Tigers topple No. 1 Terps

After one semifinal loss in the NCAA tournament and 11 years of tough losses to Maryland, the field hockey team scored a triumphant 4-2 victory over the No. 1 Terrapins on Tuesday night at Class of 1952 Stadium.

The No. 4 Tigers (7-0 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) emerged from the game as one of just three unbeaten teams in the country. The Terps had not lost a regular-season game since Oct. 11, 2008.

“This feels awesome. It’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve beaten Maryland,” junior All-American midfielder Katie Reinprecht said after the game.

For head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn, the victory exorcised demons even longer-standing than the Tigers’ 11-year drought against the Terps.

“In my playing career, my coaching career at Iowa and coaching career here, I’ve never beaten Maryland, so that was nice,” Holmes-Winn said.

Reinprecht and junior striker Kathleen Sharkey, another All-American, led Princeton’s NCAA-best offense past Maryland’s eighth-ranked defense.

The game began on a highly competitive note, with the two teams continually trading possessions and scoring opportunities. But while the Terps were unable to capitalize on their first two penalty corner opportunities, the Tigers pounced on the second of their first two chances.

Sophomore midfielder Julia Reinprecht, Katie’s sister, took the corner for Princeton, and senior blocker Alexandra Douwes passed the ball over to Katie Reinprecht, who fired the ball into the net for the team’s first goal of the night and a crucial 1-0 lead.

Maryland countered with an attack of its own, but after a shot that missed wide the Tigers roared back down the field again.

Sharkey charged with the ball, penetrating the Terps’ defense. Facing pressure, she banked the ball over to Katie Reinprecht, who received the pass and rocketed a remarkable backhand shot past Terps goalkeeper Melissa Vassalotti and into Maryland’s goal for her second score of the night.

“The first [goal] I was wide open. I would’ve been really upset with myself if I had missed that one, and to be honest I had a lot of luck on my side on the second one,” Katie Reinprecht said of her two first-half goals. “I can’t even take credit for it. I think it was just heat of the moment.”

“She just has it all,” Holmes-Winn said about the star junior. “She can defend, she can attack, she can do everything. It’s very, very difficult to defend her, and she makes the people around her better.”

With a 2-0 lead and momentum on their side, the Tigers were able to make some adjustments heading into the second half. The team came out slightly less aggressively, biding its time and relying on an incredibly strong defense to fend off consistent attacks from Maryland.

“We just changed up our strategy a little bit,” Katie Reinprecht said after the game. “We laid off a little with our pressure just to change it up and see what they did.”

The constant pressure on Princeton’s defense was an important challenge for the squad to overcome.

“I think it said a lot about us that we stuck together through that,” Katie Reinprecht said of the Terps’ attacks. “It was a phase of the game where we may have been down a little, but we picked it up and finished the game off.”

The Maryland offense eventually broke through and scored its first goal of the night when Terps All-American Katie O’Donnell fired a shot high and hard into the back of Princeton’s net.

Yet Maryland was powerless against Princeton’s offense, as the Tigers marched down the field almost at will just 30 seconds later and scored another goal to wrestle control back. This time, it was Katie Reinprecht on the assist and Sharkey with the goal.

“The moment they made it a one-goal difference, we knew we needed to get another [goal],” Katie Reinprecht said.

The Terps fought back with a goal of their own to make the score 3-2, but after they pulled their goalkeeper for the final minutes, Tiger sophomore Molly Goodman got in one last goal off a deflected shot by Sharkey.

After a tense second half, Princeton came away relieved to have finally overcome the Maryland field hockey powerhouse and remain undefeated in the season.

“It’s a little bit of a monkey off our back having never beaten Maryland, so it’s good just to finally do it,” Holmes-Winn said.

With almost half its season finished, Princeton has games against Columbia and No. 14 American next weekend.

“It’s definitely a big step for us, so we’re really excited,” Katie Reinprecht said of the win. “But we still have a long road ahead of us.”