Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Field Hockey Hosts Penn Friday in Regular Season Finale
November 03, 2010 | Field Hockey
GAMETIME: Friday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m.
RECORDS: PU (12-4, 6-0 Ivy); UP (3-13, 1-5 Ivy)
RANKINGS: PU (Poll: 6, RPI: 6), UP (Poll: NR, RPI: 68)
SERIES RECORD: PU leads 19-15-3 overall and is 10-5-2 at home
LAST MEETING: PU won 7-0 on Nov. 6, 2009 at Penn
STREAK: 5 Princeton wins
LINKS: Live Video | Livestats
PRINCETON (11/3/10) - The sixth-ranked Princeton field hockey team wraps up the regular season on Friday night when it hosts Penn at Class of '52 Stadium. Princeton clinched at least a share of the title with a win Saturday at Cornell and can win it outright with a win over Penn.
For Princeton, it is the Tigers 19th Ivy League Championship, its sixth in a row and its 16 in the last 17 years. Princeton can seal its third-straight perfect league season with a win over Penn. The Tigers have run the Ivy table in each of the last two seasons and done it in five of the last six years.
Princeton sits atop the Ivy League standings with a 6-0 record after edging Cornell 3-2 last Saturday. Princeton is one game ahead of Yale in the Ivy standings after Yale got an overtime win over Columbia on Saturday to stay within a game entering the final weekend of play. Princeton defeated Yale 7-0 in late September in the second league game of the season for both teams. By defeating Yale, Princeton owns the tiebreaker should the teams finish tied atop the standings, and therefore has secured the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Princeton improved to 12-4 overall and 6-0 in the league on Saturday. Princeton jumped to a 3-0 lead in the game, but a pair of late goals from Cornell during a Princeton yellow card allowed the Big Red to close the final gap. Kathleen Sharkey scored Princeton's first two goals and now has 28 for the season, two shy of tying a Princeton single-season record. Allison Behringer added Princeton's final goal in the win.
Princeton remained sixth in the Kookaburra / NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll, but climbed a spot to fifth in this week's NCAA RPI rankings.
Princeton hosts Penn on Friday night for Senior Night at Class of '52 Stadium. The four-member Princeton Class of 2011 features Hollis Barber, Katherine Cape, Alexandra Douwes and Jennifer King. The group has been a part of four Ivy League Championship teams, two NCAA quarterfinal appearances and a trip to the NCAA final four a season ago. Princeton is 58-15 overall and 26-1 in the Ivy League over the past four seasons.
Princeton leads the all-time series with Penn 19-15-3 overall and 10-5-2 in games played in Princeton. The Tigers have won the last five games in the series and have won 15 of the last 16 against the Quakers. Last season Princeton defeated Penn 7-0 in Philadelphia. Michelle Cesan had three goals in the win and Sharkey added a pair. Julia and Katie Reinprecht also added single goals in the win.
Penn enters the game with a 3-13 overall record and 1-5 mark in league games. Penn has wins this season over William & Mary, Columbia and Saint Joseph's. The Quakers enter Friday's game having lost their last two games to Yale and Brown in the last two weekends.
Princeton will continue its season next weekend in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Princeton will learn its opponent and location of the game whem the tournament field and bracket are announced on Tuesday night after the three play-in games are contested.