Princeton University Athletics
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Field Hockey Faces Wake Forest in NCAA First Round on Saturday
November 12, 2010 | Field Hockey
NCAA First Round
#13 Wake Forest vs. #6 Princeton
GAMETIME: Saturday, Nov. 13 at 2 p.m.
RECORDS: PRIN (13-4, 7-0 Ivy); WF (10-9, 1-4 ACC)
RANKINGS: PRIN (Poll: 6, RPI: 7), WF (Poll: 13, RPI: 13)
SERIES RECORD: First meeting
LINKS: Livestats | Interactive Tournament Bracket | Game Notes (PDF)
PRINCETON (11/12/10) - The sixth-ranked Princeton field hockey team opens up the 2010 NCAA Field Hockey Championships this Saturday at 2 p.m., when it faces 13th-ranked Wake Forest on the campus of Virginia. The host Cavaliers and Michigan State will meet in the other first-round game at the regional site.Princeton won its 19th Ivy League Championship, sixth in a row and 16th in the last 17 years when it clinched the title outright by shutting out Penn 10-0 last Friday night. It marked Princeton's third-straight perfect league season and extended its Ivy League winning streak to 24 games.
Princeton will make its 15th NCAA tournament appearance and is 16-14 overall in its previous 14 trips to the tourney. Last season the Tigers were the national four seed and won at home in the first round over Stanford and the second round over Syracuse to advance to the program's fourth national semifinal, where it fell to top seed Maryland 7-5. Princeton has reached the NCAA quarterfinals in each of the last two seasons and has played in 13 of the last 16 national tournaments.
On Wednesday the Ivy League released its All-League teams for the 2010 season and the Tigers dominated the all-league teams with nine players receiving recognition. The headliner was Ivy League Player of the Year Kathleen Sharkey, the nation's leading goal scorer and she was also a first-team All-Ivy selection. Katie Reinprecht, Michelle Cesan and Julia Reinprecht joined her on the first team. Additionally Amanda Bird was a second-team selection, while Alexandra Douwes, Amy Donovan, Erin Jennings and Alyssa Pyros all received honorable mentions.
Princeton opens the tournament against Wake Forest in the first meeting between the schools on the field hockey pitch. Wake Forest is 10-9 overall and went 1-4 in the ACC regular season. Last weekend the Demon Deacons defeated Boston College in the ACC Tournament first round before a double-overtime loss to top-ranked Maryland in the ACC semifinals. Princeton and Wake Forest have played two common opponents. Princeton beat Maryland and lost to Virginia, while Wake went 0-3 against the pair.
Should Princeton win on Saturday, the Tigers would face the winner of the first-round game between third-ranked Virginia and 11th-ranked Michigan State. Princeton fell at Virginia 2-1 earlier this season, while the Tigers and Michigan State last played in the 2002 season.
The team that comes out of the Virginia regional will advance to the National Semifinals next Friday at Maryland. The other three regional sites are North Carolina, Maryland and Penn State.