Tigers bedeviled by refs

The first time the field hockey squad stormed the field Saturday afternoon, it was in joy. The second time, the Tigers' sprint off the bench was motivated by frustration and anger.

After 70 minutes of regulation play left the game knotted at one, Princeton (9-9 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) and Duke (16-4) went to sudden-death overtime to decide which team would advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament.

With 12 minutes left in the first overtime period, the Tigers thought they had recorded the game-winning goal, but it was disallowed by the referees. Sophomore midfielder Paige Schmidt had drilled a shot from outside the arc that rocketed past the Blue Devil goalie and inspired an eruption of joy from the Princeton bench.

Their celebration was premature, however, as Duke head coach — and former Princeton head coach — Beth Bozman furiously accosted the referees, claiming that it was a Blue Devil player that had deflected the ball in the arc and that no Tiger had touched it. After a long discussion, the referees called over Schmidt to tell her that the goal would not count. After the emotional swing of events, both teams seemed flat for the rest of the first overtime. Neither team was able to score, pushing the game into another 15-minute overtime period.

Early in the second overtime, Princeton had another chance to secure the victory. Senior attack Lauren Ehrlichman sprinted up the left side of the field on a breakaway opportunity. Just as she was about to take a shot on goal, however, she collided with the goalkeeper, and the ball rolled harmlessly out of bounds. Though she was slow to get up, Ehrlichman was able to play the rest of the game. It would be the Tigers' last major chance to win.

Though the Tigers' offense faced difficulty in getting the ball on goal, their defense kept them in the game. Freshman Holly McGarvie was able to prevent Duke from scoring on a penalty corner, and junior goalie Allison Nemeth ended the game with 11 total saves, including a few where she had to dive to keep the Blue Devils from scoring.

With the clock winding down in the second overtime , it looked as if the teams were headed into a penalty shot shootout. But with 1:27 left, Duke defender Laura Suchoski fed the ball to forward Nicole Dudek from the back corner. Dudek's shot trickled past Nemeth for her second goal of the game, and the Blue Devils began a celebration of their own.

Despite intense protests from head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn and the entire Tiger team that Suchoski had her foot on the field boundary line when she passed the ball and therefore that the goal should be invalidated as well, this time the referees concluded that the score would count, giving Duke a 2-1 victory.

The ending, shrouded in controversy, hardly seemed fitting for what had otherwise been a monumental Princeton effort. The Tigers played excellent defense the entire game, and they were able to hold the No. 4 team in the nation to only one goal through regulation and one in overtime. The game was representative of the tenacity and spirit with which Princeton has played all season.

Ehrlichman had the first scoring chance of the game on a breakaway, but her shot was just wide right of the goal.

One of the storylines of this season has been the continuing maturation of the 10 freshmen on the team. It was only fitting that one of them would score a goal in this game. Twenty-eight minutes into the first half, freshman midfielder Leah Hoagland received a pass from senior midfielder Maren Ford and scored the first goal of her collegiate career. Duke goalie Christy Morgan came way out of the goal to challenge Hoagland, but she was able to shoot it past Morgan and into the back of the net.

Four minutes into the second half, the Blue Devils tied the score at one. Dudek scored her 16th goal of the season off a pass from the backline from senior forward Katie Grant, sweeping the shot into the net before Nemeth could react and reposition herself.

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The Tigers did have some scoring chances near the end of regulation to prevent the game from going to overtime, but Princeton was not able to convert on any of them. The most notable of these opportunities was a shot from sophomore midfielder Nicole Ng that went past Morgan, but Suchoski was in perfect backup position and batted the ball out of the arc.

Duke had an opportunity to score in the last minute of regulation on a penalty corner, but the combined effort of the entire Tiger defense thwarted this attempt. The Blue Devils outshot Princeton, 20-7, in regulation.

Ultimately, the Ivy League champion Tigers walked off the field in disbelief, unwilling to believe that they had lost after leaving everything on the field — and after they thought they had won.