NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A back-and-forth battle with a spot in the Ivy League Tournament at stake ended in heartbreak for the Yale field hockey team Friday night at Johnson Field, as Princeton scored the game-winning goal on a penalty corner 51 seconds into overtime to end the Bulldogs' season.
The game had been scoreless for more than 50 minutes before Princeton took a 1-0 lead, but Yale (7-9, 3-4 Ivy League) answered with a goal from first-year back/midfielder
Hettie Whittington on a penalty corner less than two minutes later to tie the score. After denying a series of Princeton penalty corners late in regulation, the Bulldogs saw the Tigers get the game-winner on a rebound during a corner less than a minute into the extra session.
Princeton (7-8, 5-2 Ivy League) will await the results of Saturday's league games to determine tournament seeding and location. No. 9 Harvard visits No. 17 Cornell Saturday, with the winner earning the No. 1 seed and hosting the tournament.
Scoring Summary
- 50:43 | Princeton – Talia Schenck goal, assisted by Lydia Bills
- 52:23 | Yale – Hettie Whittington goal, assisted by Keely Comizio
- 60:51 | Princeton – Bridget Murphy goal
Notes
- Yale did not allow Princeton any corners until 4:24 of the second, and on that one sophomore forward Poppy Beales came charging out to block the shot.
- Beales had five of Yale's seven shots for the game. That included two near-misses – on a breakaway that went wide at 5:10 of the first quarter and on a 2-on-1 with junior forward Lily Ramsey with 10 minutes left in the third. Princeton goalie Robyn Thompson got just enough of that shot by Beales to send it wide of the cage.
- Yale senior goalkeeper Luanna Summer made five saves, including a kick save on a shot by forward Talia Schenck with 8:40 left in the third quarter that helped keep the game scoreless.
- First-year back/midfielder Hettie Whittington scored her second career goal – and second in as many games – on a penalty corner just 100 seconds after Princeton took a 1-0 lead in the fourth quarter. Junior midfielder/forward Ellie Barlow inserted to junior back Keely Comizio. After junior back Colette Staadecker faked a shot, Comizio passed the ball to Whittington, who fired in a shot just past the right leg of Thompson and inside the near post.
- With the game tied 1-1 Summer made multiple blocker saves during a flurry by Princeton in the final two minutes of regulation. The OT game-winner came on the Tigers' seventh corner of the game.
- This was the ninth time in the last 10 games for Yale that the game was decided by one goal. It was the fifth time in that span that the Bulldogs went to overtime.Yale finishes the season with a 6-5 record in one-goal games.
- Yale honored its seniors in a pregame ceremony on the field. All five healthy seniors started the game, including the first career start for midfielder/back Julia Fortier. Yale's senior class:
