No. 16 Field Hockey Battles No. 12 Albany and No. 10 Delaware at Bedford

Week 1 Game Notes: No. 12 Albany/No. 10 Delaware
Gametimes	Friday, Sept. 9 - 4 p.m. l Bedford Field
	Sunday, Sept. 11 - 1 p.m. l Bedford Field
Game Coverage	Live Stats/Albany Webcast/Delaware Webcast
Twitter	@PUTigers l @PUTigers_live l @UAlbanySports l @UDBlueHens
All-Time Series	Princeton leads Albany 3-1 l Delaware leads Princeton 13-12-2
Last Meeting	Sept. 28, 2014 - No. 12 Albany 2, Princeton 0 (Recap)
	Sept. 13, 2015 - No. 18 Delaware 4, No. 20 Princeton 3 (Recap)
No. 16 Princeton	Roster l Schedule l 2016 Stats l @TigerFH
No. 12 Albany	Roster l Schedule l @UAlbanyFH
No. 10 Delaware	Roster l Schedule l Stats l@DelawareFH
Related Links	Video: Meet Field Hockey Head Coach Carla Tagliente Tigers No. 16 in latest NFCHA Coaches Poll McCarthy named Ivy League Player of the Week

PRINCETON, N.J. – The No. 16 Princeton field hockey team will take on two top-20 teams in the No. 12 Albany Great Danes and No. 10 Delaware Blue Hens this weekend at Bedford Field.

The Tigers battle the Great Danes on Friday at 4 p.m. while the Blue Hens wrap up the weekend on Sunday at 1 p.m. Each game will be on the Ivy League Digital Network.

What's Going On?

Princeton is 1-1 on the season after falling to then No. 1 North Carolina, 2-1, last Friday and beating Bucknell, 5-2, on Sunday.
Against North Carolina, junior Ryan McCarthy scored with 1:27 to go, cutting the Tigers' deficit in half. As time expired, Princeton was awarded a penalty corner, but Tar Heels' goalie Alex Haplin made a save to secure the win.
Five different players scored against Bucknell, highlighted McCarthy, who led all players with five shots and three points in the game.
For her five-point weekend, McCarthy was selected as the Ivy League Player of the Week for the second time in her career.

Challenging Road Ahead

Friday's game vs. No. 12 Albany begins a stretch of four consecutive contests vs. nationally ranked teams.
After the game vs. No. 10 Delaware, the Tigers travel to No. 11 Virginia on Sept. 16 before No. 7 Maryland comes to Bedford on Sept. 20.
Other top opponents include a trip to No. 5 Penn State on Oct. 2 and a home date with No. 2 Duke on Oct. 9.

The Year That Was

The Tigers went 11-7 last season and won its 11th Ivy League title in 12 seasons.
Princeton defeated Maryland, 3-1, to advance to the program's 14th NCAA quarterfinals appearance before losing to the eventual national champion, Syracuse.
Princeton had seven players make the All-Ivy League squads including Maddie Copeland '16 (Ivy Offensive Player of the Year), Sophia Tornetta (Rookie of the Year) and Holmes-Winn (Coach of the Year) picking up major awards.
The team had five players named to the 2015 Longstreth/NFHCA Division I All-Region squads.
Copeland was selected to the Longstreth/NFHCA Division I All-America third team.

Changing Of The Guard

Carla Tagliente, formerly of UMass, was named head coach on June 29th.
During her time at UMass, Tagliente averaged nearly 13 wins a year and guided the team to three Atlantic-10 titles. She was named A-10 Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2013.
Kristen Holmes-Winn stepped down as Princeton field hockey coach on June 20th to become the Vice President of Performance Science and Optimization for a company called "WHOOP."
During her tenure, Holmes-Winn led Princeton to the 2012 National Championship, 12 Ivy League titles, 11 NCAA tournaments and a 164-80 overall (.672) and 86-5 Ivy (.940) record. In postseason play, the Tigers reached the NCAA quarterfinals seven times (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015).

Returning Players

Tornetta is the top returner as she finished with seven goals and nine assists (23 points). She placed second on the squad last year in goals, assists and points and was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
McCarthy also netted seven goals and finished her All-Ivy second team season with 18 points including the overtime winner vs. Penn to cap off the regular season.
Captain Cat Caro had an All-Regional campaign, scoring five tallies and dishing out four assists in 2015.
Nicole Catalino made a stellar freshman debut as she added six goals for the Tigers last season.
Elise Wong helped a sparkling backline for Princeton post three shutouts and allow just 1.4 goals per game against Ivy League opponents.
Other returning players include Danielle Duseau, Rachel Park, Lexi Quirk, Sarah Brennan, Grace Baylis, Sarah Holland, Casey Swezey, Jane Donio-Enscoe, Ellen Dobrijevic and Hailey Reeves.

Stars & Stripes:

Caro, Tornetta and freshman Maddie Bacskai were on United States U-21 women's national field hockey team that scored a silver medal at the Junior Pan American Tournament on Apr. 9.
Katie Reinprecht '13, Julia Reinprecht '14 and Kathleen Sharkey '13 were named to the United States field hockey team that placed fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympics. It was the team's highest finish since 1996.

Series History: Albany

Princeton is 3-1 all-time against Albany.
The Tigers won the first three matchups vs. the Great Danes, outscoring them 14-6.
The only home meeting for Princeton against Albany was a 3-0 win in 2005.
The field hockey squad also nabbed 6-3 (2008) and 5-3 (2013) victories on the road.

Last Meeting: Albany – Sept. 28, 2014

Breaking a scoreless deadlock in the latter stages of the second half, Albany's Fiori Van Rijswijk netted the game winner at 64:00 before Paula Heuser tacked on a score with a successful penalty stroke just 3:44 later.
Albany finished with a 10-5 shot advantage while Princeton held a 4-2 edge in penalty corners.

Scouting Albany

The Great Danes are 3-1 in 2016, having recently lost 3-1 to Penn State. Albany has victories over Hofstra, Bryant and Dartmouth.
Senior Paula Heuser recently surpassed the 200-point mark in her career.
Heuser and Molly Mariano lead the Great Danes with seven points each.
Last season, Albany went 19-3 and won the American East championship.

Series History: Delaware

The Tigers are 12-13-3 all-time vs. Delaware.
Princeton went winless in the first 12 meetings vs. Delaware (0-10-2).
The defending Ivy League champions' first victory over the Blue Hens was a 2-1 decision in the 1992 season.
The Tigers won nine straight over the Blue Hens from 1994-2002.
Delaware has won the last two contests over Princeton.

Last Meeting: Delaware – Sept. 13, 2015

Erasing an early 2-0 deficit, the Tigers netted three unanswered goals before conceding consecutive scores less than 10 minutes apart, including the game winner at 58:05.
The Tigers finished with a 13-9 shot advantage and a 6-3 edge in penalty corners.

Scouting Delaware

The Blue Hens' No. 10 national rank is their highest ranking since 1998.
Despite falling to No. 20 Old Dominion, Delaware dropped then No. 5 Virginia, 2-0 on the road.
Greta Nauck leads the team with five goals and 11 points overall.

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Players Mentioned

Maddie Bacskai

Grace Baylis

Sarah Brennan

Cat Caro

Nicole Catalino

Maddie Copeland

Ellen Dobrijevic

Jane Donio-Enscoe

Danielle Duseau

Anya Gersoff

Sarah Holland

Ryan McCarthy

Rachel Park

Lexi Quirk

Hailey Reeves

Casey Swezey

Sophia Tornetta

Elise Wong