Strong Second Half Gives No. 1 UConn A 5-3 Victory Over No. 14 Princeton

Sunday, October 8

Princeton, N.J.

12:00 PM

Princeton University

(6-6)

UConn

(13-0)

UCONN

Princeton

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Strong Second Half Gives No. 1 UConn A 5-3 Victory Over No. 14 Princeton

October 08, 2017 | Field Hockey

Box Score

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PRINCETON, N.J. – A strong second half that featured a combined five goals gave the No. 1 UConn Huskies a 5-3 victory over the No. 14 Princeton Tigers at Bedford Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Huskies took just under two minutes to get on the scoreboard as Casey Umstead riffled a shot off a corner into the cage. In the seventh minute, Charlotte Veitner dribbled away from a defender and whipped in a backhanded shot to put the Huskies in front, 2-0.

In the 20th minute, Princeton executed its second corner to cut its deficit in half. On the insert from Clara Roth, Annabeth Donovan stopped the ball for Sophia Tornetta, who lined a shot that hit off a defender into the cage. It was Tornetta's first tally of the season.

Sophia cuts the deficit in half with the blast off the corner! 2-1 UConn pic.twitter.com/2JmpguPEjW
— Princeton FH (@TigerFH) October 8, 2017

Down one, the Tigers' offense kept pushing forward. With five minutes to go, Ryan McCarthy's attempt was stopped by UConn's Nina Klein. On the rebound attempt, Emma Street was denied, but it led to another corner. McCarthy's deflection was just wide of the cage on the insert. Princeton would get two more corners as the clock wound down, but both Tigers' shots were blocked.

Despite trailing at the intermission, the Tigers held a 10-2 shot advantage and 6-1 lead in penalty corners.

One minute into the second half, the home squad took advantage of a Connecticut mistake. Roth intercepted a cross-field pass and found McCarthy on the end line in the circle and the senior captain took care of the Tigers' deficit…

Roth intercepts the pass and then finds the senior captain! 2-all with 32:52 to go! pic.twitter.com/LJECEOhoUD
— Princeton FH (@TigerFH) October 8, 2017

Showing why they're the No. 1 team in the country, the Huskies wasted little time with a counter. A minute after Princeton's tally, Svea Boker's blast was going high, but Jessica Dembrowski's deflected it in, setting the score at 3-2.

Two minutes later, Veitner picked up the loose ball in the circle and lined it into the cage to put UConn in front, 4-2. Veinter added on to the Huskies' lead as she scooped a bounding ball and got it through for her third goal of the game in the 55th minute.

McCarthy earned her second goal with 1:41 to go to complete the scoring.

The Tigers' three goals were the most that UConn have given since Oct. 30, 2016. Princeton finished the game with a 16-8 advantage in shots and 7-3 lead in corners.

Princeton falls to 6-6 on the season while the Connecticut remains the lone undefeated team in Division I at 13-0. The Tigers will head on the road next with a trip to Brown on Saturday (12 p.m.) before an excursion to Northeastern on Sunday (1 p.m.)