Bwog presents a special Homecoming edition of its Friday sports roundup.

Football: The football team will play its Homecoming game, and Ivy League opener, against Princeton tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Free shuttle buses to the game will be provided to fans starting at 11 a.m at the 116th and Broadway gates. For those of you who can’t attend, the game will be broadcast on 970 AM and WKCR. Bwog will also bring you live coverage starting tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Last week, the team lost to Towson University on a last second touchdown, 31-24. Despite holding Towson quarterback Sean Schaefer to 193 yards in the air, the team’s rushing defence again was weak, giving up 134 yards on the ground. For Columbia, the big stars were quarterback Shane Kelly (19-32 for 281 yards and 2 touchdowns) and cornerback Kalasi Huggins, whose 4.5 tackles led him to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Interestingly, Columbia has had 12 of the last 22 Ivy League Rookies of the Week, and the last two Rookies of the Year.

Against Princeton, the rushing attack and defense will have to start working again: against Towson, running backs Jordan Davis and Ray Rangel only rushed for 29 yards together. On the defensive side of the ball, Princeton’s Jordan Culbreath is a dangerous runner who could put up big numbers if the Lions don’t clamp down.

Women’s Soccer: The women’s soccer team was one of the the few teams that had a good week. They won their third and fourth straight games last weekend, including a comfortable 3-1 win over Ivy League opponents Cornell (goals by Liz Wicks, Sophie Reiser, and Ashley Mistele), and a 2-0 win over Manhattan (Sophie Resier and Liz Wicks again on the scoresheet). This weekend, the team rolls into Providence on Saturday to take on Brown, before playing Long Island at home on Monday night.

Men’s Soccer: It was a tough week for the Columbia men’s soccer team, as they dropped three games, including two in double overtime. On Friday, the team fell 2-1 to Quinnipiac (the one goal scored by standout sophomore Bayo Adafin) in double overtime (“the second half of golden goal extra time,” for Europhiles), and on Sunday they lost again in double overtime, 1-0 to Long Island. Their toughest loss, though, came on Wednesday, 3-0 to Monmouth. Hoping to right the ship, the team plays its Ivy League opener at Brown tomorrow evening.

Volleyball: The volleyball team dropped its two games last Saturday, against Robert Morris and Ivy League opponents Cornell. This weekend, the Lions play Long Island University tonight at 7 p.m., and then have a shot at revenge against Cornell tomorrow at 5 p.m.

Field Hockey: The field hockey team had a tough loss last Saturday against Cornell, 4-3. After Cornell took a 3-0 lead early in the second half, 4 goals followed in the next 8 minutes, and Columbia cut the lead to 4-3 behind goals from Christine Buszczak, Maggie O’Connor, and Ariel Leon. However, Cornell was able to hold on, and Columbia fell to 1-1 in the Ivy League. This weekend, the team starts a three game homestand with another Ivy League game against Princeton tonight at 6 p.m., before playing Sacred Heart Sunday afternoon, and Lafayette on Wednesday night.

Tennis: The men’s team, and particularly junior Jon Wong, met with success at this past weekend’s Princeton Invitational. Wong defeated teammate Mihai Nichifor in the ‘A’ bracket singles finals to win the title, and then joined senior Bogdan Borta to win the ‘A’ doubles title as well. The men’s team is already in Oklahoma for this weekend’s All-American Tennis Championship. The women’s team, after a successful weekend for some of their doubles pairs (two finalists) at the Eastern Championships and Cissie Leary Invitational, have the weekend off.

Golf: The men’s golf team finished third at the rain-shortened Cornell Invitational, with first-year Brendan Doyle finishing third individually as well on a score of 70. The team beat out all Ivy League opponents in the tournament. The women’s team’s weekend at the Yale Invitational was rain-shortened as well, and they finished 7th out of 19 teams. Both teams play in the Alumni Tournament today.

Cross Country: Unfortunately, Bwog’s calendar got all messed up last week when looking at the cross country teams’ schedules, and so we reported a week early that  they will be racing this weekend in the George Mason Invitational. In other words, they will be racing this weekend in the George Mason Invitational.