Field hockey prepares for important regional matchup with Blue Hens

Kicking off the first of a series of three consecutive home games, the field hockey team (7-3 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) hosts Delaware (7-8) tonight at Class of 1952 Stadium at 7 p.m.

After two weekend victories over Brown and Duke, the No. 7 Tigers enter the matchup against the Blue Hens with renewed confidence and hopes of putting forth a complete team effort for the full 70 minutes of play.

Last season, Brown became the first Ivy team to topple Princeton since 1993. Saturday, however, the Tigers showed no mercy as they cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Bears. When Princeton hit the turf again Sunday against Duke, it quickly pulled ahead of the Blue Devils and never looked back — defeating the visitors by a final score of 5-2.

If the Tigers remain undefeated in the Ivy League and subsequently earn a bid to the NCAA tournament, the win over Duke will increase their chance for home field advantage in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

Constructive criticism

Despite posting two incredible wins this weekend, Princeton still feels there is much to be improved upon.

"This weekend's games were good, but they weren't perfect," head coach Beth Bozman said. "We played 50 good minutes, but there were defensive lapses. [Tonight] we're going to try to turn out two solid halves."

Last year, Princeton saw no difficulty as it easily defeated Delaware, 2-1. Earlier this year, the Tigers also posted a 4-2 win against Boston University. Delaware, however, fell one goal short against Boston when they faced them at the end of September.

In another early-season loss, Delaware was whitewashed by No. 1 Maryland. Princeton, however, played a much more defensive game against the Terrapins — only falling, 2-0, to the reigning NCAA champions. Similar to last season, the Blue Hens will enter the stadium as the underdogs.

Facing a weaker team, though, does not seem to affect the attitude of the Tiger squad. Always striving for perfection, Princeton is looking to the game with hopes of improving its basic skills.

'Play our best'

"Our approach is to keep improving," Bozman said. "It's a key regional game and we're not going to take it for granted. We're going to head into the match looking to play our best, just as we would with any other team.

Not only is the match against Delaware an important regional game for the Tigers, but it is the last game they play before taking on No. 18 Harvard and No. 5 Penn State this weekend.

"The whole team needs to work together," sophomore defender Emily Townsend said. "We play good halves and we play bad halves — we just need to stay focused throughout the game. And if we do against Delaware, then hopefully, we'll be able to take that to the field this weekend."

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Princeton must therefore hit the field with the same vengeance as it did this past weekend. Moreover, the Tigers need to spread out their energy evenly throughout the game. Princeton must also concentrate on creating and capitalizing on offensive opportunities. While the Tigers struggled early in the season to outshoot their opponents, this past weekend's bouts against Brown and Duke revealed an attack with great potential.

"We need to be more confident with our possession of the ball," Townsend said. "While we're good at defense, we need to work on being a good offensive defense.

"In previous games we've had trouble with distribution after we've come up with the ball, and hopefully we'll use tonight's match to improve upon this — especially as we head into a tough weekend."