Field Hockey Highlights: Princeton vs. Virginia - 11/13/16

Courtesy Princeton Athletics

The Princeton field hockey team’s 11-year reign as Ivy League champion ended earlier this month when Harvard captured the 2016 title, but the Tigers made history by earning the program’s first at-large bid to the NCAA Championships — and they are making the most of the opportunity. Princeton upset No. 6 Penn State 2-1 on the Nittany Lions’ home turf Nov. 12 and stunned No. 7 Virginia with a game-winning goal by Sophia Tornetta ’19 as time expired in the quarterfinals Nov. 13. (See video highlights above.) Princeton, the 2012 NCAA Champion, will face No. 8 Delaware in the Final Four Nov. 18. The Tigers defeated the Blue Hens earlier this season, 4-2 at Bedford Field.

With a 31-3 win over rival Yale, Princeton football moved into position to play for at least a share of the Ivy title in its season finale against Dartmouth Nov. 19 at Princeton Stadium. The Tigers (5-1 Ivy) are tied atop the league standings with Harvard and Penn after the Quakers defeated the Crimson Nov. 11 in Philadelphia. Dartmouth, 1-5 in Ivy games this year, has been a perennial thorn in the side of head coach Bob Surace ’90’s Tigers, defeating Princeton in five straight seasons. But the Tigers’ defense, which has surrendered just 10 points in the last three games, will try to put an end to that streak.

Women’s volleyball beat Cornell and Columbia Nov. 11 and 12 to finish the Ivy season 13-1, earning the league championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament — Princeton’s first postseason bid since 2007.  The NCAA bracket will be announced Nov. 27.