Princeton University Athletics
Field Hockey Heads South For Pair of Weekend Games
October 29, 2004 | Field Hockey
Oct. 29, 2004
After giving itself control of its own destiny when it comes to conference play, the Princeton field hockey team will spend this upcoming weekend in Virginia facing two tough non-conference opponents.
In 13th-ranked William & Mary and seventh-ranked Old Dominion, the Tigers hope to prepare themselves for the kinds of games they might expect in the NCAA tournament. Of course, as it stands now, Princeton still has to defeat Penn in its regular-season finale Nov. 5 to earn the Ivy League's automatic NCAA tournament berth.
The Tigers (6-8, 5-1 Ivy) are also hoping for better luck on this particular trip in 2004 than they had in 2003, when they made the trip on exactly the same weekend. Princeton got behind early at William & Mary and could not come all the way back in a 3-2 loss to the Tribe, then fell 8-2 to an Old Dominion team they had defeated in Princeton just two weeks earlier.
But back to this season. Princeton, which came from behind late to defeat Harvard 2-1 last Saturday, has won a season-high three straight games. Junior Hillary Schmidt was named the Ivy League's Player of the Week Tuesday after scoring the game winner in the victory over the Crimson.
William & Mary and Old Dominion played each other Wednesday, and the result was a stunner. The Tribe's 2-1 upset of the Monarchs was William & Mary's first win over ODU since 1980 and gave the Tribe their first-ever Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) regular-season title.
W&M is now 13-5 overall and 7-0 in CAA play, while Old Dominion is 12-5 and 6-1 in conference games.
Princeton's final home game against Penn Nov. 5 will be Senior Night, when the team's eight seniors will be honored prior to the game. Game time at Class of 1952 Stadium is 7 p.m.