The Lions scored only one touchdown after winning two games in a row.

This past Saturday, October 3, Columbia Football (2-1, 0-1) faced off against the Princeton Tigers (2-1, 1-0) in the first Ivy League game of the season. Despite valiant efforts and wins against Lafayette and Georgetown earlier in the season, the Lions were unable to make much headway against the Tigers. The score at the end of the half was 21-7 Princeton, with Columbia having made its sole touchdown of the game early in the second quarter.

The game marked the 3,000th career passing yard for quarterback Chase Goodwin (CC ’27) and was led by wide receiver Bryce Coleman (CC ’30) with seven catches and a touchdown. Running back Griffin Johnson (CC ’27) led the Lions with 15 attempts and 63 yards. The second half of the game was riddled with penalties for Columbia, with the team being flagged for 55 yards six times, though Princeton saw some penalties as well.

Attending primarily as a member of the Columbia Pep Band, I struggled to gauge the performance of our home team, given I have no real understanding of the sport myself. Going by how often we played a celebratory stand tune in honor of the Lions gaining yards, I found myself completely lost. So, I turned to my father for guidance:

All that being said, the Lions were off to a strong start with their pre-conference matches, and may still rise in the rankings (currently fifth in the Ivy League) with the coming games. Columbia is next set to face off against Marist in a non-conference game this coming Friday, October 9, available for viewing on ESPN+, and our next Ivy League conference match will be with Penn on Friday, October 16, viewable on ESPNU. Our next home game—Homecoming—will be an Ivy League conference game against Dartmouth, which can also be watched on ESPN+ on Saturday, October 24.

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