Will It Be More OT As Princeton Heads To No. 5 Maryland?

PRINCETON (1-3) at No. 5 MARYLAND (6-1)

Thursday, Sept. 14 • 4 p.m.
Field Hockey/Lacrosse Complex • College Park, Md.

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Should the next game for the Princeton field hockey team simply start with overtime? If history means anything, then the answer is "probably."

The Tigers, a team that has played three straight overtime games this season, now plays Maryland, an opponent against whom it has gone to overtime five straight times.

Will this be the game that breaks both of those trends? Will this be the game that isn't a one-goal game, something Princeton has had in all four of its games this year and its previous seven games against Maryland?

For that matter, will this be the first game this year that Princeton plays that doesn't end up 2-1?

Princeton at Maryland
Five Storylines

Close games
Princeton has played four games this season, and all four of those games have had a final score of 2-1. In addition, each of the last three games have been overtime games.

As for the series with the Terps, the last five games have all gone to overtime, including three straight 4-3 games. Princeton won last year's game in Princeton when Beth Yeager tied it late and then scored the game-winner off a penalty corner in the OT.

Princeton's other two goals last year were scored by Hannah Davey and Ali McCarthy, who both graduated. Yeager, a two-time first-team All-American, is away from the team this year while playing with the U.S. National Team in Olympic qualifying; she will be back next year for her junior year.

The last time Princeton and Maryland played a game that wasn't a one-goal game was in the 2015 NCAA tournament, which Princeton won 3-1 in Syracuse.

More closeness
At no point this season has a Princeton game featured a team who had more than a one-goal lead, either Princeton or its opponent.

Through its first four games, Princeton has had the lead by a goal for 92:23, trailed by a goal for 50:09 and been tied for 135:19.

Princeton Alum In Terp Colors
Maryland features graduate student Sammy Popper, who wears No. 16. If the name and number are familiar, it's because it's the same Sammy Popper who wore No. 16 for TFH before graduating last spring.

Popper was a three-time All-Ivy League selection for the Tigers, including first-team honors in 2019, when she was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and helped Princeton to the NCAA championship game (and scored against Maryland in the regular season), and a year ago, when she scored nine goals for the Ivy champs. So far this season, Popper has scored three goals while starting every game for Maryland.

Popper before the game: I'm really looking forward to playing against Princeton on Thursday and I'm excited to see all my old teammates and coaches. The Princeton vs. Maryland match-up is a challenging one every year, and I can't wait for the competition to come. I think it will feel like just another game but with added excitement and fun!

Terp Alums In Princeton Colors
Princeton head coach Carla Tagliente and associate head coach Dina Rizzo are Maryland alums who played for current Terps coach Missy Meharg.

Tagliente graduated in 2001 as the Maryland career leader in goals and points, and she still is second in points and third in goals. She was a four-time All-American, including first-team honors as a sophomore, junior and senior. She was a two-time finalist for the Honda Broderick Award as the nation's top player. She was also a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American, including first-team honors as a junior and senior.

Rizzo was a first-team All-American herself (not to mention a 2008 U.S. Olympian). Both Tagliente and Rizzo coached under Meharg after graduating, and Rizzo was the associate head coach before joining Tagliente after Tagliente left the head coaching job at UMass at Princeton in 2016.

Tagliente and Rizzo were teammates on Maryland's 1999 NCAA championship team. Meharg is in her 36^th season with the Terrapins, and she has been a nine-time national Coach of the Year.

Rankings
Maryland is ranked fifth in this week's NFHCA poll. Princeton? The Tigers are unranked.

There is a rule that is new this year that says teams must have a .500 or better record to be ranked. At 1-3, Princeton is ineligible. A week ago, at 0-2, Princeton was ranked 15^th, because Ivy League schools were given a one-week waiver from the .500 rule due to their later start date.

At the same time, Princeton is 1-3, with one-goal losses to No. 2 North Carolina (in OT), No. 4 Louisville and No. 10 Rutgers (in two OT). Delaware was ranked 19^th last week and stayed there after its two OT loss to Princeton.

Other notes

* Princeton has started four freshmen in each of its last two games: Ottilie Sykes, Hope Delaney, Ella Cashman and Merle Broex. Princeton started those four in the 7v7 overtime against Delaware and then again in the OT against Rutgers, where a fifth freshman, Olivia Caponiti, also started.

* Liz Agatucci and Bridget Murphy both have two goals through four games this season. The two seniors both had two career goals prior to this season.

* Princeton is without senior captain Grace Schulze, who was injured in the first minute of the North Carolina game and will miss the rest of the season. Schulze was Princeton's leading returning scorer after a 6-goal, 10-assist, second-team All-Ivy junior year in which she was third in the league in assists and fourth in points. Ellie Manriquez has missed the last two games due to injury, and Lily Webb made her first appearance of the year in the game against Rutgers after missing the first three due to injury.

* Princeton and Maryland first met in 1981. The Terps lead the all-time series 26-10-1.

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