Princeton Rolls Past Columbia Into Ivy League Tournament Final

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Field Hockey

October 11, 12PM

at Dartmouth

Field Hockey

October 13, 3PM

at Northwestern

Field Hockey

October 17, 4PM

vs Cornell

Princeton, N.J.

Field Hockey

October 19, 12PM

vs Monmouth

Princeton, N.J.

Field Hockey

October 24, 2PM

at Brown

With a goalie like Columbia's Katie Wimmer in the other cage, the longer you go without scoring, the more you start to wonder if you ever will. Throw in memories of the final Friday in September, when the Princeton field hockey team was able to sneak only one past Wimmer in a win, and the first Ivy League semifinal game was getting more and more dicey for the Tigers with every scoreless minute that went by.

And then the explosion happened. First it was Grace Schulze with 24 seconds to go in the first half. Then it was Ella Cashman. And then it was Talia Schenck. And then it was Pru Lindsey. By the end of the third quarter, the question wasn't if Princeton would ever score. It was which Princeton goal was the prettiest.

In the end, it added up to a 4-0 win for top-seeded Princeton over No. 4 Columbia on Bedford Field, advancing the Tigers to Sunday's noon championship game against Harvard, who took down Brown 1-0 in overtime in the second semifinal. The winner of that game gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

...and next was this beauty from Molly to Talia ... 3-0 Tigers pic.twitter.com/1aEQxywQEK
— Princeton FH (@TigerFH) November 8, 2024

Wimmer, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, kept Princeton off the board until a penalty corner with 34 seconds to go. The ball was deflected in the circle to Lindsey, who then redirected it to Schulze, whose rocket into the top of the cage finally broke the scoreless tie.

Columbia's only shot on goal in the game came early in the second, on a penalty corner of its own. Princeton goalie Robyn Thompson made a huge diving stick save to keep it 1-0, and then in a blink it became 4-0.

And which goal was the most beautiful? Cashman tipped in a flick from Beth Yeager to make it 2-0, and then Yeager sent Molly Nye deep with a 50-yard pass that the freshman tracked down in the circle. Seeing Schenck behind her, Nye dropped a pass off, and Schenck reversed it in the cage. The scoring ended when Lindsey took a long feed from Ella Hampson, had it pop up in the air and then swatted it in to make it 4-0.

...or maybe this one by Pru was more beautiful?
It's 4-0 Tigers end of the third.
?? ESPN+ https://t.co/Mbp3s5aNuz pic.twitter.com/I6T91PXx4b
— Princeton FH (@TigerFH) November 8, 2024

Princeton outshot Columbia 18-1 and had a 10-1 edge in corners. Wimmer made nine saves in her final game.

Regardless of the tournament outcome, Princeton will officially be the Ivy League champion for 2024 by virtue of its 7-0 regular season run.

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