No. 15 Field Hockey Bounces Back From Early 4-0 Deficit, Falls 5-3 to No. 9 Princeton on Senior Day
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ALBANY, N.Y.- University at Albany field hockey (14-4, 3-1 AE) couldn't complete a comeback against the No. 9 Princeton Tigers on Saturday afternoon, losing 5-3 on senior day.
“I think we had a very solid win yesterday, and today we came out a bit flat,” said head coach Phil Sykes. “They came out with a lot of energy. We were on our heels, and after four goals it could've been a very long game for us. We showed some great resilience getting two goals back in the first half and create some opportunities. Overall a good battle against last year's national champion.”
Princeton scored on its first two shots of the game, putting the Great Danes in a 2-0 hole 12 minutes into the game.
Daphne Voormolen broke through Princeton's defense after UAlbany called timeout to fire a shot on goal in the 18th minute. Shortly after the Tigers took a 3-0 lead on a penalty corner rebound.
The Tigers scored again in the 24th minute. Three of their first four goals came on penalty corners or penalty corner deflections.
The Great Danes took their first penalty corner of the game in the 27th minute, with Corrine McConville finding the back of the cage on a stop by Laura Page and an insertion from Fiori Van Rijswijk.
Amy Nicklin deflected a shot on goal from Paula Heuser less than two minutes later to narrow the gap for the Purple & Gold. Nicklin's goal led the Great Danes into halftime down 4-2.
Heuser tallied a goal of her own to open the second half, taking the ball herself down the right side of the field through the Princeton defense. The freshman is now tied with former Great Dane and current assistant coach Michelle Simpson as the top rookie scorer in UAlbany program history.
Freshman goalkeeper Maxi Primus made several crucial saves on Princeton penalty corners in the ensuing minutes, denying four Tigers attempts in the middle of the second half.
Princeton scored an insurance goal in the 51st minute.
Heuser and Voormolen continued to put shots on goal late in the second half, with UAlbany's best attempts coming on two penalty corners. In the 64th minute, Heuser fired from the top of the circle, but Anya Gersoff made the save. The freshman midfielder nearly made the game 5-4 on a scramble in front of the net with less than two minutes remaining, but Princeton cleared the ball out of the circle.
The Purple & Gold wraps up its regular season at UMass Lowell next Saturday at 3 p.m. Phil Sykes & co., will then await their fate in the America East tournament. New Hampshire downed Vermont in Burlington on Sunday to secure home-field advantage for the league championship.
