Though the Ivy field hockey season started just two weeks ago, the league’s best team may already have separated itself from the pack. Princeton, which entered league play trailing just behind Columbia, has won its first two Ancient Eight games, outscoring Yale and Dartmouth by a combined margin of 10 goals to one.
The three-time defending league champions defeated Penn State and Albany earlier this season, both of whom are ranked in the top 25. In just its fourth game of the season, the Tigers nearly upended second-ranked Maryland, falling 3-2 in double overtime.
The Tigers have outscored their opponents 38-11 this season as its goals per game and goals against average are the best amongst Ivy teams. Freshman Katie Reinprecht, senior Holly McGarvie, and freshman Kathleen Sharkey lead the way for a Princeton attack that averages 2.42 goals per game more than the league’s second highest scoring team, Columbia.
Reinprecht leads the league in goals, assists, and points per game, while Sharkey and McGarvie also rank in the top three in both goals and points.
The Tigers can credit much of their success to the team’s aggressiveness. Princeton attempts 9.5 more goals per game than Cornell, which attempts the second most.
The Tigers could go a long way toward separating themselves in the standings and not just the stat sheet this Friday.
Should the Tigers escape New York unscathed after a match with the Lions, they would find themselves two games up on the Light Blue. Thus far, Columbia is the only other team with a winning record overall, a fact which could leave Princeton alone at the top with Cornell.
The Big Red notched perhaps the biggest win in Ivy play on Saturday as it edged the Lions 4-3. The two teams were both coming off wins in their first league games and Cornell was the only team to beat Princeton last season.
Columbia fell behind 2-0 at the intermission in a game played at Yale’s Johnson Field. Two minutes after the Big Red pushed its lead to 3-0, Christine Buszczak put the Lions on the board. Despite falling behind 4-1, Columbia rallied again but fell short.
Entering the season, it was the Light Blue’s Gena Miller who was labeled the league’s best goaltender, but junior goalie Melanie Jue has anchored the Cornell defense, allowing just as few goals per game as Miller.
Jue has held opponents in check while seeing more than 2 shots per game head her way.
Jue should face a weak offense this weekend against Yale, which has scored just 12 goals in seven games.
As Columbia and Cornell fought to remain undefeated, Brown and Dartmouth tried to avoid falling into last.
The two teams entered the game having combined for just one win in 11 tries and having been outscored by their opponents 38-11.
Dartmouth led 4-2 with six minutes to go before Katie Hyland scored two goals in 5 minutes to pull the Bears even.
The Big Green ultimately triumphed in overtime, giving the team its first win of the season.
While Brown and Dartmouth allow the most goals per game, the fault rests with the defenses and not the goaltenders. The two defenses also allow the most shots on goal.
Brown will have a shot at its first Ivy win this Saturday against Harvard, a team averaging just one goal per game.
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