Field hockey remains undefeated in Ivy League with victory over Harvard

The Princeton field hockey team (12-2 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) went into this weekend facing two important but very winnable games. The first pitted the Tigers against Harvard, the Ivy League's only other undefeated team. The second featured an unranked Boston Univer-sity team that was important if only for its potential to hurt the seventh-ranked Tigers should they lose.

With the stakes in mind, Princeton opened up its Boston trip on Saturday at Harvard's Jordan Field. The Tigers defeated Harvard (7-5 overall, 3-1 Ivy League) by a score of 5-2 Saturday in a game that was closer than the score suggests. Princeton remained in Boston Sunday to take on Boston University and escaped with a 2-1 victory that featured a large Princeton edge in both shots and penalty corners.

Princeton started the Harvard game quickly with a goal by junior Ilvy Friebe just 12 seconds in. Friebe picked the ball up off the opening whistle and stick-handled up half the field to beat Harvard goalie Katie Zacarian. The Tigers added to this lead at eight minutes, 44 seconds when Friebe found the back of the net off a cross from junior Rachael Becker.

The Crimson would not die, however, and it cut the lead in half under three minutes later when Philomena Gambale picked up a rebound and beat Princeton's junior goalie Kelly Baril. The Tigers answered back at 3:22 with a goal by sophomore Cory Picketts off an assist from freshman Ashley Sennett to wrap up a frenzied half.

Harvard was awarded a penalty stroke at 20:50 of the second half and it capitalized, bringing the score to 3-2 on Gambale's second goal of the game. The Crimson turned up the pressure in the second half, resulting in nine shots and six penalty corners, but it could not convert. Princeton put the game out of reach with a goal off a penalty corner by junior Emily Townsend with 7:18 remaining in the game, and Becker added an insurance goal with 3:30 to go.

Overall, Princeton outshot Harvard 17 to 13, but the Crimson had the edge in penalty corners with 10 to the Tigers' nine.

The win over Harvard makes it very likely that Princeton will repeat for the eighth straight time as Ivy League Champions. The Tigers have games remaining against Cornell (7-6 overall, 2-3 Ivy League), Yale (6-7 overall, 0-4 Ivy League) and Penn (5-8 overall, 3-1 Ivy League), with Penn looking to be the only legitimate threat to another undefeated Ivy season.

Penn is currently tied for second with Harvard in the Ivy standings. Although the Quakers boast a good record, their three wins came over weak Yale and Cornell teams and a mediocre Dartmouth, while it lost to Columbia (4-6 overall, 1-4 Ivy League) 1-0 in overtime.

On Sunday Princeton again played at Harvard's Jordan Field, but this time the opponent was Boston University. The 12-2 Tigers squeaked by the 7-8 Terriers with a goal by Becker at the beginning of the second half.

Princeton once again scored first when Townsend connected on a penalty corner at 27:06 in the first half. The Terriers answered back at 15:01 when junior Casey Holman scored off a pass from senior Felicia Cappabianca.

Realizing that a loss to BU would be harmful to their seeding in the NCAA tournament, the Tigers did not wait long before taking the lead back early in the second half. With 29:43 remaining, Becker redirected a Townsend shot past Terrier goalkeeper Susan Harrington for the game-winner.

Princeton outshot BU by a margin of 18-5 in the game and had eight penalty corners to BU's three.