Courtesy: Princeton Crew/Tom Nowak Princeton takes on Yale and USC this weekend at home.

EISENBERG CUP HISTORY l LATEST NATIONAL POLL

From 1989 through 2006, the Eisenberg Cup grew comfortable in its resting place inside Princeton’s Shea Rowing Center. Over the last five years, though, the rivalry between Princeton and Yale has picked up significantly.

Princeton leads the all-time Eisenberg Cup rivalry with Yale by a 26-11 margin, but Yale had won three straight before Princeton reclaimed the Cup in 2010 and retained it by less than three seconds last year.

Throw in the fact that each team has won one of the last two Ivy League championships, and you get a sense of the magnitude of this race. And that doesn’t even factor in that a Western power and Top-10 program will enter the regatta to add even greater speed to an already exciting race.

USC is currently ranked seventh in the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association poll, two spots behind fifth-ranked Princeton.

Princeton may be fifth nationally, but it has been first in each of its four Ivy League races this season. The Tigers swept Harvard, Cornell and Columbia in each of the three NCAA Championship-format races last weekend, and they topped Brown in the season opener. In fact, Princeton has won 20 straight Ivy League regular season races; its last loss came April 18, 2009, and it came against Yale.

The Bulldogs are looking to get their Ivy League season back on track after losses to both Dartmouth and Cornell last weekend. The loss to the Big Green was especially tough, as it came in a photo finish for the Class of 1985 Cup. The Bulldogs are currently ranked 17th, but Princeton head coach Lori Dauphiny knows that Yale can never be counted out.

Princeton won the 2011 varsity eight race by less than three seconds on the Housatonic, and it has won 10 of the last 11 over the Bulldogs on the Bud Smith Memorial Race Course on Lake Carnegie.

The regatta is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., with the varsity eight race for the Eisenberg Cup scheduled to go off at 10:10 am.

April 14
Princeton Open Women • The Eisenberg Cup v. Yale and USC
9:00 • Varsity Four B
9:20 • Third Varsity
9:35 • Varsity Four A
9:55 • Second Varsity
10:10 • First Varsity: Eisenberg Cup

Princeton Men’s Lightweights • Platt Cup v. Cornell
10:25 • Third Varsity
10:40 • First Freshmen
10:55 • Second Varsity
11:10 • First Varsity: Platt Cup