“It’s always fun playing our Ivy games because of rivalries our schools have against each other,” junior striker Kat Sharkey said. “Our Ivy games are definitely important to us because it is our own conference. Since there is no league playoff for the Ivy League, you basically have to finish undefeated in the league to ensure a championship.”
Princeton has not lost to Columbia for more than a decade, and it hopes to continue this winning pattern in tonight’s game. Last year, the Tigers beat the Lions 4-0 and dominated possession throughout the game. The team outshot the Lions 26-1 and earned 13 penalty corners to the Lions’ one. Princeton hopes to bring the same offensive pressure to tonight’s game.
Princeton will face off against American on Sunday, in what the team thinks will be a closer matchup. When the two teams met last year, the Tigers struggled to gain control of the ball and were losing 2-1 with only 11 minutes left in the game. The Tigers came from behind thanks to a pair of clutch goals from Christina Bortz ’10 and one from Sharkey to scrape away a 3-2 win.
“I think American will be a tougher game because it was so close last year,” junior midfielder and tri-captain Alyssa Pyros said. ”We scored in the last few minutes of the game to get the win. However, we treat every game the same and want to play our best no matter who our opposition is.”
The Tigers seem to be on the same page as far as strategy goes.
Several Princeton players, when asked separately what tactics have made them so successful this season, all gave similar answers. They each placed an important emphasis on the basics of field hockey.
“Basic skills really sums up [our team strategy] — we just have to focus on the simple skills like ball speed, controlled receptions and decision-making,” junior striker Rachel Neufeld said. “When we do all those basic things right, we will be a tough team to beat. Kristen [Holmes-Winn], our coach, is really emphasizing control right now, which means that whenever we receive the ball, she wants us to take in information ahead of time so that we can control the ball first and also maintain possession.” Neufeld is also a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.
If the Tigers can keep following Holmes-Winn’s advice, it could, once again, mean bad news for the opposition.
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