No. 13 Princeton Falls To No. 2 UNC 4-3 In "Puzzling" Opener

Friday, September 2

Chapel Hill, N.C.

5:00 PM

Princeton University

(0-1)

North Carolina

(3-0)

Princeton

North Carolina

Photo by: Brian McWalters

No. 13 Princeton Falls To No. 2 UNC 4-3 In "Puzzling" Opener

September 02, 2022 | Field Hockey

Box Score

In the hours before their season-opener at No. 2 North Carolina, the players on the Princeton field hockey team sat in their hotel lobby and worked on a jigsaw puzzle, one that will ultimately look like a cover of "The New Yorker" magazine.

When the game started, it was the coaches' turn to try to fit the pieces together. Much like the one back at the hotel, this puzzle started to take shape and figures to look really good when it's complete.

No. 13 Princeton started its season with a 4-3 loss to the Tar Heels on a day when there were players in new positions, some position changes during the game, various combinations used on both sides of the field and a total of 20 players who got in.

The Tigers didn't go down without a fight. Down 4-2 after UNC's Erin Matson, a multiple time national player of the year, scored on a penalty corner, Princeton got one back with 1:06 go when Sam Davidson cashed in a penalty stroke. Princeton kept pressuring and turned it into a corner of its own with 1.2 seconds remaining, and the game ended when Tar Heel goalie Kyle Walbert got a pad on Beth Yeager's last-chance shot.

North Carolina, who defeated Princeton in the 2019 NCAA championship game and whom Princeton defeated in the 2012 NCAA final, scored the first goal of the day a little more than two minutes into the first quarter and never trailed. Princeton evened it at 1-1 off a penalty corner, scoring when Ali McCarthy got the ball to Yeager, who chopped it to Sam Popper, who put it in the back of the cage.

UNC scored the next two , but Yeager scored off another corner, assists to feeder Grace Schulze and stopper Ophelie Bemelmans, to make it a 3-2 game at the half. It would stay that way until the frantic final four minutes.

Princeton stays in Chapel Hill to play No. 9 Louisville Sunday at 11 am on the final day of the ACC-Ivy League Conference Crossover. Louisville defeated Penn 4-1 in Friday's opener.