No. 7 Princeton Opens Ivy Schedule Against Penn

PRINCETON (4-3) vs. PENN (0-6)

Bedford Field • Princeton, N.J.
Friday, Sept. 23 • 4 pm

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It's been a little more than three weeks since the Princeton and Penn field hockey teams spent a whole day together as traveling partners. It was a bit of a surreal day, two opponents who became buddies for the day. They even posed together for a large group photo.

There probably haven't been that many similar experiences for schools with such a strong rivalry between them.

Fast forwarding to the present, the teams are back to being rivals. Perhaps they're a bit friendlier rivals than they might otherwise have been, but they're rivals nonetheless.

Princeton vs. Penn
Five storylines

Good to see you again
Princeton and Penn both opened their seasons at the University of North Carolina back on Sept. 2 and 4, playing the host Tar Heels and Louisville in the ACC-Ivy Crossover Challenge. Princeton was supposed to fly out of Newark but instead had to reroute out of Philadelphia after the original flight was cancelled.

As it turned out, Princeton and Penn were now on the same flight, one that ended up being delayed five hours. Because of the delay, Penn missed its assigned practice time at UNC's field, so the two Ivy teams practiced at the same time on opposite sides. Coincidentally, they were both booked into the same restaurant for dinner.

Strength of schedule
Princeton has the No. 1 strength of schedule in Division I field hockey. The Tigers have played seven games, including against teams ranked No. 1 (Northwestern), No. 2 (UNC), No. 4 (Louisville), No. 8 (Maryland), No. 15 (Syracuse) and No. 20 (Rutgers) in the most updated RPI rankings.

Princeton is 3-3 in those games, with one-goal losses to Northwestern (in OT), UNC and Louisville and wins over Maryland, Syracuse and Rutgers.

Oh, and who has the second-toughest strength of schedule in Division I. Penn. The Quakers have also played Louisville, UNC and Northwestern.

Home stand
Princeton is playing its fourth of five home games in a 10-day span. It began last Friday with a 3-1 win over Delaware and was followed by a 2-1 overtime loss to Northwestern Sunday.

Princeton turned right around two days later and defeated Maryland 4-3 in overtime, rallying three times to tie it after falling behind by a goal. Beth Yeager tied the game with 1:55 to go and then won it in the first minute of the second overtime.

The game against Penn comes after Princeton has had two days off, the most it will have during this stretch. Princeton hosts Lafayette Sunday at 1 to complete the homestand and will then have nearly a full week before its games at Yale (Sept. 30) and UConn (Oct. 2).

Series history
Princeton and Penn will play for the 49^th time, and the Tigers lead the series 30-15-3. Princeton has only played Yale (53^rd meeting this year) and Harvard (52^nd meeting this year) more than it has the Quakers.

Princeton defeated Penn 5-1 a year ago in Philadelphia, getting two goals from Ali McCarthy and one each from Beth Yeager, Peggy Winterborn and Bridget Murphy.

Of the last seven Princeton-Penn games (all Princeton wins), four have been one-goal games.

Lineup card
Princeton has 13 players who have started at least one game and eight who have started every game so far.

Princeton has one player who has started every game the team has played for her entire career, and that's defender Gabby Andretta, a first-team All-Ivy selectiom a year ago. Beth Yeager has started every game she's played, though she missed the last three games a year ago due to injury.

Hannah Davey, Sammy Popper and Ali McCarthy have all started every Princeton game since the start of the 2019 season.

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Players Mentioned

Gabby Andretta

Hannah Davey

Ali McCarthy

Bridget Murphy

Sammy Popper

Peggy Winterborn

Beth Yeager

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