After fending off their opponents visiting Bedford Field, the field hockey team prepared itself for a new challenge — a four game swing through the Northeast, taking on some of the best teams the NCAA has to offer.
They completed the first half of their trial this weekend. The No. 19 ranked Tigers (7-5 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) were successful in continuing their winning streak against Ivy League teams, defeating the Brown Bears 4-2. Against Syracuse, however, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, the Tigers ultimately fell by the same score.
The game against the Bears (6-7, 1-3) had a highly unusual start for a Tiger team historically dominant in the Ivy League. Brown’s Hannah Rogers got her team on the board first, with a goal within the first two minutes of the competition.
While the Tigers were in the unusual position of coming from behind, they maintained their composure and executed well. The catalysts for the comeback were surprisingly not starters, but players coming off the bench. A duo of freshmen, striker Elizabeth George and Jane Donio-Enscoe, provided the push the Tigers needed. George found the mark at just within the 13th minute off an assist from Donio-Enscoe for the close range goal, her second of the season. Donio-Escoe, for her part, followed up George’s goal just 100 seconds later to give the Tigers their first lead of the game.
While the Bears would even it up again three minutes later, senior striker Maddie Copeland, who leads the team and is third in the league for goals scored, hit it past goalkeeper Katie Hammaker just before the 35th minute. Princeton, despite the scare of the first few minutes, was able to finish up the first ahead 3-2.
Emboldened by strong end to the first, the Tigers would keep up the pressure throughout, earning more shots and more corners throughout the second. By the 61st minute, the pressure forced Brown to crack — junior midfielder Cat Caro sent the ball from the left side to the middle, where George was ready to take it and score once more. With a 4-2 lead, the Tigers needed to do little more to cruise to victory, maintaining their perfect record in league play.
The game against Syracuse (15-0 overall, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) was almost the exact opposite. It was the underdog Tigers who struck first, as Donio-Escoe continued her great play from the previous game to put it past the Orange’s Jess Jecko late in the 32nd minute. Similar to the Brown game, though, was that the Tigers were the aggressors throughout the first — it’s evidenced in not just the amount of shots per team (4 more for the Tigers), but also by the fact that Jecko was forced to make four saves in the first, whereas senior goalie Anya Gersoff required none.
It was the second, though, where Syracuse showed its true mettle. The Orange put in two unanswered goals at the 47th and 52nd minutes to give themselves their first lead of the game. Sophomore striker Ryan McCarthy put the Tigers back level, receiving the ball from George to get it past Jecko. It would be the last time that Princeton would score — the Orange closed out the game with 2 more goals, finishing ahead 4-2. The Tigers' five losses this season have all been against teams ranked No. 7 in the NCAA or higher.
The team gets back to action on Saturday, traveling to Cambridge, Mass. to take on Harvard University.
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