Playing on grass is always dangerous for the field hockey team.
No, it's not the pesticides or the ticks, but the potential for a few odd bounces that makes life difficult for Princeton.
Yale was hoping that the home-field advantage would be enough to pull off an upset of the Tigers, winners of six-straight Ivy titles. But No. 13 Princeton went into the hostile environment and escaped with a win, 3-0.
The Tigers (3-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) were led by senior attack Hilary Matson, who scored the final goal of the game with 59 seconds left and assisted on another score.
"[Matson] has done all the things that don't always show up — things that are behind the statistics, things that you wouldn't know if you didn't watch the game, so it was good for her to get one in," head coach Beth Bozman said.
Princeton, in its first road matchup of the season, outshot the Elis (0-4, 0-1) 27-1 on their home turf. After the Tiger attack scored a total of 10 goals in Princeton's first two games, the defense took control against Yale.
Shooting gallery
In their last two games, the Tigers have outshot their opponents 67-5 — and outscored them 9-0. Princeton has not been scored on in nearly 150 minutes of play.
The domination of the Elis was even more impressive considering that the contest was played on grass — a surface which traditionally creates problems for field hockey players.
'Had to win'
"It's always hard to play on grass," senior attack Melanie Meerschwam said. "It's difficult to dribble, hit the ball and play defense.
"We didn't have to play pretty. We just had to win."
"We changed our plan of attack a little because it's grass," Bozman said. "I thought we were a little shaky defensively."
If the Tigers were shaky on defense, it certainly didn't matter. Freshman attack Claire Miller — who scored twice in Princeton's rout of Drexel — had the first goal against the Elis, 11:54 into the game.
Another freshman — defender Cory Picketts — found the back of the cage for the second time this season, assisted on a penalty corner by Matson and fellow freshman defender Beckie Wood.
"(Miller) had another great game," Bozman said.
Collective effort
But in the end, it was not the efforts of individuals that made the difference for Princeton, but rather the teamwork of the entire unit that helped lift the Tigers to victory.
"It was a collective effort, a team victory," said Meerschwam, who had one assist on the afternoon. "We didn't have any players play great or bad — we all just played well as a team."
With help from her defense, sophomore goalkeeper Kelly Baril recorded her second straight shutout. She only had to make one save all night.
The lone bright spot for the Elis was their freshman goaltender, Krissy Nesburg, who had 16 saves. But even with their combination of offense and defense, the Tigers do not seem content to rest on their laurels for the remainder of the season.
"There are always a few things we want to improve, and we need to get ready for our game on Wednesday [against Columbia]," Bozman said.
Looking ahead
If the first conference game of the year is any indication, the season should be a productive one for the Tigers and a long one for their Ivy opponents.
Princeton heads to New York Wednesday night to play the Lions, one of the league's newer field hockey programs.
The Tigers will look to use this second league game to build continuity on the field and confidence for the remainder of the Ivy season.
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