Yeager's 50th, Caponiti's Late Saves Lead Princeton Past No. 1 Northwestern

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The last 30 seconds seemed like they were never going to end. One Northwestern corner. Then another. Then another.

Was Princeton goalie Olivia Caponiti nervous?

"Yes," she said, with no hesitation.

If she was, she didn't show it. Caponiti made two massive saves on the last two of those corners, and when the final seconds finally ticked away, she had saved Princeton's massive 3-2 win over top-ranked and unbeaten Northwestern.

The win improved Princeton to 8-3 overall and ended the Wildcats 15-game winning streak, a run that included the 2024 NCAA championship. The win completed a weekend sweep that started with a 4-0 Ivy League win at Dartmouth Saturday after the long bus ride to New Hampshire and then the flight to Chicago that followed.

The game-winning goal came from Beth Yeager, whose U.S. Olympic teammates Ashley Sessa and Maddie Zimmer play for Northwestern, as does Princeton graduate Grace Schulze. Yeager ripped a shot off a penalty corner of Princeton's with 11:27 to play, making it a 3-1 Tiger lead. It was also a fitting way for Yeager to get her 50th career goal as she became the sixth player in program history to reach that milestone.

The scoring started on a different penalty corner, when Ottilie Sykes slammed one into the back of the cage with six minutes let in the first quarter, assists to Pru Lindsey and Izzy Morgan, who grew up about 15 minutes from the Northwestern campus and whose family hosted the Tigers Sunday night. The Wildcats tied it up midway through the second, and it was 1-1 at the break.

We're 1-1 at the break. Here's Ott's goal.

?? https://t.co/zeey7zZsaS (@BTN+) pic.twitter.com/XsH62WWJdS
— Princeton FH (@TigerFH) October 13, 2025

Princeton jumped back on top on a beautiful finish from Molly Nye, assist to Lilly Wojcik and no statistical credit but a world of thanks to Tabby Vaughan, who controlled the ball and kept the play alive in the midfield. It became a two-goal lead on Yeager's goal, but Northwestern did not go away quietly.

Instead, Sessa scored off an assist from Schulze with 4:32 left. From that point, Northwestern played without its goaie and continually pressured the Tiger cage, but Caponiti was huge in the final minutes. The junior goalie finished with six saves, including the two in the final 30 seconds.

Up next for Princeton will be a home weekend, with games against Cornell Friday and Monmouth Sunday.

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