Princeton University Athletics
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Field Hockey Hosts UMass in NCAA Play-In Game Tuesday
November 05, 2007 | Field Hockey
Massachusetts at Princeton
NCAA Tournament Play-In Game
GAMETIME: Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m.
SITE: Class of '52 Stadium (Princeton, N.J.)
2007 RECORDS: Princeton (13-4, 6-1 Ivy); UMass (13-8, 6-1 A10)
SERIES RECORD: No previous meetings
The Ivy League champion Princeton field hockey team will play for a spot in the 2007 NCAA tournament on Tuesday afternoon when it hosts A-10 champion Massachusetts at 1 p.m., at Class of '52 Stadium. The winner of the game will receive an automatic bid to the tournament.
Live video and livestats from Tuesday's game will be available free of charge on GoPrincetonTigers.com.
Princeton enters the play-in game having won its last nine games since being 4-4 overall on Sept. 29. The Tigers have gotten on a roll since, outscoring opponents 36-8 during the winning streak. Princeton completed the regular season with a pair of wins last week, besting Monmouth 9-1 on Tuesday before sealing the outright Ivy title on Friday night with a 3-1 win at Penn.
On Friday at Penn, the Tigers jumped out to an early lead on the strength of two goals from senior Paige Schmidt. Penn cut the lead in half early in the second half, but junior Holly McGarvie scored to regain the two-goal advantage, which was where the game ended, 3-1 in favor the Tigers.
Schmidt's two goals give her eight for the season to rank third on the team in that category behind sophomore Christina Bortz (12) and McGarvie (9). Bortz assisted on Schmidt's first goal at Penn and now leads the team with 31 points. Schmidt comes next with 21 and McGarvie is third with 19. Princeton has eight players with double-digit point totals and 13 players with at least one point this season.
Princeton enters Tuesday's game with an eye on its third-consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament and its 13th overall appearance. Princeton received automatic bids the in 12 of those appearances. The other time was the only time prior to this year that Princeton has had to appear in a play-in game prior to the tournament. That came in 1996 when the Tigers hosted Patriot League champion Colgate in a play-in game and win 7-1 at home. That 1996 season later ended in the NCAA Championship game.
Massachusetts enters the game following two wins last weekend to seal up the Atlantic-10 tournament championship. The Minutewomen defeated Richmond in the semifinals and St. Joseph's in the title game to win their first A-10 title since 2001. UMass is 13-8 overall this season and was 6-1 in the A-10 regular season and was the second seed for the tournament behind Temple.
Princeton and UMass have faced four common opponents this season. Princeton defeated all four, while UMass was 4-1 against the group of schools. Princeton defeated Harvard 1-0, Brown 5-0, Richmond 5-1, and Dartmouth 4-1, while UMass topped Harvard 5-0, Brown 2-1 and Richmond twice, 1-0 and 2-1. UMass lost to Dartmouth 1-0.
Tuesday's game between Princeton and Massachusetts will be the first meeting between the schools. It is one of three play-in games schedule for Tuesday. The other games feature Northeast Conference champion Lock Haven at NorPac champion Cal and Patriot League champion American at MAC champion Ohio. Five conference champions have already received automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. They are Boston University (America East), North Carolina (ACC), Connecticut (Big East), Iowa (Big Ten), and James Madison (CAA). The next three teams will come from the play-in games and the final eight will be at-large selections.
The 2007 NCAA Field Hockey tournament field will be announced on Tuesday evening at 8 p.m., live on CSTV. Princeton Senior Associate Athletic Director and Chair of the NCAA Field Hockey Committee Erin McDermott will appear live on the selection show.