The Cornell women’s rowing team will compete in the Cayuga Cup this weekend, facing No. 3 Yale and No. 9 Syracuse on Fish Creek in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., according to an April 3 announcement. The first races are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., with subsequent events every 15 minutes.
This event is significant as it pits Cornell against two highly ranked opponents early in the season, providing a test of the team’s progress and competitiveness.
In their most recent outing, Cornell’s first varsity eight held close with Boston University throughout their race but could not overcome the Terriers’ strong start. Later that day, Cornell secured a decisive victory over George Washington by a margin of 16 seconds after establishing an early lead and maintaining rhythm. The second varsity eight also came within one and a half seconds of Boston University before dominating George Washington with a 14-second win in the afternoon session.
Steve Coppola, The Staley Head Coach of Women’s Rowing at Cornell, described the first varsity four’s performance as particularly dramatic: “Against BU, they were able to hold them to a boat length until they caught a few diggers that stalled their momentum,” Coppola said. “Right before the thousand, our 4+ made a significant push and were able to row through GW and continue to stretch out to a significant margin in the final 1K. 4+s can be fun that way since they are so dynamic and change speed so quickly.”
Yale enters as defending NCAA champions in the first varsity eight category and returns most of its championship crew from last year after graduating only two members. In its spring opener at last weekend’s Doc Hosea Invitational, Yale won all ten races it entered while also retaining the Connell Cup against Penn.
Coppola acknowledged Yale’s strength: “This race is always a tough one,” he said. “Yale won the NCAA in the Varsity 8 last year and they only graduated two women from that 8+. With such a strong core back, it seems as though we’ll be racing to see how close we can be to them as we work to get our bow ball in front of Syracuse.” Syracuse also competed at last week’s Doc Hosea Invitational where it defeated No.8 Rutgers but finished second behind No.9 Virginia earlier that day.
The schedule for Saturday includes five races between 1 p.m. and approximately 2 p.m., though times may change.
