No. 2 Princeton Falls At No. 10 UNC In Shootout

Sunday, September 6

Chapel Hill, NC

12:30 PM

Princeton University

(1-1)

North Carolina

(2-2)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final F
Princeton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Carolina	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1

Photo by: Louie Photos Inc.

September 06, 2026 | Field Hockey

Box Score

A game of near-misses ended in excruciating fashion for the second-ranked Princeton field hockey team Sunday afternoon.

Princeton and No. 10 North Carolina played through 60 scoreless minutes of regulation and 15 more of overtime before UNC took the shootout 3-2 and the game 1-0. The game was Princeton's second at the Crossover Challenge, after having opened the season with a 4-0 win over No. 18 Old Dominion Friday.

The numbers certainly suggested this one would be cose, after UNC defeated Penn 7-0 Friday and then ODU defeated Penn 3-0 in the first game Sunday. If you expected a close game, that's exactly what you got.

Princeton had the two best chances of the day, on a Reese Milone shot in close in the final minute of the first half and a similar shot by Anna Faulstich in the third quarter. Both of those were tipped away at the last second, keeping it scoreless. Tiger goalie Olivia Caponiti made a huge fourth quarter save to force the OT, which under this year's new format is a full 11 v 11 for 15 minutes of sudden death.

Once the teams got through that period still 0-0, it went to a five-player shootout. UNC went up 2-0 before Milone and Gabriella Anderson brought it back to 2-2. Caponiti had made two straight saves to keep the game going and appeared to have forced extra shots with another stop, but the officials ruled she had commited a foul and gave UNC another chance (similar to what happened with Milone's shot). This time UNC scored to takek the win.

Princeton will open its home schedule Friday at 5 against Rutgers.