PRINCETON, N.J. -- Despite the shortened 2019-20 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ivy League continued to excel with 70 nationally-ranked teams throughout the season.
The athletic success comes in a year when the League once again led the nation in
graduation success rate (GSR) and
academic progress rate (APR).
The 70 ranked squads ranged across 19 of the league's 33 sponsored sports and 38 of the 70 were women's programs. Among the 70 ranked teams, 39 ascended into the Top 10 of their respective national polls during the season.
Nine squads were ranked in the top spot of the national rankings in at least one weekly poll, with six concluding the season ranked No. 1—Columbia women's fencing, Cornell men's ice hockey, Cornell women's ice hockey, Harvard men's fencing, Harvard men's squash and Harvard women's squash.
The Ivy League is in the midst of a public awareness campaign titled
"Unrivaled Experience" to showcase the league's world-class academics, national athletic success, unmatched campus opportunities and pathway to lifelong success.
NOTABLE SPORT ACHIEVEMENTS
- Cornell men's and women's ice hockey each ended the shortened season ranked No. 1 in the nation
- Princeton field hockey made its third trip in four seasons to the NCAA Final Four
- Three men's tennis squads finished in the Top 25, trailing only the SEC and ACC
- At a point in the season, nine Ivy League fencing teams were ranked in the top-10 (4 women's, 5 men's)
- Dubbed "The Year Of The Ivy League" by experts, men's lacrosse squads placed four teams in the top-20 including No. 2 Cornell, No. 3 Princeton and No. 5 Yale) in the final poll to end the shortened season
- Harvard men's and women's squash were crowned as College Squash Association national champions in late February
- Women's lacrosse had three teams listed among the Top 10 during the shortened season, with No. 9 Dartmouth, No. 10 Penn and No. 15 Princeton concluding the year ranked
- No. 9 Princeton and No. 13 Dartmouth met in the second-straight Week 8 battle of unbeatens on November 9 at Yankee Stadium, a matchup that was selected as the FCS Game of the Week