Field hockey defeats Penn to secure tenth-straight title

Another year, another perfect Ivy League season for the field hockey team.

With a 3-1 win over Penn (10-7 overall, 3-4 Ivy League) on Friday night, the Tigers (12-5, 7-0) secured their fourth straight undefeated Ivy League season.

Scoring was scarce for most of the game, although the Tigers controlled the ball well and created ample opportunities. Princeton held a 7-1 advantage in first half shots, and a 5-1 advantage in penalty corners earned.

In the first half, most of the action occurred on the Quaker side of the field, as Penn's offense was having difficulty pushing past midfield and generating scoring opportunities. Penn's defense, however, was able to hold its ground against the Tiger onslaught, keeping the score tied, 0-0, at halftime.

When the second half got underway, Princeton continued to keep the pressure on Penn with solid play and ball control. Eight minutes into the second half, the Tigers' efforts finally ended in a goal, as junior attack Ashley Sennett found the right side of the net with a reverse chip shot.

The Tigers were unable to pull away with a comfortable lead after that. The score remained at 1-0 for the next 24 minutes.

With two and a half minutes left in the game, the Tigers moved the ball up from the backfield in a carefully orchestrated sequence of passes. Junior defender Kelly Darling found sophomore attack Maren Ford, who put the ball in the back of the net for her team-leading eighth goal of the year.

"We had great teamwork that started from the back," Ford said. "Kelly Darling bumped the ball to me from the back of the field. It was very much a team effort moving the ball from the backfield up towards the goal."

The Quakers wouldn't go down easy, however. Penn's Liz Lorelli scored just one minute, 20 seconds later, tipping the ball into the goal on a penalty corner rebound.

Nail in the coffin

The Tigers dashed Penn's hopes of a last-minute comeback when Darling scored off an assist from Ford, in what looked to be a near-perfect flipflop of Princeton's previous score. Princeton would win the game, 3-1.

"We were working on our game plan very well," Ford said. "Penn did a pretty good job of trying to keep it out of the circle. We did a pretty good job working between the 25's. We were passing together, and executing the game plan well. The score didn't reflect how well we played. I think we played very well as team."

The win was the final game of a regular season that began with so many question marks. The Tigers started the season with a new head coach, Kristen Holmes-Winn, and had lost seven players to graduation.

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"I remember when the final whistle blew on Friday I had a smile on my face," Miller said. "Every year, the other Ivy League teams say that this is the year. And especially with all the changes for us this year, it felt great to put that back in everyone's face. It feels special to have gone four years without a loss."

The last time an Ivy League team got the best of the Tigers was in 1999 when Princeton lost, 2-1, to Brown. Princeton has won 31 straight Ivy League games since then.

The Tigers will find out Tuesday night who they face in the NCAA Tournament, which begins this weekend.

Although Princeton has been perfect against its Ivy League opponents, it has had some trouble this year and last year against ranked non-league opponents.

Princeton has a 1-4 record against opponents ranked in the top 20. The Tigers currently hold the No. 11 spot in the national rankings and hope to gain a home seed for the upcoming tournament.

With the win over Penn on Friday night, Princeton wrote another chapter in its Ivy League dominance, and will enter the NCAA Tournament on the right foot.