800m relay as freshman Kristin Smoot, freshman Molly Higgins, sophomore Greta Feldman and sophomore Alexis Mikaelian finished in 8:38.33, more than nine seconds faster than the previous meet record. The men’s and women’s teams had previously won Ivy League cross-country titles in the fall and the indoor Heps meet in the winter.

1. Davis beats the buzzer

You had to expect this one. The game featured a classic battle of big men, pitting Ivy League MVP Keith Wright against Defensive Player of the Year Kareem Maddox, but it was the shortest player on the court who made the biggest shot in the third meeting between Princeton and Harvard. The Crimson led at halftime and were ahead by as many as 10 points, but Princeton came back to make the game a back-and-forth affair that saw five lead changes in the last two and half minutes. With 2.8 seconds left, the Tigers found themselves down by one point, inbounding the ball from underneath the basket. Junior guard Doug Davis, at 5 feet, 11 inches, took the pass at the left wing, dribbled, pump-faked and let fly, hitting nothing but net as the buzzer sounded, sending Princeton to the NCAA Tournament.