Field Hockey: Cesan strike tops Orange

With an offensive bang against Dartmouth and more of a whimper against rival No. 8 Syracuse, the field hockey team swept its most important weekend of play yet.

The No. 4 Tigers (5-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) dominated the Big Green (4-1, 0-1) by a score of 9-1 on Friday evening and followed with a nail-biting 1-0 finish against the Orange (5-3) on Sunday afternoon. Princeton emerged from the weekend as one of just five undefeated teams in the nation.

The hotly contested Syracuse game was a tough fight from the start, as Syracuse fired off one more shot than the Tigers in the first half but was unable to capitalize on that slim advantage. The aggressive Princeton offense managed to outnumber the Orange in corner penalty opportunities, but the resilient Syracuse defense kept the game scoreless.

“I was really frustrated because we weren’t playing Princeton hockey,” junior striker Kathleen Sharkey explained of the team’s lack of scoring.

The back-and-forth trend continued in the second half, with both teams failing to convert on the few opportunities they were presented with.

“Syracuse was definitely marking off our offense’s options,” Sharkey said. “I think we came out with a lot of energy, but it wasn’t translating for us and we needed to try different things.”

After a Princeton timeout in the 68th minute, the team regrouped for its final assault. The Tigers got the ball back after a failed attempt at goal, and freshman back Amanda Bird delivered a pass to sophomore striker Michelle Cesan, who fired a shot past Orange goalkeeper Leann Stiver for the game-winning goal. The score marked Cesan’s third goal on the year.

The game left the squad elated, but also aware that the close decision could have gone another way.

“It’s really exciting to beat Syracuse — they’re a great team,” Sharkey said. “We weren’t playing our best game at all, so it’s really a relief to have gotten the win.”

The team’s match against Dartmouth, meanwhile, was a much more reassuring effort that ended in its biggest offensive outburst since last year’s Oct. 30 match against Cornell. The Big Green was one of just seven undefeated teams left in the country prior to Friday’s game.

Princeton began the evening match against Dartmouth firing on all cylinders and never looked back. The team’s penetrating offense seized an early five-goal advantage and it barely ever relinquished its attack, leading the group to a dominant 9-1 win.

Junior Rachel Neufeld began the onslaught with a goal in the 3rd minute that set the tone for the rest of the match. The attack was relentless: Cesan, sophomore midfielder Molly Goodman and Bird each scored a goal, and junior midfielder and co-captain Katie Reinprecht scored two of her own. Bird’s goal was the first of her career. Neufeld is also a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

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Leading the offense was Sharkey, who scored two goals in the first 6 minutes and added another off a corner penalty in the 64th minute. Sharkey has now amassed a nation-leading 13 goals in just five games.

Princeton, which had been focusing on its corner executions in practices, scored four of its nine goals off corner penalties. The team was so dominant that it prevented Dartmouth from taking a single shot in the first half while attacking with 17 of its own.

The team couldn’t quite keep up its breakneck pace for the second half, allowing a goal to Big Green senior Virginia Peisch, but it still dominated the rate of play and held Dartmouth scoreless after that minor slip-up.

Princeton has only one game next weekend, a Saturday afternoon bout against Yale in New Haven, before taking on No. 2 Maryland at Class of 1952 Stadium on Tuesday. While the team is thrilled to have come away from the weekend with two more victories, it is still cautious about its big matchup against the Terrapins.

Relating the team’s performance on Sunday to its upcoming match, Sharkey noted, “We definitely need to pick our game up.”