Two Top Five Teams and Ivy Rival Head To Bedford For Season Opening Weekend for Princeton

Friday, September 3

Princeton, N.J.

2:30 PM

Princeton University

#9 North Carolina

Photo by: Paul Neff

Two Top Five Teams and Ivy Rival Head To Bedford For Season Opening Weekend for Princeton

September 01, 2021 | Field Hockey

PRINCETON, N.J. – The Princeton Tigers welcome two top-five teams and an Ivy rival to Bedford Field this weekend.

No. 13 Princeton takes on No. 1 North Carolina on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and No. 5 Louisville on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Penn battles Louisville at 12 p.m. on Friday and North Carolina at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

North Carolina is 0-2, having lost twice in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. No. 2 Michigan defeated UNC, 3-2, as did No. 3 Iowa, 3-1. The Tar Heels came into the season, having won three straight national championships and 65 of their last 66 contests.

North Carolina's Erin Matson is the two-time Honda Sport Award winner and the First Point USA/NFHCA Division I National Player of the Year. Through three seasons, she already ranks second on UNC's career goal and points lists.

Louisville is 2-0 this season, taking down Ohio and New Hampshire by a combined nine goals. Katie Schneider leads the squad with two goals and three assists for seven points. Filippa Niebuhr is second with two tallies and one helper. Last year, Louisville went 14-6 overall, reaching the NCAA Semifinals for the first time in program history.

The Tigers return after a 649-day absence from the field. A team with no seniors, some top returners for Princeton include Hannah Davey, Sammy Popper and Ali McCarthy. Davey was a second-team All-America and made the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team in 2019. Popper was first-team All-Region player as a freshman while McCarthy was second-team All-Ivy last time she played.

Princeton was selected as the No. 1 team in the Ivy League preseason poll, ahead of Harvard, Penn, Cornell, Yale, Columbia, Brown and Dartmouth. Harvard and Princeton have finished as the top two teams in the conference in each of the past four seasons.

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