“Maryland highlighted a lot of things we needed to work on,” senior defender and tri-captain Holly McGarvie said.
Against Maryland, Princeton (16-2 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) got off to a slow start, allowing a goal in the first seven minutes. In contrast, the Tiger offense shined from the opening whistle on Tuesday, putting away two goals in the first three minutes.
Junior defender Kaitlyn Perrelle opened the floodgates at one minute, 58 seconds off a rebounded shot by senior midfielder Sarah Reinprecht, and 43 seconds later, freshman attack Kathleen Sharkey widened the lead to 2-0 on an unassisted goal.
“Just as in the Penn State game, we came out and scored a goal in the first five minutes,” McGarvie said. “I can’t stress enough how important scoring early was for us.”
Though the Cardinal (9-11) tightened up defensively after the first two goals, Princeton would not be denied, as Reinprecht scored on a penalty corner at 27:27, and senior attack Kristin Schwab and freshman midfielder Katie Reinprecht combined on a two-on-one opportunity for a four-goal lead.
Sharkey struck again as the first half came to an end, carrying the ball from midfield to the Stanford goal and past the Cardinal’s Alessandra Moss to make the score 5-0 at halftime.
“In the back of our minds was the UMass game [last year] where we dominated but didn’t finish, and we wanted to make sure our opportunities counted,” head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn said.
Stanford came out much sharper in the second half, giving the Tigers more trouble defensively, but Princeton’s determined offense and stifling defense between the 25s prevented the Cardinal from making a comeback.
Perrelle scored first again in the second half, this time on a penalty corner. Sarah Reinprecht found Perrelle on the left side of the goal after the insert, and the junior had a clear look at the near post for the Tigers’ sixth goal of the game.
“We did a great job of seeing each other,” McGarvie added. “People had wide-open goals, and that’s a result of seeing each other.”
The Tigers’ seventh and eighth goals of the game, however, were unassisted looks by senior attack Katie Kinzer and Katie Reinprecht. Kinzer’s shot was ripped from just inside the arc to make the score 7-0, while Reinprecht dribbled right down the center of the field, challenged Moss and neatly put the ball away for an 8-1 lead.
Stanford’s two scores came on penalty corners, a threat the Tigers knew they had to contain coming into the match.
Holmes-Winn was quick to spread the praise to every member of her team following the win.
“It’s not really what happens on the turf but what happens in practice,” she said. “The players that play in the games are only as good as the players pushing them in practice. I give credit to every one of these 26 young women.”
Princeton is excited by the win and is eager to prove it is among the most talented teams in the nation.
“I’d like to face Maryland again and take them on as the team we are now,” McGarvie said.
The Tigers won’t face Maryland unless they make it to the finals. To do that, they must focus on their first-round game against Penn State in the NCAA tournament on Saturday at 2 p.m. Princeton last faced Penn State on Sept. 24 and defeated the Nittany Lions, 3-2.
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