No. 4 Princeton Hands Crimson Shutout Loss

For the last three minutes of Harvard field hockey’s matchup with Princeton, it looked as if the scoreboard at Jordan Field might need a few extra lights. But thankfully for the scorekeeper, the Tigers attack halted before it could reach double-digits.

Playing in a light drizzle before a crowd sporting as much orange as crimson, No. 4 Princeton handed the home team its worst loss of the season, 9-0.

“Their speed of execution was something we couldn’t keep up with [Saturday],” Harvard coach Sue Caples said.

The Crimson (5-8, 2-3 Ivy), which failed to register a shot throughout the first half, was outshot by the Tigers 33-1.

“We obviously didn’t play necessarily strongly,” said junior forward Chloe Keating, who leads the Harvard offense in scoring this season.

With Saturday’s victory, Princeton (12-2, 5-0) increased its lead in the Ivy League to one and a half games over second-place Yale heading into the final two weeks of conference play. Senior midfielder Kaitlin Donovan, who failed to score in her team’s first 13 games, led the Tigers with three first-half goals. Princeton struck early and often, registering four goals in the game’s first 16 minutes.

Donovan got things started for the Tigers in the fifth minute, receiving a pass off a penalty corner just inside the semi-circle before firing it to the left of Crimson goalie Cynthia Tassopoulos.

Tassopoulos, who entered Saturday’s contest after her first career shutout against Cornell, allowed nine goals, just two fewer than she allowed in Harvard’s first four Ancient Eight games combined.

Nearly three minutes after Princeton’s first score, Alyssa Pyros batted a shot into the air above the glove of Tassopoulos for her first goal of the game. Pyros struck again two minutes later, this time keeping the ball on the ground as it rolled into the right side of the net, giving the Tigers the commanding 3-0 lead. On Princeton’s third penalty corner in the 16th minute, Donovan got her second score, this time off a pass from Katie Reinprecht.

Keating tried to get the Crimson offense going, leading a charge in the game’s 10th minute. After juking past a duo of Tiger defenders, Keating made her way into the semi-circle before the ball was knocked away from her by Princeton’s swarming defense.

“[The Tigers] are very fast. They have great individual speed and team speed,” Caples said. “They’re just an outstanding team.”

The Harvard offense, which was plagued throughout the game by bad passing and aggressive pressuring from the Princeton defense, failed to come up with another scoring opportunity in the half.

Solid play from the Crimson defense for the game’s next 19 minutes kept the Tigers stuck at four goals. But just as things were starting to look up for Harvard heading into the break, Princeton scored with 29 seconds remaining.

Donovan netted her hat trick, this time off a cross from Katlyn Perrelle that set her up with an open shot in front of the goal before the buzzer sounded.

“We kind of came out flat, and they really buried us in the first half,” Keating said.

The Tigers kept up pressure in the second half, scoring just 46 seconds into the start of the period. The Tigers’ final total of nine goals marked its highest offensive output of the season.

“Princeton is an outstanding team [with] tremendous athleticism,” Caples said. “There’s a reason why they’re ranked fourth in the country.”

Knowing it faced a talented offense, the Crimson hoped to slow the Princeton attack by adjusting its formation to concentrate on the Tiger’s high-powered midfielders.

“Our goal was to stop them early before they could get into our 25 to limit shots on goal,” Tassopoulos said. “I think that we came out and didn’t really execute the game plan against Princeton.”

Despite allowing nine scores, the Crimson was able to hold Princeton’s leading scorer, Kathleen Sharkey, with a blank sheet. Sharkey, who entered the contest leading the Ivy League averaging one goal per game, finished with just two shot attempts.

On the other side of the field, Harvard hoped to get the ball inside the semi-circle to come away with penalty corners, but the Crimson had a difficult time controlling the ball. Harvard finished the contest with a single penalty corner, compared to the eight taken by the Tigers.

With just four games remaining in its season, the Crimson will need to finish undefeated if it hopes to come away with a winning record, both in the Ivy League and overall.

“We know now what it’s going to take to finish out the season,” Tassopoulos said. “We only have four more games left, and you have to stay mentally prepared through [the end] of the season.”