Tigers get last laugh, win easily

Princeton does not lose Ivy League field hockey games often — a fact Dartmouth learned the hard way Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers (2-2 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) dominated the Big Green (2-3, 1-1) in Hanover, N.H., all the way to a 4-1 victory that was Princeton's third straight over Dartmouth and sixth in the past seven seasons.

Things might have gone very differently if the whole game had been played like the first few minutes.

Less than three minutes after the opening whistle, the Big Green's Ashley Hines redirected a shot past sophomore goalkeeper Cynthia Wray to give Dartmouth a lead on the first shot of the game.

The next five shots came from Tiger sticks as Princeton took control of the game. The visitors' fifth shot found a home behind Big Green goalkeeper Jordan Sedlacek, courtesy of sophomore attack Tina Bortz, as the Tigers tied it up 10 minutes after the initial goal.

Though the score was still knotted at one at halftime, the game was already Princeton's to lose, and it knew it had the upper hand.

"After Dartmouth scored and we were still tied at the half, we were more disappointed than nervous," senior midfielder Paige Schmidt said. "I think the team felt like we were going to win, it was just a matter of time until the goals started to fall."

After the first 35 minutes of play, the Tigers had nine shots to the Big Green's two, and that lopsidedness increased to 17-4 as defenses opened up in the second half.

"At half time, we knew we were playing strong hockey but knew it wasn't good enough and simply had to be better," Bortz said. "We wanted the score to reflect how much we were dominating the game in terms of possession time, penalty corners and shot stats."

After three straight foiled penalty corners, the Tigers finally connected for another goal at 47 minutes, 26 seconds when junior attack Katie Kinzer banged home junior defender Holly McGarvie's initial attempt to put the Orange and Black up for good.

The goal was Kinzer's second of the season.

Six Princeton shots and several Sedlacek saves later, junior attack Kristin Schwab added to the lead when she scored her first goal of the year.

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Schmidt fired a backhander that was blocked by a defender but bounced across the circle right to Schwab, who potted it in the wide-open net.

Bortz hammered the final nail in the coffin with 3:12 remaining when she scored her second of the day and third on the season, assisted by Schmidt.

At the final buzzer, the score showed Princeton 4, Dartmouth 1, but it could have been much more of a blowout than it was.

Sedlacek had to make 10 saves to keep her team in it at all, and the Tigers launched a total of 26 shots.

At the other end of the field, Wray only needed to stop one shot to notch her second career victory as the team's starting goalkeeper.

"Cynthia has played great so far this year," Bortz said. "I think she is adjusting to having such a major role really well and is able to keep her cool under tense situations and still make great saves."

With the win, Princeton moves one step closer to successfully defending its Ivy League championship.

The win over Dartmouth was the Tigers' 16th straight against Ivy opponents, dating back to the beginning of the 2005 season.

"Our confidence is high going into a game like Dartmouth not only because of the history, but our ongoing work ethic to get better," Bortz said. "I think we train harder than most of our other Ivy opponents and therefore expect to win. We realize it would be a huge win for them, and they will give it all they have, so we really go out there and give it all we have."

Princeton returns to Class of 1952 Stadium this weekend when it hosts Columbia (2-3, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon and Colgate (4-3) on Sunday, both at 1 p.m.