Princeton University Athletics
2011 Field Hockey Schedule Announced
July 01, 2011 | Field Hockey
Princeton was 14-5 a season ago and reached the NCAA quarterfinals for the third straight season and the fourth time in five years. Princeton enters the 2011 campaign looking for its seventh-straight Ivy title, its 20th overall and its 17th in the last 18 years.
Princeton will meet seven NCAA tournament teams from last season, including national champion Maryland, semifinalist Virginia and quarterfinalists Connecticut and Syracuse. The other three tourney teams the Tigers will face are American, Penn State and Wake Forest. Princeton faced all 16 opponents on its schedule last season.
Following a preseason scrimmage at Rutgers, the season opens with two games on the road against Bucknell and Richmond of the Patriot League on Sept. 2 and Sept. 4. Princeton opens its home slate the following weekend when it hosts Penn State and Richmond at Class of '52 Stadium.
Princeton opens the Ivy League schedule on Sept. 17 at Dartmouth and will visit Syracuse the following day in the continuation of a heated rivalry over the past few seasons that has seen the teams meet twice in the NCAA tournament and twice in the regular season.
The Tigers return home to face Yale the following Saturday and then visit national champion Maryland on a Tuesday. A year ago, Princeton knocked off then top-seeded Maryland in late September at home and in doing so handed the Terps their only loss during their championship season.
The Tigers open a season-long three game homestand on Oct. 1 against Columbia and then host a pair of ACC opponents the following weekend at home as Virginia and Wake Forest visit Princeton. Princeton faced both teams in the NCAA tournament a season ago, topping Wake Forest in the opening round in the first ever meeting between the schools, and falling to Virginia in the quarterfinals.
Princeton closes the season with four of its last six games against Ivy opponents. Mixed in with those Ivy games will be two games with Connecticut. Princeton visits Brown and UConn on Oct. 15 and 16 and travels to Harvard a week later for a single game. The Tigers then host Cornell and UConn on Oct. 29 and 30 before wrapping the year up at Penn on Nov. 4.
The champion of the Ivy League will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The first and second rounds take place Nov. 12-13 at campus sites. The national semifinals and championship will be held the following weekend at Louisville.