Field Hockey rolls over Ivy foe Dartmouth to remain unbeaten

After Saturday's victory against Dartmouth, the Princeton field hockey team had the opportunity to bond and celebrate on the bus ride home.

All nine and a half hours of it.

Although an unintentional detour up into Northern Ver-mont caused the team to arrive at Princeton a full four hours later than intended, it still could not diminish the luster of victory from an important 3-1 win over an Ivy-league rival.

The Tigers are now 5-0 overall, and 2-0 within the Ivies. Dartmouth is currently 3-1 overall.

Princeton was led offensively by freshman Ashley Sennett, sophomore Cory Picketts, and junior Ilvy Friebe, each with one goal, while junior co-captain Kelly Baril earned the win in goal.

The Tigers led 1-0 going into the half, but Dartmouth evened things up 1-1 soon afterwards at 29 minutes, 14 seconds.

Four minutes later, though, Friebe scored, giving Princeton the lead it would retain for the rest of the game. An insurance goal was added later off a penalty, assuring the win.

Though the No. 5-ranked Tigers were widely expected to defeat the Darthmouth squad, unfocused and often disjointed play made the game closer than it perhaps should have been.

"We did not have our best game," Baril said. "We won, which was great, and we learned what we needed to work on, but we really need to pick up our game overall, as a team and individually."

Winning the Ivy games is vitally important, since the league victor receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Princeton is predicted to win the Ivy title, and appears well on its way to making that prediction a reality.

Unfortunately, however, the Ivy teams won't be the real competition if the Tigers make it to the NCAAs. Teams like No. 1-ranked UNC and defending-champion Old Dominion will pose the greatest threat in the postseason.

"Our goal right now is to win the Ivy League title, because then we receive a berth into the NCAAs. That's why this game against Dartmouth was so important," said Baril.

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The Tigers will face a tough set of games this coming weekend, as they play No. 3 Maryland on Friday and No. 2 Old Dominion on Sunday. If Princeton hopes to win the NCAA Championship, they mist prove themselves against teams that contend consistently for the national title.

"This coming weekend will be tough," said Baril, "but we should be competitive. Among the top six or seven or so teams the skill level is pretty similar."

As the team has no seniors, Baril and the rest of the seven juniors provide the Tigers' leadership. The team is unusually young this year, with freshmen taking up almost half of the roster. Still, this talented team is more than likely well on its way to the Ivy League title.