Field Hockey: Tigers dominate Crimson

Less than a minute into the second half, freshman midfielder Julia Reinprecht set the pace for a high-scoring 35 minutes for the field hockey team. She dribbled into the circle from the left around Cynthia Tassopoulos, the Harvard goalie, and finished with the first goal of the frame.

“It was really important for us to score early in the second half,” sophomore midfielder Alyssa Pyros said. “Last week, we played Brown, and we played really hard for the first half, but in the second half, we didn’t score at all. It was important for us in this game to learn to dominate both halves.”

No. 4 Princeton (12-2 overall, 5-0 Ivy League) continues to make impressive progress toward its goals of winning the Ivy League and the NCAA tournament with this Saturday’s 9-0 victory over league rival Harvard (5-8, 2-3). The Tigers’ win keeps them undefeated and atop the standings in the Ivy League.

Nine-goal field hockey games are hard to come by, yet the Tigers were able to connect and play together well to score a season-high number of goals. Pyros and senior midfielder Kaitlin Donovan both scored their first goals of the season: Pyros notched two goals, while Donovan recorded a hat trick.

Sophomore midfielder Katie Reinprecht, the older sister of Julia Reinprecht, also scored two goals, while senior striker Christina Bortz had an assist and a goal.

Princeton applied constant offensive pressure on the Harvard defense. The Tigers overwhelmed the Crimson in shots, 33-1, and in penalty corners, 8-1. Three of those Princeton corner plays led to goals.

The first goal of the game came from Donovan after less than five minutes of play, off an assist from senior defender Kaitlyn Perrelle. Perrelle passed the ball from the left side of the goal, and Donovan delivered it past Tassopoulos.

After only three more minutes of play, Pyros scored with a direct shot from the top of the circle. And just two minutes later, Pyros netted another unassisted goal for the Tigers to push the score to 3-0.

“They were marking Katie Reinprecht in the circle, which left me wide open at the top of the circle to shoot,” Pyros said.

Donovan got her second goal of the season off a corner play, tipping in a pass from Katie Reinprecht. Donovan’s third and final goal came with 28 seconds left in the first half, off another assist from Perrelle.

Julia Reinprecht’s pivotal goal came right after halftime, pushing the score to 6-0 and keeping the momentum going for the Tigers throughout the second half of the game.

The next goal came from Katie Reinprecht off another corner play with assists from junior defender Alexandra Douwes and freshman striker Michelle Cesan.

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Katie Reinprecht scored again four minutes later, off an assist from Bortz. Reinprecht deflected a pass from Bortz, on the left of the cage, into the goal.

Bortz then scored the ninth and final goal of the game from a shot right in front of the goal.

“Everything seemed to click with us this game,” Pyros noted. “Last game, we were taking a bunch of shots, and nothing was going in. Everything was on this game, and we capitalized our opportunities.”

Junior goalie Jennifer King only had to make one save to record the team’s fourth shutout of the season. The Tiger offense kept the ball consistently in the Crimson end of the field and always applied pressure to the Crimson goalie. Tassopoulos had 15 saves in the game.

Practices in the week preparing for Saturday’s game, Pyros said, were “intense, with running and sprinting and making sure we were making passes to keep possession. We trained hard to make sure our passes had a purpose and that we were taking advantage of opportunities.”

The team’s hard work this week paid off, as they were able to make the most of several of their opportunities in the circle and off corners.

Next, the Orange and Black will take on Cornell (9-3, 3-2) this Friday at home. Going into the game undefeated in Ivy League competition, Princeton is hoping to have another solid win against an Ivy League opponent, and that win could secure the Tigers another Ivy title.

“We always get excited to play the Ivy games, so everyone will be excited to play,” Pyros said. “We’re giving each game 100 percent. We will probably have hard practices this week in order to get ready for the game on Friday and the postseason games.”