Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Harvard
Arner's OT Goal Gives Field Hockey 2-1 Win at Harvard, NCAA Tournament Berth
October 22, 2005 | Field Hockey
Oct. 22, 2005
Box Score
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Princeton field hockey team is back in the NCAA tournament, and the Tigers clinched that berth Saturday afternoon at Harvard in thrilling fashion from a surprising source.
Freshman Candi Arner scored her first career goal 7:27 into sudden-victory overtime, shoving a terrific backhand lift over Harvard goalie Siobhan Connolly, to give the Tigers a 2-1 win over the Crimson and an Ivy League championship and return to the NCAA tournament after a one-year hiatus.
Princeton (7-8, 6-0 Ivy) still has one league game left, against Penn in two weeks, but the Tigers can finish no worse than tied with Cornell for the league title. Princeton's head-to-head win over the Big Red back on Sept. 30 ensures the Tigers the NCAA berth.
"All year we've been so close in games like this and haven't finished them, so it's great to clinch it in this way," said Princeton head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn. "The Harvard game is always so competitive, and we knew it would be a game like this."
Arner, meanwhile, finally gave Princeton the win after the Tigers had three golden opportunities earlier in the seven-on-seven overtime. Two came from Lauren Ehrlichman, who twice was denied by Connolly on point-blank attempts, and the other came from Arner herself, who missed a chance at the right post on a rebound of an Ehrlichman shot.
"It was amazing to finish the game that way after I missed that chance the first time," said Arner. "I wasn't sure if we'd get another chance like that in the overtime." Almost lost in the ending was the fact that the Tigers fell behind in the first half when Jen McDavitt took advantage of a loose ball off a penalty corner situation 20 minutes into the game. Harvard (5-9, 1-4 Ivy) outshot the Tigers 5-4 in the first half and led 1-0 at halftime.
The second half was all Princeton, however, and the Tigers would tie it up 19 minutes into the half a few seconds after a penalty-corner situation. Paige Schmidt's shot hit the post, but her sister Hillary was there to score on the rebound to tie the game.
Princeton, which defeated Harvard for the 12th straight year, outshot the Crimson 25-8, including 21-3 in the second half and overtime. The Tigers also had eight penalty corners in the final 42 minutes.
Ehrlichman used the open field in the 7-on-7 overtime to twice make runs from midfield early in the period, but Connolly made diving stops on two different attempts before Arner's game-winning goal.
Princeton won 10 straight Ivy titles from 1994-2003 before finishing in third place a year ago. The Tigers also went to four straight NCAA tournaments from 2000-2003 before missing the tournament last year.