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Field Hockey Season Preview
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The 2012 Ivy League field hockey season begins this weekend, with the eight teams combining to play 15 games, including seven Ivy teams opening their seasons on Friday, Aug. 31.
On Friday, Brown and Penn each open the 34th season of Ivy League play with home contests, including Brown welcoming New Hampshire to its newly completed field hockey complex and Penn playing host to Lehigh.
Columbia, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth and Cornell all hit the road to open the season. The Lions travel to face Richmond, Yale heads to in-state rival Fairfield, Princeton travels south to play at Duke, the Big Green play at UMass and the Big Red play at Lock Haven.
Harvard will be the final Ivy to open the 2012 season when it welcomes Holy Cross to Jordan Field on Saturday. Also on Saturday, Brown plays a second-straight day as Vermont comes to Warner Roof. Sunday highlights include Cornell playing host to North Carolina and Princeton playing at Wake Forest.
Season
Openers
In 2011, Ivy League teams combined to go 4-4 in season openers,
including wins by Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard and Princeton.
Harvard and Princeton carry four-game season-opening win streaks
into the 2012 season. In the last five seasons, the Ivies have
gone: 2-6 (2007), 4-4 (2008), 4-4 (2009), 6-2 (2010) and 4-4
(2011).
In The
Rankings
The 2012 Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Preseason
Poll was released on Aug 21 and Princeton came in at No. 4 with 609
points and seven first-place votes.
1. University of Maryland, 815 (17)
2. University of North Carolina, 799 (15)
3. Old Dominion University, 629
4. Princeton University, 609 (7)
5. Duke University, 579 (1)
2011 Recap
For the first time since 2004 and just the sixth time overall, two Ivy League field hockey teams tied for first in the standings, as Yale and Princeton each finished with a record of 6-1 en route to being named Ivy League co-champions. The Tigers earned the NCAA Tournament automatic bid thanks to a 3-2 win over the Bulldogs on Sept. 24.
Yale’s Ivy championship was just the second in program history and its first since 1980, when it went 4-0-2 in conference play. The Bulldogs matched the best record in program history, previously set in 2009. Princeton won a share of its 15th League title in the past 17 seasons, including its seventh-straight and 20th overall.
Princeton, which finished the season with a 10-8 overall record, hosted a NCAA play-in game versus Rider. Sydney Kirby scored in the second overtime to lead the Tigers past the Broncs and into the tournament field. Princeton went on to drop a 3-2 NCAA First Round decision at Connecticut.
After leading the Bulldogs to a share of its first Ivy League title since 1980, Yale’s Erin Carter was named the 2011 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Princeton freshman Allison Evans was named the League’s Rookie of the Year and Dartmouth senior Kelly Hood earned Offensive Player of the Year honors. Hood helped the Big Green to a third-place showing by starting each of Dartmouth’s 17 games, finishing the season with 14 goals and five assists for 33 points. She finished her career as the Big Green’s all-time leader in goals (58) and points (134). Hood, Evans and Carter were each unanimous first-team All-Ivy selections.
Welcome To the Ivy
League
On June 18, Tjerk van Herwaarden, was named head
coach of the Harvard field hockey team. As associate head coach
with Maryland, van Herwaarden helped the Terrapins win the NCAA
title last season, following up championships in 2005, ’06,
’08 and ’10. He joined the staff as an assistant coach
in 2005 and was named the team’s technical director/coach in
2007.
Tiger
Returns
Princeton returns four veterans who spent the last year playing
with the U.S. Senior National Team in Michelle
Cesan, Kathleen Sharkey, Julia
Reinprecht and Katie Reinprecht. The
Reinprecht sisters made the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team and played at
least 40 minutes apiece in each of the six games. Katie Reinprecht
was the 2008 and 2009 Ivy League Player of the Year, while Sharkey
captured that honor in 2010.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Friday, August 31
New Hampshire at Brown, 3
pm
Columbia at Richmond, 4 pm
Yale at Fairfield, 4:30 pm
Princeton at Duke, 6 pm
Dartmouth at Massachusetts, 6
pm
Cornell at Lock Haven, 7 pm
Lehigh at Penn, 7 pm
Saturday, September 1
Holy Cross at Harvard, 1 pm
Vermont at Brown, 2 pm
Sunday, September 2
North Carolina at Cornell, Noon
Princeton at Wake Forest, 1 pm
Columbia at Va. Commonwealth, 1 pm
Quinnipiac at Yale, 1 pm
Northeastern at Dartmouth, 2 pm
Towson at Penn, 7 pm
Monday, September 3
Sacred Heart at Harvard, 2 pm
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The first Player of the Week will be announced on Tuesday, Sept.
4.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
The first Player of the Week will be announced on Tuesday, Sept.
4.
WEEKLY AWARD HISTORY
| Player of the
Week |
||
| School | Last Occurrence | Player |
| Brown | November 2, 2010* | Leslie Springmeyer |
| Columbia | October 25, 2011 | Gabby Kozlowski |
| Cornell | September 6, 2011 | Carolyn Horner |
| Dartmouth | October 4, 2011 | Lisa Masini |
| Harvard | September 27, 2011 | Carly Dickson |
| Penn | September 18, 2007 | Kara Bolger |
| Princeton | November 8, 2011 | Amanda Bird |
| Yale | November 1, 2011 | Erin Carter |
| Rookie of the
Week |
||
| School |
Last Occurrence | Player |
| Brown | November 1, 2011 | Meghan O'Donnell |
| Columbia | October 27, 2009 | Gabby Kozlowski |
| Cornell | October 26, 2010 | Hannah Balleza |
| Dartmouth | November 8, 2011 | Ali Savage |
| Harvard | October 25, 2011 | Noel Painter |
| Penn | October 18, 2011 | Alex Iqbal |
| Princeton | October 4, 2011 | Sydney Kirby |
| Yale | November 9, 2010 | Erica Borgo |
*Shared honor
