Field hockey team falls to Maryland in NCAA semifinal

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — On Friday afternoon, in front of a packed crowd at Wake Forest, the field hockey team left it all out on the turf.

Playing with an enormous amount of intensity, fourth-seeded Princeton (16-3 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) fought hard against top-seeded Maryland (23-0) for a spot in the finals of the NCAA tournament. But in the end, the Terrapins’ high-powered offense proved to be the difference. The Tigers lost by a 7-5 margin to the defending champions, ending Princeton’s dreams of bringing home an NCAA title.

The combined total of 12 goals sets a new record for an NCAA semifinal game. Both teams played at an extremely fast pace throughout, but unfortunately for the Tigers, Maryland got the last word.

Facing a 4-1 deficit early in the second half, Princeton showed that it would not go down without a fight. The Tigers scored three unanswered goals to knot the game at four apiece with 17 minutes, 50 seconds left in the game.

Sophomore midfielder Katie Reinprecht, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, scored the game-tying goal. Princeton forced a penalty corner in the Maryland end, and freshman forward Michelle Cesan fed the ball in. Reinprecht, who was at the right place at the right time, deflected the ball into the net for her second goal of the game.

Head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn said her team made a key adjustment heading into the second half of play, enabling the Tigers to find the back of the net.

“We needed to get better pressure on the ball since their ball speed is difficult to catch up with at times,” head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn said. “We had to adjust our press at halftime and protect our middle. We were able to do that, and that was the key difference in the second half. We just kind of ran out of gas there at the end.”

In the opening moments of the game, Maryland got off to a quick start. But junior goalkeeper Jennifer King, who had three saves overall, prevented the Terrapins from drawing first blood. During the opening minute of play, King made an incredible save, coming way out of the goal to deny a shot from midfielder Brianna Davies.

The Tigers got on the board first. With 27:31 left in the first half, Cesan found the ball in the circle and ricocheted it past Maryland goalkeeper Alicia Grater.

But the Terrapins were quick to respond. On a penalty-corner opportunity, back Emma Thomas sailed a shot into the top of the net at the 21:24 mark of the first stanza and jumpstarted the Maryland offense. About five minutes later, Thomas capitalized on Maryland’s seventh penalty corner of the game. Off a feed from forward Katie O’Donnell, Thomas found the back of the net for her second in the match.

All game long, Reinprecht had to contend with O’Donnell, who finished the game with a hat trick, three assists and a new NCAA tournament-record 12 points.

“She’s a great player,” Reinprecht said. “Whenever I find myself against another team’s best players, it is always a good matchup. She played amazing today, and I have to give a lot of credit to her.”

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“She just plays all over the field,” Holmes-Winn said of O’Donnell. “She’s really quick and comes back into the midfield. She creates another number in that zone [that] you have to handle.”

O’Donnell gave Maryland a 3-1 lead after a brilliant fake-out. After freezing King in the circle, O’Donnell rocketed a shot into the net with 11:14 left in the first half.

Princeton went into halftime facing this 3-1 deficit. The Terrapins dominated the first half, outshooting the Tigers, 11-3, and forcing nine penalty corners.

Holmes-Winn said the Terrapins’ quick ball speed allowed them to succeed in the first half.

“They have a great structure, and they hold that very well under pressure,” Holmes-Winn said. “They can stretch you out very quickly, and at moments, they were able to get underneath us.”

Early in the second half, Maryland scored its fourth goal of the game. Sophomore forward Kathleen Sharkey broke away from her defender, but she was denied an opportunity to score after Grater came way out of her net. The Terrapins, in transition, took advantage of the moment and responded with a fast-paced counterattack. Forward Nicole Muracco passed the ball to O’Donnell, who tapped the ball into the net and gave Maryland a three-goal lead with one minute gone in the second half.

Maryland head coach Missy Meharg praised the Tigers for their ability to score three unanswered goals early in the second half.

“When you have a three-goal span, you have a tendency to settle,” Meharg said. “They were not going to be embarrassed, and there was no way they were going to get blown out.”

Immediately after Maryland pushed its lead to 4-1, Princeton cut the Terrapins’ lead to two on a penalty-corner opportunity. Cesan passed the ball to senior midfielder Kaitlin Donovan, who shot the ball past Grater and into the net.

With 22:44 left in the game, Reinprecht netted her first goal of the matchup. After the Tigers forced another penalty corner, Reinprecht deflected the ball toward Grater, who was unable to come up with the save. Shortly after that, Reinprecht scored the goal that tied the game at four.

Holmes-Winn attributed the Tigers’ ability to tie the game to a key momentum shift.

“We were able to get pressure on the ball,” Holmes-Winn said. “That is where we start our attack, and we created a bit of doubt in their backfield. We were able to get the ball in the circle and [force] some penalty corners, allowing us to put some points on the board.”

Maryland remained relentless on offense throughout the second half, scoring three unanswered goals of its own. With 13:12 left in the second half, midfielder Megan Frazer blasted a hard shot past King, giving the Terrapins a 5-4 lead.

Six minutes later, Maryland went up 6-4. For her third assist of the game, O’Donnell fed the ball to Ameliet Rischen, who forced the ball past King.

Then, with 3:34 left in the game, the Terrapins all but iced the victory. For the second time in the game, O’Donnell faked out King and snuck a shot past her into the net.

But the Tigers refused to go down quietly. With one minute remaining, Sharkey cut Maryland’s lead to two on an unassisted shot from the middle of the circle. But it proved to be too little, too late, as time ran out on the game and on Princeton’s impressive season.

The Tigers are a young team, led by a core of rising juniors who will certainly have their sights set on another Final Four appearance next year.

“We will be able to build on this as a program,” Holmes-Winn said. “Once you get a taste of this, it’s hard to go back. We will be fighting and clawing to keep getting better.”

Maryland’s win set up a battle for the NCAA championship between the two most recent champions. Third-seeded UNC, the victor in 2007, advanced to the finals after holding off second-seeded Virginia, 3-2, on Friday. The Tar Heels triumphed in exciting fashion on Sunday afternoon, pulling off a 3-2 upset over the Terrapins after scoring the championship-clinching goal with only 11 seconds left on the clock.