Making a trip to upstate New York, No. 16 Princeton field hockey (6–4 overall, 3–0 Ivy League) beat Ivy foe Cornell (3–6, 1–2) on Friday before falling to No. 14 Syracuse (8–3, 2–2 Atlantic Coast Conference) in a Sunday matinée. The Tigers continued their uneven Friday-Sunday splits, staying undefeated on Fridays while picking up another Sunday loss.
Princeton quiets Cornell in Game 1 victory
Princeton got off to a slow offensive start against the Big Red, not taking a shot until just under seven minutes into the game, when junior Beth Yeager fired a shot wide off a penalty corner.
The first shot on goal came from Cornell’s Uma Kading two minutes later, but it was easily put aside by Princeton senior netminder Robyn Thompson. While the offense had yet to break out for the Tigers, the defense established the tone it would maintain across all four quarters.
“Cornell tries to play a very high tempo game,” Head Coach Carla Tagliente told The Daily Princetonian. “They like to attack their right side a lot and really try to force down the corner, so we trained a lot during the week about how we would defend those situations.”
Not long into the second quarter, the Tigers got on the board with junior Talia Schenck netting her second goal of the season off an assist from Yeager. The goal gave Princeton momentum to finish off the half strong, dominating possession and outshooting Cornell 4–1.
“We were able to set the tone for that game by bringing defensive intensity and really just putting Cornell under a lot of pressure,” Yeager told the ‘Prince.’ “It gave us a lot of good attacking opportunities, and also helped to really break up a lot of their attacking flow.”
This edge would continue into the third and fourth quarters, with Princeton piling on the offensive attack. Six minutes into the third quarter, Yeager netted her sixth goal of the season off an assist from sophomore Ottilie Sykes. As the defense had been performing so strongly, this 2–0 edge felt insurmountable.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Schenck netted her second goal of the game and third of the season after breaking past the Big Red defense and receiving a threaded pass from Yeager, giving Princeton a 3–0 lead and standing as a testament to the strong passing all day.
“The ball movement gave us a lot of great opportunities on attack, and we were able to get a lot of shots,” Yeager said.
Twofer Talia (this one from Beth). It's 3-0 Tigers in the fourth. pic.twitter.com/7Rvoc9c8NL
— Princeton FH (@TigerFH) October 4, 2024
Cornell netted one of their own in the closing minutes from Ashley Plzak, but the outcome had long since been decided. For the Tigers, strong defense that led to opportunities on the other side of the field categorized the effort.
“Ella Cashman, who plays a defensive midfield role, was really critical to our defensive effort,” Tagliente said. “Clem Holden, who plays center back, was also very critical.”
Tigers lose battle of the orange to Syracuse on Sunday afternoon
Entering Sunday’s game against Syracuse, Princeton had dueling factors working for and against them. While the team was riding the momentum of Friday’s victory, Sunday games have presented a challenge thus far for the Tigers, who had gone a mere 1–3 in such bouts heading into the matchup.
The Sunday scaries kicked in early, as Willemijn Boogert tipped in a shot just under three minutes into the game to give Syracuse a 1–0 lead.
“We started a bit slow, and it’s been a little bit of a theme for our past Sunday games as well,” Yeager said.
Princeton woke up to play more evenly in the second quarter, with an even amount of shots and penalties as the Orange. However, the scoreboard loomed large, as the Tigers still trailed 1–0 going into the half.
Whatever Tagliente said to the team at the break had an immediate effect, as Yeager connected on a rebound for her seventh goal of the season to even the score at 1 just a few minutes into the third quarter, categorizing a more aggressive Princeton attack.
“We decided to come out and play a bit more aggressively, a bit more on the front foot in the second half,” Yeager said. “We scored a goal, and we had a lot more possession.”
Although Princeton dominated the third quarter, Syracuse returned to form in the fourth, taking two shots on goal in the closing ten minutes before Bo van Kempen netted her ninth goal of the season to give the Orange a 2–1 lead.
In the last five minutes, the Tigers couldn’t muster another shot, and as the final horn sounded, Syracuse walked away with a 2–1 win. The loss to Syracuse was yet another non-conference battle against a quality opponent for the Tigers, who have also played close games against top-five teams North Carolina and Northwestern.
“The challenge of these non-conference games has really forced us to outlet in different ways, press in different ways, and so we have the ability to change on a dime in these Ivy games,” Tagliente said.
For the Tigers, this loss made for yet another frustrating Sunday, and the inability to finish the weekend strong is a sticking point for the coaching staff.
“[Sundays are] our issue right now, so we’re trying to figure that out,” Tagliente said.
Next up for Princeton is a date with Brown (4–5, 2–1) this Friday at 4:00 p.m. as the regular season ticks towards its conclusion.
“Going into the final third of the regular season and the postseason, one of the biggest things we’ve learned is just the importance of bringing intensity throughout the game and maintaining it,” Yeager said.
Max Hines is a senior Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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