No. 10 Princeton Opens Season Against No. 9 Louisville At ACC/Ivy Crossover At Penn

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

No. 10 Princeton Opens Season Against No. 9 Louisville At ACC/Ivy Crossover At Penn

August 31, 2023 | Field Hockey

No. 10 PRINCETON (0-0) vs. No. 9 LOUISVILLE (2-0)
Ellen Vagelos Field • University of Pennsylvania
Sept. 1, 2023 • 11 am

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Welcome to the start of the 2023 Princeton field hockey season and, as is now an annual occasion, the ACC/Ivy Crossover. Once again Princeton and Penn represent the Ivy League and take on ACC rivals Louisville and North Carolina, with two games Friday and two moreo Sunday.

And that's about where the similarities to the immediate past end for the 2023 Tigers. Princeton comes into the season having graduated eight seniors, all of whom were starters a year ago. In addition, Beth Yeager, a first-team All-American, is taking this year off from Princeton to compete with the U.S. national team in Olympic qualifying and, hopefully, the Olympics before returning next year for her final two years with the Tigers.

The team that Princeton brings out this season will be a mix of experience and newcomers. It'll also be one of smallest rosters in Division I field hockey, with 21 players (19 field players, two goalies). In short, that means that at all times this year Princeton will have more players on the field than on the bench.

The regular season begins with the two games at the Crossover event. When it ends, there will be the first Ivy League tournament in field hockey, which will determine the league's representative to the NCAA tournament. Princeton is the league's preseason favorite in the media poll.

Princeton vs. Louisville
Five Storylines

Lineup Card
The Princeton lineup card against the Cards will look radically different than it did in the final game of last season, which was the first round of the NCAA tournament. In fact, Princeton has three starters (Robyn Thompson, Gracie McGowan, Grace Schulze) back from the 11 who began that NCAA game against Syracuse and a total of four other players (Liz Agatucci, Ella Hampson, Talia Schenck, Ava Dempsey) who competed in the game.

Thompson, who started 17 of 18 games a year ago and is in her third year as the starter, is by far Princeton's most experienced player. She was also an honorable mention All-Ivy League selection a year ago. Every other retuning Princeton player combined had a total of 29 starts between them a year ago, while all eight seniors started at least 12 games and seven started at least 15. Yeager started all 17 games in which she played (she missed one due to injury).

Schulze is Princeton's leading returning scorer, after having six goals and 10 assists a year ago. Defender Sam Davidson is Princeton's leading returning goal scorer with seven, all of which came on penalty strokes (on seven attempts).

Series history
Princeton and Louisville meet for the fourth time, and the Cards hold a 2-1 edge. A year ago in Chapel Hill, Louisville defeated Princeton 2-1 after leading 1-0 at the half and 2-0 in the third. In 2021, in Princeton, it was a 3-2 Louisville win in overtime.

Princeton's win in the series was a 3-0 victory at home in 2010.

New faces
Princeton has six freshmen on the roster, and five of them will push for significant immediate playing time, all but backup goalie Olivia Caponiti.

The six freshmen represent three countries, with two Americans (Caponiti and Hope Delaney), one from the Netherlands (Merle Broex) and three from England (Ottilie Sykes, Ella Cashman and Lydia Bills).

Strength of schedule
Princeton will again play a brutal schedule. The Tigers, who are ranked 10^th in the preseason, open with No. 9 Louisville, while the schedule also includes No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Northwestern, No. 3 Maryland and No. 8 Syracuse, as well as No. 13 Harvard, No. 15 UConn and No. 16 Rutgers.

History lesson
Princeton has won 27 Ivy League championships, which is two more than the rest of the league combined. The Tigers have one NCAA championship (2012) and four appearances in the NCAA final, most recently in 2019.

Carla Tagliente and Dina Rizzo have led Princeton to three NCAA Final Fours since they came to Princeton in 2016.