No. 6 Princeton (8–3 overall, 3–1 Ivy League) beat No. 1 Northwestern (11–1, 3–0 Big Ten Conference) on Monday, snapping the Wildcats’ 15-game winning streak, which included their NCAA Championship win last year. Following the matchup, Northwestern dropped to No. 5 in the rankings.
Princeton came out hot in the first quarter, producing two shot attempts in the game’s first three minutes. With 9:30 remaining, sophomore forward Pru Lindsey drew an attack corner for the Tigers. Taking advantage of these corners has been an integral part of Princeton’s success, and on the Wildcats’ pitch, they were able to do so. Junior defender Ottilie Sykes drove it in from dead on, making the game 1–0.
“Our attack penalty corners were finally on. We had a lot of great play inside the attack 25 to get a lot of shots and corners and to create opportunity. Our players were really dialed in and it showed,” Head Coach Carla Tagliente told The Daily Princetonian.
Northwestern had a couple of shots on goal to end the first quarter, with multiple from former Princeton Tiger Grace Schulze ’25, but they couldn’t get past junior goalie Olivia Caponiti and the Princeton defense.
Like the first quarter, the second started with shots from Lindsey, but she couldn’t connect. This quarter’s momentum favored Northwestern, who drew five corners against Princeton in just four minutes.
The only first-half goal allowed by Princeton originated from this corner frenzy: Northwestern recorded a goal on the fourth corner play to equalize the score. Going into halftime, it was an even 1–1 at Lakeside Field.
“I thought we were pretty focused at halftime. It was about continuing to keep up our level of play, our intensity, and work as a team,” senior midfielder Beth Yeager told the ‘Prince’ about the first half.
To start the third quarter, first-year forward/midfielder Saylor Milone had two shots, but couldn’t get them to drop. With 8:35 left to play in the quarter, sophomore midfielder Molly Nye gave Princeton what they were looking for. Assisted by sophomore forward/midfielder Lilly Wojick and with defenders circling, Nye sent the ball to the opposite weak side of the cage.
“It was a really pretty pass in from Lilly Wojcik,” Nye told the ‘Prince’ about the moment she scored. “I was holding down low, when I saw it go through. I didn’t think too much; just tried to push it in. It worked out, it was a great feeling. It re-amped everyone to keep fighting.”
Princeton was up 2–1 going into the fourth quarter with 15 minutes to go. At the top of the quarter, two green cards were issued to Northwestern as they tried to tie up the score. Princeton was able to make the most of their numerical advantage during this penalty period, resulting in another goal from Yeager — the 50th goal of her collegiate career, delivered with her signature drag flick.
Princeton was now up 3–1. With about five minutes left in the game, however, Yeager was given a green card. The Tigers would have to hold their own without their Olympian against one of the best teams in the league.
Northwestern didn’t go down without a fight. Ashley Sessa gave hope to the Wildcats, scoring off of a Schulze assist with 4:32 remaining. It was now just a one-point game.
In the final minutes, Northwestern resorted to removing their keeper to gain another field player to generate offense. This tactic worked, to a point: Northwestern had three corners in the concluding 30 seconds, but the ball never got past Princeton’s Caponiti. Of Caponiti’s six saves on Monday, two were in the last 30 seconds of the game. After the nailbiting finish, Princeton proved victorious against Northwestern, with a final score of 3–2.
“Cash [junior midfielder Ella Cashman] said that she had a dream about beating them,” Nye told the ‘Prince.’ “We all were very much ready. We came all the way out here and were ready to finally put away one of these top teams. We’ve had so many battles. It was nice to get a win in one of them.”
Against Northwestern, Princeton showed that they are the strongest cats in the jungle of NCAA D1 Field Hockey. They are set to battle Cornell this Friday at home at Bedford Field.
Emilia Reay is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince’ and the Spanish Language Pilot Program Director.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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