Field Hockey: Weekend games to help settle 5-way tie

Despite a rocky start to the season, the Tigers (6-7 overall, 3-1 Ivy League) worked their way up to a share of first place, currently tied with Harvard (7-5, 3-1), Dartmouth (8-5, 3-1), Yale (7-6, 3-1) and Columbia (6-6, 3-1). With Princeton and Harvard meeting this weekend, as well as Columbia and Dartmouth, a win is almost necessary for the Tigers to stay in the running for their seventh consecutive Ivy League title.

With the championship on the line, Princeton is expecting a difficult game against the Crimson.

“I’m expecting the game against Harvard to be extremely competitive,” freshman striker Allison Evans said. “Harvard and we are a part of a five-way tie for first place in the Ivy League. The loser of this game will most likely not have a chance of winning Ivies. Therefore, the game will be a battle because it is a live-or-die situation for an opportunity to win the league.”

Junior midfielder Molly Goodman explained that to make an appearance in the NCAA tournament Princeton would have to win the league championship, as well as a play-in match against the champion of another conference.

Princeton’s last league game was a well-played victory against Brown. The Tigers blanked the Bears 6-0, which marked their first shutout and highest scoring output of the season. Evans and senior striker Rachel Neufeld each scored twice to lead the Tigers in the win. Neufeld is also a sports writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Evans leads the team with eight goals and ranks second in total points with 19. Freshman midfielder Sydney Kirby sits atop the team leaderboard with 20 points and is right behind Evans in goals with seven this season.

Harvard also won its last league match, beating Cornell 3-1.

The league season began with a tough start for the Tigers when they recorded their first loss to an Ancient Eight team in the past four years, falling 2-1 at Dartmouth. But since then, Princeton has improved greatly and remains optimistic about its chances to repeat as Ivy League champions.

“We continue to grow and improve each time we step on the field, both in practices and in games,” Goodman said. “It appears that we are on the path to peak at the right moment, and I expect good things to happen during this next patch of our season.”

Evans agreed that the rest of the season looks promising for the Tigers. “We play a tough out-of-league schedule so that we can find our mistakes and ways to improve upon them,” she said. “We have faith in the team that with hard work we can continue to improve at this rate and win the Ivy League and go to the NCAA Tournament.”

Evans added that the team will see success this weekend with teamwork.

“I think this weekend we can really improve on taking full opportunity of our chances,” she said. “When we have a chance to score, we really need to capitalize on it. I think we did well with this against Brown, so hopefully we can make it carry over to the Harvard game. I think if we continue to play as a team, we will do great against Harvard.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The Tigers — joined by many other Princeton teams competing this weekend — will travel to Cambridge, Mass., for the 12 p.m. game on Saturday.

Princeton is looking ahead to the rest of the season with confidence that they will succeed in the Ivy League and beyond.

“While there will certainly be obstacles along the way, I am confident that this team possesses the potential to be successful in the tournament,” Goodman said.