Princeton Hosts Columbia In Regular Season Finale

Saturday, November 6

Princeton, N.J.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

Columbia

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

November 05, 2021 | Field Hockey

PRINCETON (9-7, 5-1 IVY LEAGUE) vs. COLUMBIA (8-8, 1-5 IVY LEAGUE)

Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021 • noon
Bedford Field • Princeton, N.J.

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Is it still Senior Day if a team has no seniors? It would be senior day for the 2021 Princeton field hockey team except for the fact that the team in fact does not have a single senior on the roster. It is, though, Alumni Day, as the Tigers welcome back alums from all years to Bedford Field.

Princeton enters its regular season finale needing a win and some help to get a share of the Ivy League championship. Beyond that the Tigers will be watching the NCAA selection show Sunday night hoping to see their name called for the postseason.

Princeton vs. Columbia
Five Storylines

What's at stake?
Princeton enters the game 5-1 in the Ivy League, trailing 6-0 Harvard. The Tigers need a win over Columbia and a Harvard loss to Brown to earn a tie for the league title.

Regardless of what happens, Princeton will still have more Ivy League championships than every other league team combined. Princeton currently has 26, while everyone else has 25 (including Harvard this season, as the Crimson have already clinched at least a tie for the title).

Princeton has lost two or more Ivy League games in a season only twice since 1991.

Postseason prospects
Harvard has already clinched the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. In order to reach the postseason, Princeton will need an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Tigers' resume includes three wins over RPI Top 20 teams, including one over No. 3 Penn State. Princeton has lost seven games, of which five have come to teams in the Top 10, including OT losses to No. 4 Louisville and No. 5 Maryland.

Series history
Princeton holds a 22-1 all-time record against Columbia. The Tigers are unbeaten all-time against the Lions in Princeton, having won all 12 home games. Columbia's win came in 2014.

Since that loss, Princeton has won all five games between the two, outscoring Columbia by a combined 25-4.

Ivy stats
Princeton leads the league with 46 goals, five more than the next-highest scoring team in the league (Yale). Princeton also has three of the top eight goal scorers in the league: Beth Yeager (second with a school freshman record 16 despite missing the last two games), Sammy Popper (sixth, with eight) and Ali McCarthy (eighth, with seven).

Ophielie Bemelmans ranks third in the league in assists with nine, leading four Princeton players in the top nine. The others are Popper and Hannah Davey (tied for seventh, with seven) and Yeager (eighth, with six).

Double figures
A Princeton win would give the Tigers double figures in wins for the 14^th time in 15 seasons.