Wednesday Matinee: Princeton Hosts Penn In Matchup Of Ivy Unbeatens

Wednesday, October 4

Princeton, N.J.

4:00 PM

Princeton University

Penn

Photo by: Josh Sukoff

Wednesday Matinee: Princeton Hosts Penn In Matchup Of Ivy Unbeatens

October 03, 2023 | Field Hockey

Today's quick quiz: If there are three unbeaten Ivy field hockey teams and two of them play Wednesday afternoon, how many will there be Wednesday night?

Right now, Harvard is 3-0, followed by 2-0 Princeton and Penn. The number of unbeatens will drop by one, as Princeton hosts Penn on Bedford Field.

This game is the first of three in five days for the Tigers.

Princeton vs. Penn
Five Storylines

The Ivy race
By Wednesday night, all eight Ivy League teams will have played three of their seven league games. There will also be a two-way tie for first, third, fifth and seventh places.

The winner of the Princeton-Penn game will be tied with Harvard at 3-0. The loser of the Princeton-Penn game will be tied for third with Cornell, who is already 2-1.

The other midweek league game is Yale at Brown, and the winner of that game will tie Dartmouth for fifth at 1-2. The loser will then be 0-3, tied with Columbia.

Each team will play one more Ivy game each of the next four weekends. After that, the top four teams will play in the Ivy League tournament at the home of the top seed.

Busy bodies
Princeton's game against Penn begins a stretch where the Tigers will go game day, off day, game day, off day, game day.

Princeton will be at Brown Friday at 3 in its next Ivy game. After that, it'll be a home game Sunday at noon against Syracuse.

The Syracuse game will also be Senior Day for the six Tiger seniors: Liz Agatucci, Sam Davidson, Ellie Manriquez, Gracie McGowan, Bridget Murphy, Robyn Thompson.

Closeness
Princeton has played nine games this season, of which seven have been decided by one goal, including both of its Ivy League games. Of those seven one-goal games, four went to overtime, including two that were decided in the second OT and one that went to a penalty shootout.

Beyond that, another game was decided by a goal with 3:03 to play in the fourth quarter and another was decided by a goal with 28 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.

RPI
Princeton is unranked in the NFHCA coaches' poll because of its sub-.500 overall record, which makes the Tigers ineligible due to this year's rule change. Princeton would be eligible to be ranked next week should it win two of its three games this week.

The Tigers are ranked No. 13 in the RPI, due to its incredible strength of schedule. Princeton has lost to No. 1 Louisville (2-1), No. 2 North Carolina (2-1, 2OT), No. 4 Northwestern and No. 6 Rutgers (2-1 2OT) and has defeated No. 12 Maryland (3-2) and No. 21 Cornell (3-2, PS).

As for Princeton's future opponents in the top 25, Penn is No. 25 in the RPI, with Syracuse at 14 and Harvard at 10.

The goalie
Princeton senior Robyn Thompson is seventh in Division I in saves per game (6.67) and 23^rd in save percentage (.769). Those numbers do not include Thompson's performance in the penalty shootout against Cornell, where she allowed a goal on the first attempt and then made six straight stops to win it. She also stopped a breakaway in the second OT.

Thompson's career high in saves in a game was nine (which she had against Penn last year) heading into this season. She has been in double figures in three games this year, including a high game of 14 at Northwestern.

Other notes

* Princeton has attempted 55 penalty corners this year. Of those, the Tigers took 23 in the first six games and have now taken 32 in the last three.

* Princeton has no player with more than two goals but five players who have two goals: Talia Schenck, Ottilie Sykes, Liz Agatucci, Sam Davidson, Bridget Murphy. Princeton also has no player with more two assists but four players who have two: Sykes, Agatucci, Davidson and Merle Broex.

* Princeton holds a 31-15-3 lead in the all-time series against Penn.