Field hockey clinches share of Ivy League title, NCAA berth

With two key league wins in the first half of fall break, the field hockey team has secured at least a share of its ninth consecutive Ivy League championship, as well as another NCAA tournament berth.

After a, 4-1, win over Harvard at home last Saturday, and a, 5-2, win over Cornell in Ithaca, the Tigers improved their Ivy League record to 6-0, with just one league game left to play. Harvard (11-5 overall, 5-1 Ivy League) could still potentially tie the Tigers for the championship if the Tigers somehow lose to 7th place Penn (5-10, 1-4) next Friday.

The field hockey team's nine titles ties an Ivy League record for the most consecutive championships by a women's program. The last team to win nine consecutive titles was Brown women's soccer between the years of 1982 and 1990.

On top of all of this, head coach Beth Bozman earned the 200th win of her coaching career against Cornell. After 15 years with Princeton, Bozman sports a career winning percentage of .722 and an impressive 79-13-3 Ivy record.

The festivities started as the Tigers matched up against Harvard on the first Saturday of fall break at the Class of 1952 Stadium.

At the time, the Tigers and the Crimson were both undefeated in the Ivy League, and were tied for first place with four wins apiece. Both teams knew that they were playing a virtual Ivy League championship game.

"What separated Harvard from other teams is that they were very prepared to play us." Bozman said after the game. "We knew that Harvard's biggest goal this season was to beat us."

Beating the Tigers, who have won 58 of their last 59 Ivy League games, proved to be too difficult a task for the Crimson.

Scoring opportunities were scarce from the outset, as both teams sported two of the league's best defenses, led by two of the league's best goalkeepers — Princeton's Kelly Baril and Harvard's Katie Zacarian.

Thirteen minutes into the game, sophomore attack Natalie Martirosian brought the ball up the right side, and fired two shots which were both deflected by Zacarian, who was fully stretched out on the ground.

Martirosian then found sophomore defender Kelly Darling on the left side, who then fired the ball into the back of the net.

"We knew it was important to start scoring early." Darling said, "We've been working on taking shots, and I was just kind of able to put it in. It was a perfect play."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

After four minutes without a shot on goal by either team, Harvard's leading scorer Kate McDavitt answered back with an unassisted shot into the far corner, evening the score at 1-1.

The two teams were locked in a stalemate for the rest of the first half. The Tigers relentlessly worked the ball up the right side, but earned few opportunities to take good shots on goal. In the last four minutes of the half, the Tigers were pinned down on the defensive side, but the score remained tied at the half.

In the second half, senior attack Rachael Becker got things going as she brought the ball all the way down the right side of the field, and centered it, resulting in a penalty corner opportunity for the Tigers.

The shot off the penalty corner got past Zacarian, but was stopped by a Harvard defender. In the flurry that ensued, Darling recovered a rebound, and put it in for her second goal of the day, which would put the Tigers on top for good.

Harvard didn't let up after Darling's second goal, and continued to play solid field hockey. They earned a penalty corner with 27 minutes left in the match, but could not convert.

Senior attack Ilvy Friebe struck next, when a Harvard defender lost control of the ball as she was swinging it to the left side in front of the goal. Friebe wasted no time, as she fired the ball into the left side with a swift stroke.

Four minutes later, Martirosian capped off the scoring when she found the back of the net following a penalty corner.

In a game that would showcase a battle between Princeton's outstanding offense and Harvard's solid defense, the Tiger offense finished on top, scoring as many goals in the win as Harvard's other five Ivy opponents combined.

The Tigers then traveled to Ithaca on Tuesday, where they met up with Cornell (9-7, 3-3) to clinch the Ivy League title.

Princeton opened up the scoring early in the game, as sophomore attack Lizzie Black scored off a rebound following a penalty corner.

Just six minutes later, Cornell evened things up, scoring on their own penalty corner.

At 16:56, the Tigers pulled ahead again when Friebe made a great feed to Martirosian, who scored on a breakaway. Four minutes later, Becker added to the lead, when she scored off of Darling's feed. Junior midfielder Cory Picketts and Black each added a goal in the second half as the Tigers pushed past the Big Red, capturing the Ivy League Championship.

With the regular season almost over, and a spot in the NCAA secured, the Tigers look to get past their non-league troubles. This season, the Tigers are 3-6 outside of the Ivy League. Four of those losses have been one goal games lost to top ranked teams.

Friday's match against No. 1 Old Dominion was a perfect example of another hard-fought one-point loss. The Tigers scored first 17 seconds into the game, as Martirosian scored her fifth goal in the last four games off a feed from Friebe. Old Dominion answered back with a score off a penalty stroke just 1:40 later.

"We're going to keep to our passing game," Bozman said. "Each game we get a little better."