With only one more soccer game at Baker Field this season, the Light Blue women have nothing left to play for.

The women’s team finished its home schedule last week with a 2-1 victory over Harvard in an ultimately unsuccessful Ivy League title defense. The men’s team, still winless in conference play, faces Brown next week in what promises to be a major mismatch.
But elsewhere around the league, the season is coming to a head and titles are being decided. And much like last year, Ohiri Field in Cambridge, Mass. seems like the place to be. In 2006, that’s where the Columbia women’s team dramatically completed an undefeated season to claim the program’s first-ever league championship. Later that afternoon, the Harvard men’s team won its own crown.

This Saturday, it will be the Penn women who travel to Cambridge in search of a solo title. The Quakers have already earned a share of the title, with a 1-0 victory over Princeton in extra time last week. Sitting three points behind the league leaders are the Yale Bulldogs, who will hope for a slip-up before they travel to Princeton on Sunday. A defeat for Penn and a victory for Yale would mean the Bulldogs would split the title they won in 2005.

But Princeton, which won the title on the way to qualifying for the Final Four in 2004, could play spoiler. The Tigers have the same record as Yale (4-2-0) and will be rooting hard for a Harvard upset.

The men’s championship is also heading to the wire. Brown, boasting a perfect 5-0 record with two games to go, sits alone atop the standings. Hot on its heels, however, is a 4-0-1 Dartmouth squad that still remembers back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005. And, to cap it all off, the two are facing off this Saturday in Providence, R.I.
With a victory, the Bears would earn their eighth crown in 13 years. But if the Big Green wins, Brown would arrive at Columbia needing to beat the Lions and hoping for a Dartmouth loss or tie against Princeton.

While there are closes races on both the men’s and women’s sides of Ivy League soccer, the contenders are the usual suspects.

While Brown’s and Dartmouth’s men’s teams will both hope to qualify for the NCAA tournament—one of them by the grace of an at-large bid—Columbia and Cornell are stuck to the bottom of the table with one point between them. Incidentally, the Lions and Big Red will face off this weekend at Baker Field, each looking at their best chance to erase the zero from their respective win columns.

The women’s pack is somewhat closer as seven of the league’s eight teams have earned at least seven points, with 2-2-1 the worst record among them. Once again, it’s Cornell bringing up the rear with an ignominious 0-6 to show for itself and only a single goal scored.

Columbia’s home season might be over, but a trip to Ithaca, N.Y. might be just what the Lions need to finish their season on a high note.