Field hockey controls league destiny, wins late vs. Harvard

Fall break. A time of rest and relaxation for the average Princeton student following the crazed week of midterms. However, if one is a member of the field hockey team there was no rest for the weary this week. Princeton earned a thrilling win over Harvard to start the week, 2-1, before beating No. 13-ranked William and Mary by an identical score and losing a hearbreaker to No. 7 Old Dominion.

Harvard (10-6 overall, 5-1 Ivy League) was first up for the Tigers over homecoming weekend. Going into the game, with a 4-1 Ivy League record, against an undefeated No. 18 Harvard squad, the Tigers (7-9, 5-1) needed to oust the Crimson to keep their Ivy League title hopes alive.

Princeton controlled possession of the ball for the first half, yet the teams went into halftime tied at 0-0. The beginning of the second half saw few chances for either team to score, up until Harvard's Jane Sackovich found an opening past Princeton sophomore goalie Allison Nemeth with 18 minutes, 55 seconds remaining in the second half to put the Crimson ahead.

Still trailing, 1-0, with three minutes remaining in regulation play, Princeton gave itself a chance to tie on a penalty corner situation. Senior midfielder Natalie Martirosian stopped a push from junior midfielder Hillary Schmidt at the circle, and senior midfielder Alexis Martirosian managed to flick a high shot past goalie Aliaa Remtilla of Harvard to tie the score at 1-1.

Less than two minutes later, the Tigers found themselves in a position to take the lead on another penalty corner situation. After being turned away on two shots, Schmidt managed to tip the rebound into the goal, giving Princeton the win.

The victory marked the Tigers' 11th defeat of Harvard in 11 years and was Princeton's first win over a ranked opponent this season.

Exciting as the win over Harvard was, the Tigers still had a long road ahead of them over Fall Break, facing two more challenging ranked opponents in William & Mary (13-6) and Old Dominion (13-6).

Princeton's strength and spirit once again shone through against William & Mary. Just as the Tigers trailed Harvard, 1-0, as the clock ticked down, so the team found itself in the hole against the Tribe.

With only 30 seconds remaining in regulation and down, 1-0, the Tigers were awarded their eighth penalty corner. Though the first seven had resulted in no goals, this time around senior defender Lizzie Black found the back of the net to tie the game at one apiece.

The Tigers and the Tribe faced off through two overtime periods, with Princeton holding off three Tribe penalty corner opportunities and seven shots on goal overall, before senior defender Kelly Darling scored the game winner off an assist from Natalie Martirosian.

"I think that game was the most consistently played of our whole season," Natalie Martirosian said. "We had complete control over our structure and ball movement for 70 minutes plus two overtimes."

Alexis Martirosian added, "Our games against Harvard and William & Mary showed our ability to play well for an entire game. Both games were amazing, and we really fought until the last minute. One could see how hard we were working each other on the field."

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Despite the success against Harvard and William & Mary, Old Dominion proved too much for the Tigers. Although the game remained close through most of the first half, the Monarchs were able to open up a 4-2 lead by halftime. Midway through the second half, Shannon Mobley and Dana Sensenig of ODU scored in a 57-second span to turn a 4-2 lead into a 6-2 advantage. Within less than seven minutes, that advantage was opened up to 8-2.

"We were punished for not scoring in the first 15 minutes [against ODU]," Natalie Martirosian said, "a time period where we dominated and had several almost-goals off the crossbar and a few outside the post. They scored first, we could never catch up, and the second half was just a downward spiral for us. Once ODU started scoring, we couldn't find a way to come back.

"It was a tough game because we knew that we could have won it and we have to accept that the reason we lost was because of our mistakes and not the superior playing of ODU."