Already on a roll, Tigers get boost from Ehrlichman's return

When senior attack Lauren Ehrlichman departed from New Jersey in mid-September for a trip to Chile with the U.S. Junior World Cup team, the field hockey team she left behind was still struggling to find its groove.

Two weeks later, she's back, and the Tigers (4-4 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) have finally found their stride.

But even though they've been winning without her, Ehrlichman's teammates will no doubt be glad to welcome back their senior captain. They'll need her Friday when Princeton faces another team still undefeated in Ivy play: Cornell (5-2, 3-0).

"It will be a huge help having Lauren back," senior midfielder Hillary Schmidt said. "She is a great player, and her leadership skills on the front line are invaluable."

Though she only played in the Tigers' first four games of the season, Ehrlichman has already contributed four goals and one assist.

"It's no secret that she gives a real punch to our attack," head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn said. "She is a huge threat who makes defenders alter their games. Any time you can do that you are going to have success."

Keeping track of her teammates from afar, Ehrlichman — who says she's "thrilled to be back" — was also impressed with how Princeton handled her absence.

"I am so proud of them for what they have accomplished in the past two weeks," she said. "It was a very unusual set of circumstances to have a senior miss two weeks of practices and games to compete for the U.S. Junior team, and they just handled it remarkably well."

Beyond Ehrlichman's return, the Tigers have several other reasons to be confident heading into the crucial game against the Big Red. Princeton shut out both Columbia and Albany last weekend. The two wins were home games in which the Tigers showed strength on both offense and defense.

"It's definitely a huge victory being able to win back-to-back games in one weekend when we hadn't been able to do that in the past," Holmes-Winn said.

Princeton has been pleased with the performance of its 10 freshmen thus far, players who have been getting a good deal of playing time due to the absence of Ehrlichman.

"We have five or six freshmen starting every game, which is about half of the players on the field," Holmes-Winn said. "They have adjusted quickly to the college game. They are superb athletes with a great mentality about competition."

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Another strong showing from the freshmen will be necessary to beat Cornell. The Big Red has outscored its opponents, 21-6, this season. Under head coach Donna Hornibrook, the team has already beaten Ivy League rivals Penn, Yale and Columbia, and coming off a 2-0 loss to Vermont, Cornell will be hungry for a victory.

Then again, so will Ehrlichman, who would rather not see her homecoming spoiled.

"I thought a lot on the trip about how this is my final season here, and I am going to do everything in my power to help this team bring the Ivy League trophy back to Princeton," Ehrlichman said. "The next step in making that happen is the match versus Cornell on Friday night, and I can't wait to get on that field and be wearing the Princeton jersey again."