No. 5 Tigers Field Hockey smother Dartmouth to open Ivy play

The No. 5 Princeton field hockey team (6–3 overall, 1–0 Ivy League) beat Dartmouth (3–4, 0–1) 3–0 Saturday afternoon to open the 2018 Ivy League season with a convincing victory. The game was broadcast on ESPN+ as part of the Ivy League’s new package deal with the sports programming giant.

The Tigers began their dominant display in the ninth minute as first-year midfielder Hannah Davey recovered a Dartmouth turnover before finding senior striker Sophia Tornetta in front of the cage for a goal. By the end of the first half, Princeton had 13 shots compared to just one by the Big Green.

Around the midpoint of the second half, the Tigers earned a corner and sophomore midfielder MaryKate Neff netted a point, finishing off a shot by sophomore midfielder Julianna Tornetta. With only four minutes left to play, Princeton added one more insurance goal when senior midfielder/striker Jane Donio-Enscoe scored on the rebound from a shot by first-year striker Ali McCarthy.

Princeton has lost to the Big Green just twice since 1988. The win brings the matchup’s all-time tally to 30–8–2 in favor of the Tigers.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, junior midfielder/fullback Carlotta von Gierke analyzed the team’s outlook and attitude.

“The ultimate goal for our 2018 season is to win a national championship,” von Gierke said. She said this would take more than hard work, requiring the squad to “be great and compete every single day until then.” Thankfully, she said, Tiger field hockey benefits from a “very special” culture that will no doubt go far in supporting this goal.

“We are not just teammates, but one big family that truly loves and selflessly supports each other, on and off the field,” the junior added.

To be best prepared come NCAA tournament time, von Gierke said the team will focus on maintaining motivation and a strong work ethic while keeping expectations high during practice. So far, the Tigers have enjoyed playing a “difficult schedule,” including a stretch of five games in 10 days that featured wins against then No. 5 Penn State (6–3) in double-overtime and then No. 4 Duke (7–3) just three days later.

“These two games showed us that we not only had the ability to compete with the top teams but also beat them,” von Gierke said. Moreover, she said, the team saw its hard work during the offseason and preseason paying off.

For now, the Tigers are focused on going undefeated in Ivy League play. The most decisive game in that slate will come against No. 20 Harvard (7–1), the only Ivy program ranked in the national top 25 besides Princeton, on October 20.

“We are going to play them on home turf this year and we are very excited to face them, especially given how strong our team has been so far,” von Gierke said.

Princeton is now 6–3 on the season and No. 5 in the country as they look toward this Friday’s game at Yale. The Bulldogs sit at 4–3 (0–1 Ivy League), having lost 6–0 to Harvard in their first intraleague test.