Princeton crushes Yale in Ivy opener

As the field hockey team walked off the field Saturday at Class of 1952 Stadium after its first Ivy League game of the year, nearly every member of the Princeton roster sported a giant smile.

The grins were easy to understand: the Tigers (1-3 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) had played by far their best game of the season, dismantling Yale (1-2, 0-1) by a 5-1 score.

Saturday's result was starkly different from that of their first two games, losses to non-conference foes American and Penn State. The next day, however, Princeton dropped another tough non-league game, falling, 4-2, to Connecticut at home.

Despite the three early losses, the victory over the Elis proved that the young Tigers — Princeton graduated eight seniors and welcomed 10 freshmen this fall, five of whom are starters — possess more than just potential.

"We are really focusing on mentality," head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn said. "With such a young group, it is easy to be tentative, but we're trying to get the team to make decisions."

And make decisions they did — on Saturday. The Tigers controlled the game's tempo from the start, with senior attack Lauren Erlichmann scoring the first goal seven minutes, 15 seconds into the game. Yale goalkeeper Elizabeth Friedlander was able to stop the initial shot, but Erlichmann rebounded her own drive to score the game's only goal of the first 42 minutes.

Princeton was not able to notch another score to lengthen the lead despite pressuring the ball into the Bulldogs' defensive zone during the last few minutes of the half. At halftime, however, the Tigers changed their strategy.

"We really tightened up a few things, especially our transfer through the middle," Holmes-Winn said. "Yale did a great job defending us down the middle, so we had to improve on that because we didn't want to go down the sides."

Princeton started a scoring streak in the second half with a second goal from Erlichmann. She converted off yet another rebound, this time from freshman midfielder Sarah Reinprecht's penalty corner shot. Erlichmann was at it again 15 minutes later at 62:05, stuffing the ball into the goal off a pass from sophomore midfielder Nicole Ng. Continuing the offensive barrage, sophomore attack Sarah Yuki scored off a shot from classmate and linemate Paige Schmidt and then again off a pass from Paige's older sister, senior midfielder Hillary Schmidt.

When the clock hit 0.0, the scoreboard still read 5-0 — but the Tigers would not walk away with a shutout. The Bulldogs piled in front of the net during the final seconds of the game to get a shot off. On a high rebound, a Princeton player knocked the ball down with her hand, and Yale's Emily Palilonis was awarded a penalty stroke with no time left on the clock. She slid the ball to the right of junior goalkeeper Juliana Simon for the Elis' only goal of the day.

Huskies growl

Coming off such a decisive win, the Tigers had high hopes for their game against the Huskies on Sunday, despite having lost to them each of the past two years. But Princeton's experience did not turn out to be enough to down Connecticut.

"They are very dangerous in the 25, and they have players that can really shoot the ball," Holmes-Winn said.

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Connecticut scored early with a goal at the 8:17 mark, as Rebecca Helwig scored on an impressive backhand sweep that beat goalkeeper Juliana Simon. The Tigers answered back just three minutes later, when Erlichmann passed the ball across the goal and freshman midfielder Kristin Schwab placed it in for her first-ever collegiate goal.

The score did not remain tied for long, though, as the Huskies went on a three-goal scoring run. Helwig knocked in another stunning backhand shot that upped the score to 2-1, and by the end of the first half, Connecticut had scored two more goals to push the winning margin to three goals.

Princeton also had many opportunities in the first half, but the Tigers were unable to convert those chances into goals. Despite many opportunities in the first half and a number of penalty corner attempts in the second, Princeton was able to find the net only once more. The final score was 4-2 after Princeton benefited from a sister-sister play on a penalty corner. Paige Schmidt faked a shot from the top of the circle and fed her older sister Hillary, who was waiting to stuff the ball into the left side of the net.

The team was frustrated at the end result after successfully connecting on passes around the field all day long, but failing to score.

"The Huskies really took advantage of opportunities in the first half," Hillary Schmidt said. "And by the time we did in the second half, it was too late."

The Tigers also felt they must improve converting penalty corners.

"Not executing nine [penalty corners] this game is not great," Holmes-Winn said. "It continues to be something we need to work on — we're getting really good shots, but we need to finish."

Slow start

A week earlier, Princeton kicked off its season in Washington, D.C., with a game at American on Sept. 3, falling 4-1 to the Eagles. American lit up the scoreboard only 23 seconds into the game with a goal by Irene Schickhardt, assisted by Camila Infante, who then scored a goal of her own at 11:45 off a penalty corner.

The Eagles landed three more unanswered goals in the back of the Tigers' net, stretching American's lead to 4-0 by the middle of the second half. Princeton was not scoreless for long, however, as Erlichmann drove one home at 55:03 off an assist from Paige Schmidt.

After their opening game loss, the Tigers geared up for their first home contest, a game against Penn St. on Sept. 7. Princeton dominated the first half, but 10 shots on Penn goalkeeper Megan Akstin and four penalty corners were not enough for the Tigers, who failed to find the net. The second half saw a change in ball control, as the Nittany Lions pounded out 13 shots to Princeton's five.

The game was scoreless until just 14 minutes remained, when Penn State's Shaun Banta scurried the ball into the goal. The scoring box was riddled with players when Banta managed to get her stick on the ball and send it to the backboard amid the confusion. The Tigers couldn't create another scoring opportunity and fell 1-0.