CAT FIGHT: Princeton University field hockey player Ottilie Sykes controls the ball in a game earlier this fall. Junior defender Sykes starred as second-seeded Princeton made a run to the NCAA finals where it ended up losing to defending champion Northwestern 2-1 in overtime last Sunday. The Tigers finished the fall with an 18-4 record, putting together a 14-game winning streak heading into the title clash with the Wildcats. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Justin Feil
The Princeton University field hockey team came within one goal of its second national championship.
Instead, a goal in the second overtime gave defending champion Northwestern a 2-1 win and back-to-back NCAA Tournament crowns and left the Tigers, who won the 2012 national title, with a heartbreaking ending to a remarkable season at host Duke last Sunday. It was the first time that Princeton (18-4) had trailed in the last 15 games of the season, and snapped its 14-game winning streak that pushed the Tigers into the title game.
“Obviously this one, it hurts in the moment because you climbed that mountain and you’re right there,” said Princeton head coach Carla Tagliente afterward. “But I can hear them in the background right now and I think they’re going to be just fine. But I thank them for putting themselves out there to get to this position because some people don’t even get to this point and take the risk that they’ve taken to get to this point.”
Princeton won the ultimate grudge match against Harvard in the NCAA semifinals. The Crimson won the regular-season matchup, 3-1, between the fierce Ivy League rivals, but the Tigers defeated them 2-1 in the Ivy Tournament to claim the league’s automatic NCAA berth. In their do-or-die meeting Friday at Duke, the Tigers got an impossible angle goal from Anna Faulstich that wriggled into the goal and an empty goal score from Caitlin Thompson in the final seconds. That was all they needed to prevail 2-0 thanks to a massive defensive effort with goalie Olivia Caponiti making two of her three saves following Princeton’s first goal as Harvard tried to increase the pressure.
“Both games really, I think we weren’t in sync offensively,” said Tagliente. “Friday, obviously a familiar opponent and a defensive battle between both of us. Neither team was really getting a ton of good looks. Our corner defense really was outstanding in that game and in this game today. We started knocking on the door later in the game and punched one in, and then they went down and pulled the goalie and we got an opportunity to put one more in. Sometimes the right things happen at the right time, that game could have probably gone either way as well. It just happened to go in our favor.”
In the final, it went Northwestern’s way despite a huge fight from the Tigers. The Wildcats had more corners and had a lot of possession through the first half, but then late in the third quarter, Princeton took a 1-0 lead on Beth Yeager’s score on a penalty corner.
“I think it took some pressure off and I think put a lot on them because, we hadn’t had a lot of opportunities and we put one away,” said Tagliente. “I didn’t know if that would hold. I thought we needed a couple more penalty corners and try to get something more. We had a few chances, but not enough. And we broke and conceded just too many penalty corners today. For how many we conceded, we held strong. But it’s just a lot of averages that you’re going to get broken on a couple.”
Northwestern tied the game five minutes into the fourth quarter on a corner of their own. Caponiti was on top of her game to keep the Wildcats off the board further, and she made a game-extending save of a steal and one-on-one shot in the first overtime. Princeton faced 10 corners from Northwestern. She finished with eight saves in her finest showing of the year.
“Definitely it was,” said Tagliente. “We don’t actually face that many shots usually. I think she probably faced more shots in this game than she’s probably faced all year, maybe backtracking to opening weekend or something with UNC. But she had excellent decision-making, some point-blank opportunities for them that she’s stuffing. So she did a great job.”
Princeton is the only team to defeat Northwestern in the last 26 games dating back to last year. The Tigers won the regular-season meeting between the teams this year, 3-2, on October 13 in a huge win that helped build momentum for a team that kept building all season and put themselves in position to compete for a national title.
“I think it could’ve gone either way,” said Tagliente. “I just told them to keep their heads high and that I just really thank them for this experience as a coach, and for our coaching staff it’s been an incredible experience. It’s because of them and what they’ve done. And I just thank them for the opportunity and told them that we appreciated them and we love them unconditionally and we’ll be back.”
The Tigers will graduate two of their captains, Yeager and Ella Hampson. They are part of a senior class that set the foundation for this year’s success with their play on the field and leadership and attitude off it.
“Beth is at the forefront of that just willing us forward every game, game by game,” said Tagliente. “And sometimes you get players that kind of plateau and get tired by the end of the season. I think she’s just getting better and better. I think her drag shot conversion, her corner conversion rate has been super high in the postseason. And that’s what you really want to see. And I think she’s been playing some of the best hockey for her career, and outside of that, just leading the team forward. Ella was another senior that played a lot of minutes as a captain and I think she really had an outstanding game at Harvard, probably her best game. So stepping up at the right moment.”
The squad’s other seniors provided leadership. “We got a lot of seniors there that didn’t do too much in terms of on-field minutes, but I think as a whole that group did such a good job leading from whatever position they were in,” added Tagliente. “And that can go either way for your team If you’ve got a core of players that don’t play, it can go south real quick. And I think the team, made it more about the team than themselves. And, I just think they’re outstanding role models for the younger players in leading selflessness and leading what it means to be on the team.”
There is also plenty of talent returning. All over the field, Princeton had play-making out of players set to return to the Tigers, including Ella Cashman, another captain who heroically returned to the team after missing the first weekend’s NCAA games after tearing her ACL.
“We’ve got a strong junior group that is rising seniors, like Ottilie (Sykes) and Ella Cashman,” said Tagliente. “Cash will have surgery here and recover and hopefully that knee is now gonna be rock solid. But we were probably the youngest team in the Final Four, four starting freshmen that play significant minutes and also are instrumental in set pieces, attack and defense of penalty corners. And then the sophomore group in between there, we’ve got a lot of players playing big minutes. So the team’s on the younger side and I’m sure we’ve got a bright future in front of us. Obviously a big hole in the field with Beth, but I think we’ve been playing such great collective hockey and team hockey. I think we’ll pick right after we left off this year.”
Picking up where they left off comes with a huge jolt of experience acquired over the last several weeks. The Tigers stormed through the NCAA tournament all the way to the championship game, where they met a team that had championship winning experience. Northwestern also had a Princeton alumna, Grace Schulze, who competed as a graduate student for the Wildcats.
“I do think there’s an experience of playing here, although I don’t think our kids were really fazed the whole tournament, even in the semis,” said Tagliente. “I think they play with a lot of maturity, but I do think there’s an element to a level of confidence with playing in this, at this level and the magnitude of these games that we’ll have under our belts going forward.”