Field hockey defeats Scarlet Knights, 5-1

Princeton and Rutgers have been neighbors for a long time. For the most part, they have gotten along well, as neighbors should.

But every now and then, representatives from these two staid institutions put on uniforms and meet on a playing field. When this happens, years of friendship are forgotten, and neighbors become nemeses.

The first time this happened was November 6, 1869, when Rutgers beat Princeton, six goals to four, in the first collegiate football game in history.

The most recent time this happened was last night at Princeton's 1952 Stadium, with the Tiger field hockey team emerging victorious by a score of five goals to one.

Given Princeton's recent field hockey success, this latest victory over Rutgers did not come as much of a surprise. The Tigers dominated play from the outset, racing out to a 3-1 halftime lead.

The second half was just more icing on the cake, as the Tigers scored twice and clamped down on defense, making the final score 5-1. Three of those five goals were credited to junior attack Ilvy Friebe, who seems to score as easily as most people breathe. Junior defense Emily Townsend added two more.

Though pleased with the winning effort, Princeton recognized the fact that some aspects of its game need a little bit of work. Looking to avoid a letdown after this weekend's split with Maryland and Old Dominion, the Tigers were guilty of a few moments of sloppiness against the Scarlet Knights.

According to junior goalkeeper Kelly Baril, the Tigers "played well at times and poorly at some other times."

Junior defender Emily Townsend elaborated further: "We played well on the whole tonight, our passing combinations were good. But to play our best we need to tighten up. We can't afford to make some of the mistakes we made tonight."

But a win is a win, and for the Tigers the accent was definitely on the positive last night. Not only did quite a few non-starters get a chance to log some playing time in the latter part of the game, but Townsend seemed to find her stroke on offense, scoring twice off of corners.

"I've been hesitant in the past few games to take shots, but tonight coach [Beth] Bozman told me to shoot, and it worked. It felt good to capitalize on an opportunity like that," said Townsend.

The next step for the Tigers is a weekend game against Penn State, a dangerous team ranked in the top 15 nationally.

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Princeton and Penn State don't have much of a history, unlike Princeton and Rutgers, and they certainly aren't neighbors, but don't expect that to have any effect on the outcome of the game.

Friends and foes, neighbors and foreigners all get the same treatment at the hands of the Tiger juggernaut.