Penn denies field hockey 11th straight league title

Every athlete dreams of scoring the game-winning goal as time expires. No one dreams of giving it up.

On Friday night, under the normally friendly lights of 1952 Stadium, the field hockey team suffered the unthinkable, losing 2-1 to Penn on a Quaker goal that crossed the line as time expired.

The loss was Princeton's second in the Ivy League this year. Earlier in the season, Dartmouth ended the Tigers' 32-game conference winning streak. The loss to Penn (13-4 overall, 6-1 Ivy League), however, snaps a much more important streak.

For the first time since 1993, Princeton (7-10, 5-2) will not be the Ivy Champion. The Tigers are also extremely unlikely to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament with eight non-conference losses.

"That's the way sports is sometimes," head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn said. "You can really control a game, especially in the second half, and it can still end like that."

Princeton began the must-win game poorly, getting off only four shots — and only one shot on goal — in the first half. Late in the first half, Cara Callahan put Penn up 1-0, redirecting a pass from Lea Salese into the Tigers' net on a breakaway.

Princeton's uninspired play also resulted in the team earning only three penalty corners in the first half. They were unable to convert any of them.

The Tigers came out of halftime trailing 1-0, but also came out with a renewed sense of urgency, knowing that their season was hanging in the balance.

Princeton outshot the Quakers 13-4 in the final 35 minutes, with nine of those shots on net.

Only five minutes into the second half freshman attack Paige Schmidt got the equalizer, when she scored on a backhanded shot.

Following the goal, the Tigers continued to put the pressure on Penn. They earned eight penalty corners in the second half but were unable to take advantage of any of them.

The Quakers' goaltender, Liz Schlossberg, made eight saves on the day. They also got a save from Kate Murphy who blocked a shot off a penatly corner by Schmidt with less than 10 minutes remaining.

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That allowed Callahan to steal both the spotlight and an Ivy League title that has belonged to Princeton for the past 10 years.

With seconds remaining in the game Penn earned a penalty corner. While the initial shot was stopped, there was a scramble for the rebound directly in front of the Tiger goal. Calahan slapped the rebound into the back of the cage with no time remaining.

The win was Penn's first over Princeton since 1993. In addition, Penn won a share of the Ivy League title. Harvard will receive the league's automatic bid, however, to the NCAA Tournament because it beat Penn early in the season.

"Obviously we would have loved to get to the NCAA tournament for our seniors, but I'm proud of how this team responded this year," Holmes-Winn said.