When senior athletes Seamus Young and Lauren Ehrlichman suited up for their final competitions in Princeton uniforms, neither knew it would be their last. For Young, a defender for the men's hockey team, it was the second game of a three-game playoff series with Clarkson. After losing a series-opener that the Tigers thought they should have won, everything went wrong in Game Two, and in the last ten minutes, Young knew it was over. In his last shift on the ice, it was the best he could do to hold back the tears.
For Ehrlichman, an attack for the field hockey team, it was an emotionally-charged first round NCAA home game against a Duke team coached by longtime Princeton coach Beth Bozman. After having a game-winning goal taken away in overtime, Princeton lost in the second overtime period, bringing the Tigers' season to an abrupt end.
Both seniors thought their team was capable of advancing and dragging out their Princeton athletic careers just that little bit longer. But unlike many senior athletes, for whom their time at Princeton may be the end of their competitive athletic careers, both Young and Ehrlichman are planning on continuing to play their sports for at least a little while longer.
Conventional wisdom has it that Ivy League athletes go to college to end their athletic careers. These athletes, it is assumed, go on to banking jobs, medical school, or law school. A few hit the jackpot, going straight to the MLB or NFL, but those are the minority.
Though many do end their involvement in athletics with their graduation from Old Nassau, those who go overlooked are those like Young and Ehrlichman, who plan on toiling in minor leagues to see where it takes them, perpetuating their athletic careers as long as possible. It's a game plan with a pretty good worst-case scenario: falling back on their Princeton education — one that, Young says, "you can't beat."
Young has already begun his foray into the professional ranks, as he suited up this spring for the Trenton Titans, an ECHL team that is affiliated with the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. Despite the crunch of the sociology major's thesis work, Young was able to make most of the team's 10 a.m. practices and played in 31 games, the majority of which were at home.
After graduation, he will head to Boston to work out with the many college and professional players there, and as of July 1, he'll be a free agent hoping to sign with an NHL affiliate team. From there he'll hope to move up through the ranks to make it to the NHL.
"I've always had a dream to play past college," Young said. "Princeton doesn't have the reputation of some of the other DI schools, but it's still possible [to play professionally]."
He'll miss the world of collegiate sports, though, and describes professional play as much more cutthroat.
"If you're not performing, you're out of a job," Young said.
Ehrlichman will have to go much further from home to continue her sport, which has little popularity in the United States. Following in the footsteps of her Princeton coach, Kristin Holmes-Winn, Ehrlichman will travel to play for a team in the English club system's National League under the same coach Holmes-Winn played for after college.
Ehrlichman has already competed internationally for the United States, helping the American team to a seventh place finish at the Junior World Cup in Chile this past September. She'll aim to move up in the U.S. national team ranks in the footsteps of Holmes-Winn, whose time in England led to 47 international games for the United States, including the 1998 World Cup.
But regardless of where she ends up, Ehrlichman would not take back the time spent playing at Princeton for anything. She says it is the little things she will remember, more than the actual games themselves.
"In my senior year, it became particularly exciting to watch as my younger teammates experienced the joy of scoring their first goal and coming together as teammates," Ehrlichman said in an email. "When I think back on these last four years, I don't so much remember the great wins and the bad losses – although learning to endure the ups and downs has been important – as I do getting through the tough practices and conditioning sessions, the daily interactions with my teammates, and our coaches' pre-game speeches."
Both Young and Ehrlichman feel athletics will always be a part of their lives, no matter how close they get to the professional ranks. Coaching younger players has an appeal for both athletes, and Young thinks he'll always play hockey, even if it's just a noncompetitive league. For all senior athletes, graduation marks an end to another chapter of their lives — one that, if they're like Ehrlichman, they'll always look back on fondly.
"To be sure, I am so glad that I spent my four years here as a Princeton field hockey player," she said, "and I would not change a single day of it for anything."
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