Field hockey drops two key home matchups to two high-caliber teams

This weekend was supposed to be a chance for the field hockey team to send a statement to the rest of the country saying that the road to a national championship goes through them.

At the end of the weekend, Princeton found itself on the losing end of two very tight games, but two games that the Tigers very easily could have won.

Princeton (3-3 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) fell 2-1 on Friday night against No. 1 Maryland (9-1) and to No. 5 Michigan State (10-1) two days later by the same score. In both games the Tigers had more shots than their opponents and earned more penalty corners.

Against the Terrapins, the Tigers came out on fire, and senior attack Ilvy Friebe scored less than two minutes into the game. She took a pass near midfield and then worked her magic. She split two defenders and then flew right by another one to set herself up with a one-on-one with the goaltender. She then faked left and went right to move around a fallen goaltender. She easily put the ball in the cage to put Princeton on top, 1-0.

However, the Tigers would spend the next 68 minutes looking for another goal but to no avail. That is not to say that Princeton did not have chances. After Maryland put on the pressure immediately following the Friebe goal, Princeton came back strong to close the half. They constantly pressured the ball and kept play in Maryland's end.

However, each time they were thwarted by either a strong play from the Maryland defense or a save from Maryland's netminder. The Tigers went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

Neither team was able to execute coming out in the second half, partly due to simple mistakes and partly due to stifling defense. For such a big game, it was shocking at how flat the team looked for much of the second half.

As the defenses began to tire, however, the scoring opportunities increased. With 26:32 left in the game, Friebe hit the post on a shot from the corner. Maryland countered in grand fashion, as Clarissa Messimer glided through the Princeton defense only two minutes later.

"Our goal was to keep the ball of the right so they were on their weak stick side," senior defense Emily Townsend said. "They found a way to move the ball to the left and they were effective."

The Terrapins delivered the game winner with only 6:46 left in the game on a stroke by Messimer. The Tigers tried desperately in the final minutes to the knot the game and send it into overtime. However, they failed to get a good bounce, as they had all game, and end up losing the game, 2-1. Princeton outshot Maryland eight to five and earned three more penalty corners.

If Tiger fans thought Friday's loss was difficult to swallow, Sunday's would be even worse. The Tigers dominated Michigan St. from start to finish, yet still came away on the losing end.

Neither team was able to score in a tight first half, although Princeton definitely had the edge in scoring opportunities. The Tigers had a number of shots that went just wide of the cage.

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With only seven minutes gone in the game senior attack Rachel Becker moved the ball into the circle and juked around the goalie. She had the entire net to shoot at, and hit a soft shot towards the center of the goal. At the last minute, a Spartan defender blocked the ball, denying the Tigers the lead.

Princeton thought they had taken the lead with only 15:04 remaining in the game. Friebe played a penalty corner to sophomore midfielder Natalie Martirosian, who stopped the ball for Townsend's blast into the left corner. The ball was placed at midfield for the restart when officials conferred and disallowed the goal. They claimed the ball had hit Martirosian on the hand, which is a penalty.

"I know I didn't hit it with my hand," said Martirosian.

"I do not agree with the call and I will be sending the video," head coach Beth Bozman said.

The disallowed goal was a huge momentum swing and Michigan St. immediately took advantage scoring a goal just 1:10 later.

Princeton then went into attack mode and it paid off, as Becker put a bouncing ball in the circle past the Spartan goalie.

A collective gasp came from the crowd only 11 seconds later. Off the restart, Michigan State's Julia Adams went straight through the heart of the Princeton defense and hit a blast past senior Kelly Baril for the game winning goal.

"Two defensive lapses cost us this game," Bozman said. "We have to work on putting the ball in the cage."