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Kirby's OT Goal Lifts Field Hockey Team to 3-2 Win
October 01, 2011 | Field Hockey
PRINCETON (10/1/11) - Sydney Kirby's second goal came 3:14 into the second overtime and lifted the Princeton field hockey team to a 3-2 win over Columbia on Saturday at Class of '52 Stadium. Princeton celebrated 40 years of field hockey history on Saturday and the alums, family and friends in attendance were able to witness the Tiger win.
Princeton outshot and outcornered Columbia handily but was locked in a fight with the Lions from the outset. The Tigers scored the game's first goal in the 13th minute when Kelsey Byrne netted her first collegiate goal. Following a corner push from Byrne, Amanda Bird worked around the circle towards the end line before flipping a pass to Byrne at the opposite side for the goal.
The Tigers maintained the one-goal margin but a pair of Columbia goals in a two-minute span gave the Lions the lead with 2:30 left in the first half. Both goals came on corners. First Gabby Kozlowski deflected a Paige Simmons blast up and over Tiger goalie Christina Maida and then Simmons scored on the direct corner shot that was deflected off a Princeton foot.
Kirby and the Tigers answered a minute later though to knot up the game heading into the half. Princeton earned a corner in the final minute of the half and Byrne pushed it to Kirby, whose blast found the back of the net.
Princeton carried the play through much of the second half, outshooting Columbia 11-2 in the frame and earning six corners to Columbia's zero, but Princeton couldn't crack Columbia goalie Christie O'Hara, who made seven of her nine saves in the second half. The Tigers continued to pressure in the first overtime with five shots and seven corners, but it wasn't until Princeton's first corner of the second half that the Tigers were able to convert. In a play similar to Kirby's first goal, the insert came to her and she shot for the goal. Charlotte Krause assisted on the game winner.
Princeton outshot Columbia 23-8 in the game and outcornered the Lions 20-5. Maida made two saves in the win while O'Hara stopped nine shots. Princeton improved to 4-5 overall and 2-1 in the Ivy League and remains a game behind 3-0 Dartmouth, which beat Penn on Saturday.