If you follow Princeton field hockey, Ivy League field hockey, Division I field hockey, or even just Team USA field hockey, you know the name Beth Yeager. The senior midfielder is consistently the Tigers’ go-to player, and she has taken on this role ever since her first season. For her efforts, she has been showered in praise and awards, including the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year award, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Player of the Year award, and a first-team All-American selection.
Yeager is only the eighth player to be named a four-time first-team All-American in Division I field hockey, the first in Ivy League history to achieve the four-peat. She is also the first Princeton player to be named the Mid-Atlantic Regional POTY twice.
Despite all her accolades, Yeager only started playing field hockey during middle school to keep active during her fall athletics season. Playing for Princeton wasn’t always in the cards.
“I remember one summer, I came to a field hockey camp at Princeton with my friends just for fun — like I wasn’t looking at the school, it was just something fun to do over the summer,” Yeager told The Daily Princetonian. “I remember thinking how cool it would be to go to a school like Princeton, but I don’t think I really thought it was possible for me. I never made it the goal because it seemed too big.”
Yeager has been an integral part of the Tigers’ run to the NCAA Tournament semifinal this year. The Tigers also won their first Ivy League Tournament Title this season, beating out the only undefeated Division I program in the nation and one of Princeton’s biggest rivals, Harvard, to do so. To nobody’s surprise, Yeager was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
But in an interview with the ‘Prince’ intended to focus on the attention she has received because of her field hockey skills, she was quick to talk about her team, not herself.
“The best part about getting the recognition is feeling like I did the best I could for my team,” Yeager said. The interview took place before the team’s first playoff game.
Yeager acknowledged she couldn’t remember what was going on when she won her first player of the year award. Fast forward to this year’s accolades, and it still didn’t matter.
“I don’t remember talking to anyone, I found out after practice on the way up to the Ivy League Tournament. I wasn’t super focused on it. I kind of just opened up my phone and saw it,” Yeager said.
Head coach Carla Tagliente said that what makes Yeager so great, especially this season, is her ability to work so well with her teammates.
“For Beth, it’s not about her padding her stats,” Talgiente said.
“Our coach always says this: ‘You can win a championship, but if you’re not doing it with people you love and have fun with every day, it means a lot less,’” Yeager said.
Yeager’s team mentality is something that has contributed to the Tigers’ success this season.
“It’s always nice to get recognition, it is for anyone. It’s not that I completely disregard them,” she said, referring to her awards. “But I think for me, I find so much more satisfaction after a game feeling like I made strides and improved on something I wanted to work on, I played well overall, or I connected with a teammate.”
Yeager and her team extended their season as far as they could, all the way to the national championship, where they lost to Northwestern in double overtime. Yeager scored the lone Princeton goal in that 2–1 matchup. This was the Tigers’ first appearance at the championship game since 2019 and Yeager’s only championship appearence. The last time Princeton won the championship was in 2012.
No matter the stage, Yeager looks for the best play for everyone, not just the best play for herself. She racked up 15 goals and ten assists this season. She is just one of two players to be in double digits in both of those categories this season, the other being Ashley Sessa of the Northwestern championship team.
“Every team wants to win an NCAA,” Yeager said. “This season so far has been the most satisfying of them all in terms of winning the Ivy Tournament, having some really good performances like the Northwestern game, and even games that we lost that were close against a team like UNC.”
While she will have to hang up the Princeton jersey without the national title on her resume, she is not saying goodbye to field hockey anytime soon.
“I hope to be playing field hockey as long as I can after Princeton, hopefully training with the U.S. National Team, and with that, developing into a better player," Yeager told the ‘Prince.’ “The unique thing will be that instead of being a student and an athlete, I will just be an athlete.” Yeager is one of 153 Princeton Olympians, having represented Team USA at the Paris games last summer.
The Yeager years of Princeton Field Hockey will always be historic. Her fourth Ivy League POTY award, fourth first-team All-American honor, and her second Mid-Atlantic Regional POTY accolade further add to what she has accomplished wearing the Orange and Black.
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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