After winning nine straight Ivy League titles, it's hard not to have high expectations for this year's field hockey team.
The experts at STX/NFHCA (National Field Hockey Coaches Association) seem to share this view, ranking the Tigers at No. 10 overall. No other Ivy League team made the top 20 list.
But with stronger competition in the Ivy League, a new head coach, and the loss of seven seniors to graduation, the Tigers will have a much tougher time maintaining their Ivy League supremacy.
Much has changed for the Tigers, and this season marks the beginning of a new era for Princeton field hockey.
One major change is the absence of former head coach Beth Bozman, who spent her last 15 years building a Princeton field hockey dynasty. Bozman resigned last spring to take a head coaching position at Duke.
Taking Bozman's place is head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn, who comes to Princeton from Champions Edge, Inc. Holmes-Winn's transition to the head coaching position has been smooth, and the players have taken well to her coaching style (for more on Holmes-Winn, see David Baumgarten's article).
"It's a totally new system, a totally new team," senior midfielder Claire Miller said. "It's been so different that it's just too tough to compare. We are thrilled with Kristen [Holmes-Winn]. I feel that we are in great shape."
Just as important as Bozman's absence is the loss of several seniors that the team relied on to make things happen.
Most notably, the loss of Ilvy Friebe '03, an offensive powerhouse who finished fourth in the nation last year with 61 points, forces the Tigers to change their game plan.
Without Friebe, Princeton has been filling the void by developing a more balanced, disciplined attack.
"The problem with that kind of offense is that if you shut Ilvy down, you shut down Princeton," Holmes-Winn said. "There's also a sort of Michael Jordan effect, where you end up spectating. It's hard to have flow when you're just watching. We have a smaller kind of game. We're very much a team and rely on every person to attack and flow."
"This year we're not going to see one player with many goals, but maybe seven players with five goals or so," Miller said.
Things seem to be going as planned, with nine different players having scored in the four games played so far. Four players have two or three goals.
The Tigers also lost standouts on the defensive end of the field. Defender Emily Townsend '03 and goalie Kelly Baril '03, cornerstones of the Princeton defense, graduated.
This season, the only two freshmen on the team are goalies Allison Nemeth and Juliana Simon. Both goalies have been splitting playing time evenly. Nemeth is off to a fast start, posting a 0.97 goals against average, and a .846 save percentage. Simon, meanwhile, sports a 3.5 GAA and a .562 percentage.
While Princeton works to retool the gaps left by graduations, the rest of the Ivy League seems to get stronger year by year.
"Disparity is lessening in the Ivy League," Holmes-Winn said. "Every team is going to be gunning for us. The athletes like the challenge, it gives them more purpose in preparation."
Last Saturday's match against Yale, a team that Princeton beat, 7-0, last season, gives a good idea of just how much more challenging winning the Ivy League will be this year. Princeton squeaked out a 5-4 win in overtime after an exciting Yale comeback.
Harvard, last year's runner up to the Ivy League title, has sent a signal that this might be its year, winning all three of its games, including a win against Penn on Saturday.
Brown also looks to be a credible threat this year, beating No. 17 Boston University early last week. Brown beat Dartmouth, 3-2, for its one Ivy League match so far.
The Tigers face their next test this Saturday against Dartmouth in Hanover.
Princeton's Ivy League reign of nine years is finally being seriously threatened. But if the team can consistently execute its disciplined game plan, it could have a bright start to a new era.
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