Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Columbia
Field Hockey Weekend: Princeton Heads To Columbia, Hosts No. 2 Northwestern
September 26, 2024 | Field Hockey
PRINCETON (4-2, 1-0 Ivy League; No. 16 NFHCA)
vs.
COLUMBIA (2-3, 1-0 Ivy League)
Friday, Sept. 27 • 6 pm
Columbia Field Hockey Stadium • New York, N.Y.
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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, the reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week and the Ivy leader in goals and points, has 84 points (33G, 18A) 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 – Defense
Princeton and Harvard are tied for first in the Ivy League in scoring defense, having allowed seven goals each in six games.
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 but 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 had 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 – Goalies
Princeton’s Robyn Thompson leads the Ivy League in goals-against (1.167) and shutouts (three). Columbia’s Katie Wimmer leads the Ivy League in saves per game and save percentage (Thompson is second in save percentage). Northwestern’s Annabel Skubisz leads Division I in both save percentage (.971) and goals-against (0.13)
H – History
Princeton leads the all-time series with Columbia 25-1. Northwestern leads the all-time series with Princeton 2-1, with a 1981 Princeton win in Princeton and Northwestern wins each of the last two years (2-1 in overtime in Princeton in 2022; 4-0 at Northwestern a year ago).
I – Ivy League
Princeton and Columbia are two the four teams who won their Ivy openers a week ago, along with Harvard (over Dartmouth) and Brown (over Yale). The top four teams will meet for the league’s automatic bid at the Ivy tournament, hosted by the No. 1 seed.
J – Jump Start
Princeton scored four goals in the first four games of the season. Princeton then scored six goals in two games last weekend, getting three against both Penn (3-0) and Rutgers (3-2).
K – Korners
Okay, penalty corners are technically spelled with a “C,” but in the statcrew program, the code is a “K.” After not scoring on any of its first 13 penalty corners through four games of the season, Princeton scored on three of 15 in last weekend’s wins over Penn and Rutgers. Princeton’s opponents have scored four goals in 32 penalty corner attempts.
L – Lions
Columbia defeated Cornell 1-0 last Friday for its first Ivy win since defeating Dartmouth in 2022.
M – More Beth
Princeton has scored 10 goals this year, and Beth Yeager has scored or assisted on seven of them.
N – National Rankings
Princeton is ranked 16th this week in the NFHCA coaches’ poll. Northwestern is ranked No. 2.
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 – Players Of The Week
The Princeton-Columbia game will feature the reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week (Beth Yeager, who had 3G, 2A in two Princeton wins) and reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week (Katie Wimmer, Columbia goalie who had nine saves in a shutout win over Cornell and 13 saves in a 1-0 loss to Monmouth).
Q – Quarterly
Princeton has scored three goals in the first quarter and three goals in the fourth quarter through six games, as well as three goals combined between the second and third quarters (and one in OT).
R – Road Games
The Princeton game at Columbia will be the team’s seventh of the season. To date, the Tigers have had only one home game (the 1-0 OT win over Miami).
S – Schulze
Grace Schulze scored all three Princeton goals in the 3-2 win over Rutgers Sunday, including two goals less than a minute apart in the final five minutes of the game. Schulze had six goals and 12 assists for 24 points in 2022, when she was a second-team All-Ivy League selection, but had not scored a goal in 681 days dating back to her goal against Syracuse in the 2022 NCAA tournament. 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 14 consecutive years, including in the new rankings that came out this week.
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 286 games played, with 127 starts between them.
W - Wildcats
Northwestern has been ranked No. 1 in the NFHCA poll for most of the season before falling to No. 2 this week. The Wildcats play at Maryland Friday before heading to Princeton, and they bring an 8-0 record into the weekend, having outscored their opponents 21-1.
X - X factor
Beth Yeager has scored four overtime goals in her career, most recently against Miami (Ohio) earlier this season.
Y – Year Ago
Princeton defeated Columbia 2-1 on Bedford Field last year with goals from Talia Schenck (5:47 into the game) and Ava Dempsey (with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter, seven minutes after Columbia had tied it).
Z – Zinged
Northwestern has not trailed at any point of any game this season prior to its weekend trip to Maryland and Princeton.
