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Princeton University
Old Dominion
No. 10 Princeton Opens Season With Tiger Invitational
September 04, 2025 | Field Hockey
2025 Tiger Field Hockey Invitational
Friday Sept. 5/Sunday Sept. 7
Bedford Field • Princeton, N.J.
Friday
Penn vs. North Carolina, 3:30 pm
Princeton vs. Old Dominion, 6 pm
Sunday
Penn vs. Old Dominion, 11 am
Princeton vs. North Carolina, 1:30 pm
ESPN+ (Princeton games only)
Princeton vs. ODU
Princeton vs. UNC
TFH ’25 ... A to Z
A – About
The 2025 Princeton field hockey team has 24 players, 13 from America and 11 internationals, of which 10 are British. The Tigers return eight starters from last year’s team that went 14-6, won the Ivy League championship at a perfect 7-0 and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals.
B – Bedford Field
Princeton has an 16-game regular season, and 10 of those 16 games will be played at home on Bedford Field. It would have been 11, but Princeton and Rutgers flip-flopped sites for this year’s game and next year’s game.
C – Carla and Dina
Head coach Carla Tagliente and associate head coach Dina Rizzo have been together at Princeton since Day 1 in 2016. Their last win a year ago — a 1-0 win over Boston College in the opening round of the NCAA tournament — was their 100th together (against 51 losses). The two were teammates at Maryland who won the 1999 NCAA title together, and Rizzo was a 2008 USA Olympian.
D – Defense
Princeton ranked eighth in Division I in scoring defense a year ago (1.07 goals per game). Princeton graduated starting defender Gracie McGowan but returns Ottilie Sykes and Clem Houlden, who started every game a year ago.
E – Everton
Princeton junior forward Lydia Bills spent her summer as a human resources intern for English Premier League club Everton FC.
F – Five
Princeton has five players who have started every game of their career: Ella Cashman, Anna Faulstich, Clem Houlden, Ottilie Sykes, Beth Yeager.
G – Goalies
Princeton enters the season with no goalie who has ever started a game and only one — junior Olivia Caponiti — who has ever played in a game (and she has played a total of 47 career minutes). The three goalies on the team are Caponiti, sophomore Libby Smith and freshman Kylie Elefante.
H – Honors
Princeton returns one first-team All-American (Beth Yeager), two first-team All-Region players (Yeager, Ella Cashman), two second-team All-Region players (Clem Houlden, Talia Schenck), three first-team All-Ivy League players (Cashman, Houlden, Yeager), one second-team All-Ivy League player (Schenck) and two honorable mention All-Ivy players (Sykes, Anna Faulstich).
I – Invitational
The 2025 Tiger Invitational follows the ACC/Ivy Crossover Challenge of the last few years, with Old Dominion to join holdover Princeton, Penn and North Carolina. The Monarchs, who compete in the Big East for field hockey, opened their season last week with a 3-2 OT loss to VCU and a 6-0 win over William & Mary. North Carolina defeated Michigan 3-0 and Iowa 4-1 to start its season a week ago.
J – Just The Numbers
Princeton has six seniors, five juniors, seven sophomores and six freshmen.
K – Korners
Princeton had a 127-87 advantage against its opponents last year in penalty corners.
L – Leaders
Princeton will be led by three captains for the 2025 season: seniors Ella Hampson and Beth Yeager and junior Ella Cashman. Yeager is now the 18th player in program history to be a two-time captain.
M – Molly
Molly Nye had one goal last year as a freshman (against Penn State). She had one goal in a scrimmage this season (against Monmouth).
N – Nice To See You Again
Princeton and Old Dominion have played 16 times, with the Monarchs ahead 11-5 in the series. All 16 of those games were played in an 11-year stretch between 1996 and 2006, with four NCAA tournament matchups, including a 3-2 ODU win in the 1998 championship game.
O – Offense
Princeton scored 39 goals last year, of which 33 were scored by returning players. The breakdown: Beth Yeager (16), Ella Cashman (6), Talia Schenck (5), Ottilie Sykes (2), Clem Houlden (1), Lydia Bills (1), Molly Nye (1) and Pru Lindsey (1). The six other goals were scored by Grace Schulze (4), Aimee Junger (1) and Lily Webb (1).
P – Preseason Poll
Princeton was named the 2025 favorite in the Ivy League’s preseason media poll — barely. Princeton and Harvard each received eight first-place votes, and the Tigers edged the Crimson 120-118 in total points. Princeton’s Ivy League championship a year ago was the 28th in program history, which is tied with Harvard women’s squash for the most by any Ivy women’s team in any sport in league history.
Q – Quakers
Penn plays its first two games this weekend and has its first Ivy League game Sept. 19, also at Princeton. In fact, Penn will play three of its first five games on Beford Field and will play all three of those games before its home opener.
R – Rookies
Princeton has six freshmen on this year’s roster, with two from England (Caitlin Thompson, Tabby Vaughan) and four from the U.S. (Gabriella Anderson, Kylie Elefante, Saylor Milone, Mia Ramirez). Elefante (Allentown HS) and Ramirez (Princeton HS) played high school field hockey in the Princeton area.
S – Strength Of Schedule
Of Princeton's nine non-league opponents, five were NCAA teams last year, including defending NCAA champion Northwestern as well, whom the Tigers will play in Evanston on Monday, Oct. 13, and Final Four participant North Carolina. The other non-league NCAA teams from last year on the schedule are Syracuse, Maryland and UConn. In all, Princeton's nine non-Ivy opponents were a combined 125-51 a year ago.
T – Talia
Talia Schenck, who has started the last 37 games dating to her freshman year, is second on the team in career goals heading into 2025 with 10. Schenck is a member of the United States U21 team.
U – USA
Princeton was well-represented with USA Field Hockey this past summer. Beth Yeager, a 2024 Olympian, won a silver medal at the Pan Am Cup in Uruguay, scoring four goals in the tournament. Talia Schenck also won silver and also scored four goals, at the Junior Pan Am Games in Paraguay. Assistant coach Pat Harris was a silver medalist with the USA men’s team at the Pan Am Cup.
V – Vietnam
Princeton’s Clem Houlden and Molly Nye spent the summer in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam as part of the Coach For College program. Houlden taught biology and coached volleyball to middle schoolers, while Nye taught English and coached volleyball at a different middle school.
W – Watchlist
Princeton has six players on the NFHCA preseason Watchlist: Ella Cashman, Anna Faulstich, Clem Houlden, Talia Schenck, Ottilie Sykes, Beth Yeager.
X – X-hibition Games
Okay, technically it’s missing the “E.” Princeton had two preseason scrimmages, defeating Monmouth 3-1 with two goals from Talia Schenck and one from Molly Nye and the University of British Columbia 1-0 on a goal from Caitlin Thompson.
Y – Yeager
Beth Yeager is a three-time first-team All-American selection; no Ivy League player has ever been a four-time first-team All-American. She’s also a three-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year.
Z – Zinger
Princeton has not failed to reach the NCAA tournament in consecutive years since 1992-93. That streak will continue through this year, as the Tigers reached the NCAA quarterfinals a year ago.
