No. 2 Princeton (12–3 overall, 5–1 Ivy League) beat No. 15 Brown (9–5 overall, 3–3 Ivy League) 2–1 to complete their perfect 6–0 away game record this season.
Princeton clinched their spot in the Ivy League Tournament prior to the matchup, alongside No. 4 Harvard, who will host the tournament Nov. 7 to Nov. 9.
In the first quarter, Princeton came out with strong defensive pressure, holding Brown without a single shot. With less than two minutes gone on the clock, Princeton was in the Bears’ circle and earned a corner, but they were unable to connect. Then, another corner came with ten left in the first, but Brown saved the Tigers’ shot.
Going into the second quarter, the matchup remained scoreless; however, Princeton was clearly in control.
The second quarter followed the same Princeton prowess, but again, no goals were scored. Two corners went scoreless before Brown recorded their first shot of the game with four minutes left in the half. Junior goalie Olivia Caponiti, who made the save, was voted NFHCA Division 1 Defensive Player of the Week last week.
Brown was not able to collect a single attack corner in the first half, a testament to the Tiger defense. Princeton was also kept scoreless, waiting for one of their opportunities to drop as they headed into the half.
“One thing we talked about at halftime was just being patient and trusting it was going to happen,” Head Coach Carla Tagleinte told The Daily Princetonian.
Princeton started with possession in the third quarter and kept pushing offensively. At eleven minutes, the Tigers created a succession of three corners within a minute. This was when Princeton finally pounced on their scoring opportunity.
From a chaotic corner, sophomore defender Izzy Morgan initially miscontrolled a ball before it came back in her direction after missed shots from teammates and she took her chance. The shot from the top of the circle gave the Tigers the lead and Morgan her second goal of the season. One goal in field hockey can mean everything.
"I think some of that validation helped release some of that pressure [to score a goal]," Tagleinte told the ‘Prince.’
The majority of the fourth quarter continued to be dominated by the Tigers. Sophomore midfielder Molly Nye came up big with the insurance goal for Princeton with just a little more than seven minutes to play. Nye, who had a one-on-one opportunity with the Brown goalkeeper, received a beautiful ball from sophomore forward Pru Lindsey. This was Nye’s fifth goal of the season, and Lindsey’s fifth assist of the season.
“I think something that we have been working on is getting ahead of the ball and looking forward in transition. This game I led for the ball and then Pru sent a perfect pass forward which set me up to score” Nye told the ‘Prince.’
Even though this game was a top-20 contest, Princeton was expected to make easy work of Brown. The Bears did not go away without a fight.
Brown received their first corner at five minutes in the fourth quarter, and the ball found a Bear on the side of Caponiti’s goal. It was sent across the cage and slipped past the goal line, cutting Princeton’s lead to one.
“I was super glad Molly had secured our second goal just a few minutes earlier because it gave us some cushion that allowed us to stay in the lead,” Morgan said to the ‘Prince.’ “I was thinking about how we needed to play composed hockey and protect the ball with smart possession through the end of the game which we were able to do to secure the win.”
Within moments after their first goal, Brown had an opportunity to tie up the game. Caponiti, however, did what she does best and saved the shot.
After that, the Tigers were dealt two yellow cards giving Brown the numbers advantage on the pitch and an even better chance to tie the game up.
Brown was awarded an attack penalty corner with just under three minutes to go but could not make anything of it. The Tigers took back control with a series of corners in the final two minutes. Brown was trying to run the field and get the ball into Tiger territory, but to no avail as the clock expired.
The Tigers will look ahead to their final Ivy League regular season game against Columbia at Bedford Field next Saturday.
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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