Princeton ready for Final Four

To make this Final Four appearance possible, the Princeton field hockey team had to get past Harvard, an opponent that had defeated it earlier in the year.

Maryland is the Tigers opponent in Friday’s national semifinal game and again they have a chance to erase the memories of a two-overtime loss to the Terrapins earlier this year.

The Final Four matchup is set for 3:45 p.m. on Friday in Louisville’s Trager Stadium as No. 2 seeded Maryland (212) and No. 3 Princeton (15-4) look to advance to Sunday’s national championship game.

The other Final Four game has No. 1 North Carolina (210) against unseeded Wake Forest (13-9).

When the two field hockey powers met in September, the Terrapins took a 5-4 decision.

“We had a great game for about 60 minutes,” said Princeton coach Carla Tagliente, of the first meeting. “We need to be better handling their balls in the circle and with our marking in the back. Maryland is very streaky, so we need to handle the shift in momentum better than what we did the first time around.”

Few teams, if any, have played a more difficult schedule this season. Princeton has played 11 ranked teams and the last was Harvard last weekend when the Tigers took a 2-1 win to avenge the 3-1 loss earlier.

“Playing a team twice presents an opportunity to do things differently and better,” said Tagliente, who is taking the Tigers to the Final Four for the second time in her three years as coach.

“We didn’t get much right the first time we played Harvard, the second time we did,” Tagliente added. “We talk all the time about growth and seeing the big picture. This is another of those opportunities.”

Princeton has been led by Ivy League Co-Offensive Player of the Year in Clara Roth with 13 goals and eight assists. Elise Wong was the Ivy’s Defensive Player of the Year.

The Tigers defense has allowed just 1.19 goals a game.

Julianna Tornetta, Sophia Tornetta and Maddie Bacskal along with Roth and Wong were all All-Ivy First Team.

Julianna is second in points with 27 and Sophia third with 18.

“This is a great accomplishment for this team,” said Tagliente, of reaching the Final Four. “As well as for the program to be in two Final Fours in three years speaks volumes to the direction that we are going.”