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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Penn
Short Trips: Princeton Opens Ivy Schedule At Penn, Followed By Game At Rutgers
September 19, 2024 | Field Hockey
PRINCETON (2-2; No. 18 NFHCA)
vs.
PENN (1-3)
Friday, Sept. 20 • 3 pm
Ellen Vagelos Field • Philadelphia, Pa.
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A - About
The 2024 Princeton field hockey team has 24 players — 15 returnees from last year’s team, seven freshmen, one returnee from the 2022 team (who happened to play in the Summer Olympics this year) and one returnee from the 2022 team who was hurt one minute into Game 2 a year ago (and who happened to be the leading returning goal scorer heading into last season). There are 12 American players and 12 international players (10 from England; one each from Australia and Germany).
B – Beth
Beth Yeager was a first-team All-American and the Ivy League’s Offensive Player of the Year in each of her first two seasons before taking the 2023-24 academic year off from Princeton to compete with the United States national team in Olympic qualifying and then the Olympic Games, where she started every game for the USA. Yeager has 30 goals and 16 assists in 39 career games.
C – Coaches
The 2024 season is Year 9 for Carla Tagliente and Dina Rizzo as the leaders of the Princeton field hockey program. Pattie Gillern is back for her third season, and they are joined by Pat Harris, a veteran of the United States men’s national team and a professional coach and player in Europe for nearly two decades. Jade Hennessey is in her second year as the athletic trainer for the team.
D – Defensive Saves
Princeton and Penn are tied for the Ivy lead with two defensive saves to date. Princeton’s two defensive saves have come from Talia Schenck (against Louisville) and Hope Delaney (against Miami).
E – Every
Princeton has four players who have started every game the team has played during their careers: sophomores Ella Cashman and Ottilie Sykes and freshmen Anna Faulstich and Clem Houlden. Beth Yeager has started every game she’s played, though she has missed four career games due to injury.
F – Freshmen
Princeton has started as many as four freshmen in a game this year and has six play big minutes in every game so far. There have been at least three freshmen in the starting lineup for all four games so far, and there have been at least two freshmen on the field at all times.
G – Goals
Princeton has scored four goals this season, and they have come from four different players: Beth Yeager, Aimee Jungfer, Molly Nye and Talia Schenck. Yeager and Lydia Bills also have assists.
H – Hampson
Junior Ella Hampson made her first start of the season in the game at Penn State. She has now made nine starts in her career.
I – It’ll Be Two More Bus Rides
Princeton is playing two road games this weekend and another next Friday, at Columbia, before a home game against Northwestern. Only one of Princeton’s first seven games— the win over Miami — and two of Princeton’s first 10 games will be in Princeton.
J – Juniors
Princeton has six juniors, including Beth Yeager, who took last year off from school to play for the U.S. national team in the Olympics. The six juniors are: Ava Dempsey (M), Helena Große (D), Ella Hampson (M), Grace Anne McCooey (F), Talia Schenck (F) and Yeager (M). These six have combined for 97 games started.
K – Korners
Okay, penalty corners are technically spelled with a “C,” but in the statcrew program, the code is a “K.” Princeton has attempted 13 corners (without scoring) in its first four games; Princeton’s opponents have had 21 penalty corners, with two goals scored on those attempts.
L – Leaders
Princeton has three captains for 2024: Grace Schulze, Robyn Thompson and Beth Yeager. Schulze and Thompson were also captains a year ago.
M – Molly
Molly Nye became the first member of Princeton’s freshman class to score a goal this season when she scored with 15 seconds to go in the first half at Penn State Sunday. Nye took a long pass from Ottilie Sykes, dribbled into the circle, cut back to her right, made another touch and then reversed it into the upper corner of the cage.
N – National Rankings
Princeton is ranked 18th this week in the NFHCA coaches’ poll. Rutgers is ranked 13th, and Penn is unranked. Princeton has defeated No. 12 Louisville and lost to No. 2 UNC and No. 20 Penn State; the Tigers still have games against No. 1 Northwestern, No. 7 Maryland, No. 8 Harvard and No. 15 Syracuse on the schedule.
O – Ottilie
Sophomore defender Ottilie Sykes is Princeton’s leading returning goal-scorer from last year, when she was the Ivy League Co-Rookie of the Year and a first-team All-Ivy and All-Region selection. She also played every minute of all 17 games last year and the first two this year before being subbed out (briefly) in the third quarter against Miami, meaning that Sykes played the first 1,259:14 of her career.
P – Penn
Penn comes into the game with a 1-3 record, with a win over Temple and losses to nationally ranked UNC, Louisville and St. Joe’s. Penn defated Princeton 3-2 in double overtime a year ago to end a 17-game Princeton winning streak in the series, which Princeton leads 31-16-3.
Q – Quarterly
After having goals scored only in the third quarter in its first two games, Princeton had goals scored in the first, second, fourth and overtime in the last two.
R – Rutgers
Princeton lost to Rutgers 2-1 in double overtime a year ago in a game in which goalie Robyn Thompson was injured and replaced by then-freshman Olivia Caponiti, who made three saves in 34 minutes, including two in the first overtime. Princeton leads the all-time series with Rutgers 23-7-1, though Rutgers has won four of the last five. Princeton and Rutgers did not play between 2006 and 2017, and Princeton’s most recent win in Piscataway was in 2002.
S – Schulze
Grace Schulze had six goals and 12 assists for 24 points in 2022, when she was a second-team All-Ivy League selection. Schulze was Princeton’s leading returning scorer for 2023, but her season ended 45 seconds into the second game of the year with a broken collarbone that required surgery and caused her to miss the rest of the year.
T – Titles
Princeton field hockey has won 27 Ivy League championships, which is more than the other seven league teams combined. It’s also tied with Harvard women’s squash for the most Ivy League championships won by any women’s team in any sport.
U – University
Princeton has been ranked as the No. 1 academic university in the United States by US News and World Report for the past 13 consecutive years.
V – Veterans
Princeton’s senior class features six players: Clare Brennan (F), Aimee Jungfer (M), Gracie McGowan (D), Grace Schulze (F), Robyn Thompson (G), Lily Webb (F). Those six have combined for 274 games played, with 121 starts between them.
W - Webb
Lily Webb is the only current Princeton player other than Beth Yeager to have scored a goal against Penn. Webb scored in last year's game at Bedford Field.
X - X factor
Beth Yeager has scored four overtime goals in her career, most recently against Miami (Ohio) a week ago.
Y – You Again
Princeton and Penn last saw each other in the Louisville airport two Sunday nights ago, when both were returning from the ACC/Ivy Crossover Challenge, where Princeton defeated Louisville and lost to UNC and Penn was swept by the two ACC schools.
Z – Zinged
The Penn goal in the second overtime last year against Princeton was scored by Sophie Freedman, a second-team All-Ivy selection last year who was also a high school teammate and classmate of Princeton’s Beth Yeager.