Princeton Defeats Field Hockey With Two Last-Minute Tallies

For 67 minutes on Saturday, the Harvard field hockey team succeeded in evading yet another defeat to Princeton.

In the end, however, it was the Tigers (6-8, 5-1 Ivy) that went home victorious, coming from behind at the Class of 1952 Stadium to score two goals in the final three minutes to beat the No. 19 Crimson, 2-1, and once again deal a crippling blow to the Crimson’s postseason chances.

This season appeared to be the year that Harvard (8-6, 4-1) would break through and end the Princeton’s dominance of the Ivy League. The Tigers came into the game with a losing record, and their 32-game league winning streak that stretched back to 1999 had been snapped by Dartmouth earlier in the year.

The Crimson, meanwhile, was undefeated in league play, and poised to put a virtual lock on the Ivy League’s automatic playoff berth with a victory.

“This was the most confident we’ve been going into the Princeton game,” senior midfielder Shelley Maasdorp said. “We felt it was our game and our time.”

That confidence was shattered, however, in the waning minutes of the contest. With Harvard clinging to a 1-0 lead, Princeton’s Alexis Martirosian capitalized on a penalty corner, knocking a high shot past senior goalie Aliaa Remtilla. Martirosian’s tally evened the score, giving the momentum to the Tiger attack and pushing the Crimson’s worn-out defense back on its heels.

Just 1:40 later, the Tigers received yet another penalty corner, and once more came through with the game—and the season—on the line. Hillary Schmidt drove home the third shot attempt off of a rebound, giving Princeton the improbable 2-1 victory.

“We did not get the job done when it counted,” captain Kate Gannon said. “There was a momentum shift in Princeton’s direction, and that coincided with a mental shift for us.”

That transition came as a result of playing the most intense game of the season against a tough, experienced and confident Tiger squad.

“By the end, we were physically and mentally drained,” Gannon continued. “The weight of the Ivy League championship was on this game, and, as much as we didn’t want it to be about the history [of the rivalry], there was that component in the back of your mind.”

This tension mounted throughout the first half, as Princeton aggressively attacked the Harvard goal but could not crack the Crimson backfield. The game remained scoreless well into the second frame, when Harvard struck first. On an assist from Maasdorp—who leads the team with 30 total points—junior forward Beth Sackovich converted a one-on-one opportunity to give the Crimson the lead with 18:55 left in the game.

Harvard, however, could generate little other offense, finishing the game with just six shots. And as the pressure mounted on the Crimson defense to hold the lead, the Tigers’ offensive assault—which produced 14 shots—increased in intensity.

“They were very aggressive offensively,” Maasdorp said. “By the end of the game, we were all struggling to keep focus. In the last five minutes they seemed to find our seams and break through us, and we couldn’t hold them off.”

And losing the lead so late in the game made the loss especially difficult to take.

“This was the toughest loss that I’ve suffered to Princeton,” Gannon said. “We had the game in our hands, and to lose under those circumstances, to give up a lead like that, especially at the end of the game, was very tough.”

Harvard must now win its final two league games and hope that Princeton loses to Penn in order to make the NCAA tournament. For a team that controlled its own destiny such a short time ago, that scenario is tough to handle.

“I don’t know what words to describe it with,” said Maasdorp of the loss. “There aren’t really any words…It was just very disappointing.”

The Crimson makes the short drive across the Charles River to Nickerson Field on Wednesday to square off against the BU at 3:30 p.m.