Field Hockey Weekly Release - Week 11

Ivy League Field Hockey Overall/Conference Stats (pdf)

Photos courtesy of Princeton Athletic Communications and Yale Sports Publicity

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Needing a win to clinch its 21st Ivy League championship, the No. 2 Princeton field hockey team put forth an impressive effort, defeating Penn, 7-0, to finish the season undefeated in Ivy play. The Tigers took their first outright title since 2010 and their 18th in the past 19 seasons.

Princeton (16-1) finished 7-0 in Ivy play for the 12th time since 1997, when Columbia became the eighth field hockey team in the League. Tigers senior Kathleen Sharkey and sophomore Allison Evans accounted for all of their team’s scoring on Saturday, as Sharkey found the back of the net four times and Evans posted her first career hat trick.

Dartmouth (11-6, 6-1 Ivy) did what it had to do to put the pressure on Princeton, defeating Cornell (8-9, 3-4 Ivy), 2-1. Senior Samantha McPherson scored the game-winning goal with 56 seconds remaining to lift the Big Green to victory. Dartmouth’s 6-1 Ivy record is the best in program history since the League went to a seven-game format.

A Tigers loss would have meant a second-straight shared title, but their defense was up to the task, holding the Quakers (9-8, 3-4 Ivy) to just one shot on goal, which junior goalie Christina Maida turned away, giving Princeton the outright championship and keeping Dartmouth in second-place, the best finish for the Big Green since tying for second in 2005.

Penn fell into a tie with the Big Red and Yale (6-11, 3-4 Ivy) for fourth-place in the standings. The Bulldogs scored twice in the second half in a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Brown (6-11, 1-6 Ivy), which finished tied for seventh with Harvard (3-13, 1-6 Ivy).

Columbia (9-8, 4-3 Ivy) placed third in the League after finishing its season with a pair of 3-2 games, defeating the Crimson and falling to Rutgers. Senior Gabby Kozlowski finished her collegiate career with a bang, scoring three goals in the two games to become the Lions’ all-time leading goal scorer.

Kozlowski scored once against the Crimson to tie the record with her 40th career tally and then passed Nikki Campbell for sole possession of the record with a pair of goals against the Scarlet Knights. Kozlowski’s teammate Katie DeSandis posted a five-point week with two goals and an assist. Both of her goals came against Harvard, including the gamewinner.

Princeton will face No. 12 Lafayette in the NCAA Tournament Play-In game on Tuesday, Nov. 6, at Columbia’s Baker Athletics Complex at 1:00 p.m. The winner will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Field Hockey Championship. Live stats of Tuesday’s contest are available here.

NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS

Two Ivies continue to rank first in the country in three statistical categories. Princeton’s Kathleen Sharkey is first in the nation in points per game (3.8) and goals per game (1.7) and Brown’s Shannon McSweeney averages 10.9 saves per game, best in the country, while Harvard’s Cynthia Tassopoulos is ninth with 7.6 saves per contest. McSweeney is also seventh in save percentage (0.794), just below Cornell’s Carolyn Horner (fifth, 0.796). Princeton senior Katie Reinprecht ranks seventh in assists per game (0.82) and her teammate Christina Maida is sixth with a 1.16 goals against average. Columbia’s Katie DeSandis and Brown’s Kelsey Grossman are tied for 11th with four defensive saves apiece.

NCAA Field Hockey Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
In the final regular season game of her stellar career, Princeton senior Kathleen Sharkey (Moosic, Pa.) scored four times to lead the Tigers to a 7-0 win over Penn. Sharkey scored the gamewinner, the third-straight game she has done so for Princeton, in the 14th minute and then found the back of the net three straight times in the second half to finish out the scoring for the Tigers.

Sharkey takes home her fourth Player of the Week award of the season, surpassing the three she earned in 2009. The honor is the ninth of her career.

Sharkey’s Weekly Stats
1 GP, 4G, 8 Pts., 13 Shots, 7 SOG, 1 GW

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Yale freshman Molly Wolf (Endwell, N.Y.) finished her rookie campaign with two goals and one assist, but her second goal may go down as her most memorable of the year. With 2:08 remaining in a game with Brown that was knotted at one apiece, Wolf made good on a penalty corner for the gamewinning goal in a 2-1 victory for the Bulldogs. The score marked the first career game winner for Wolf.

Wolf takes home her first career Ivy League weekly award and becomes the first Rookie of the Week from Yale since Erica Borgo earned the award on Nov. 9, 2010.

Wolf’s Weekly Stats
1 GP, 1G, 2 Pts., 4 Shots, 4 SOG, 1 GW

HONOR ROLL
Katie DeSandis, Columbia (Sr., D – Emmaus, Pa.)
2 GP, 2G, 1A, 5 Pts., 2 Shots, 2 SOG, 1 GW

Gabby Kozlowski, Columbia (Sr., F – Voorhees, N.J.)
2 GP, 3G, 6 Pts., 5 Shots, 4 SOG

Samantha McPherson, Dartmouth (Sr., F – Ventura, Calif.)
1 GP, 2G, 4 Pts., 3 Shots, 3 SOG, 1 GW

Shannon McSweeney, Brown (So., GK – Boxborough, Mass.)
1 GP-1 GS, 67:52 Mins., 2 GA, 2.06 GAA, 10 Svs., .833 Sv. %, 0-1

Noel Painter, Harvard (So., F – Los Gatos, Calif.)
1 GP, 1G, 1A, 3 Pts., 3 Shots, 2 SOG

Emily Schuckert, Yale (Jr., F – Wilmington, Del.)
1 GP, 2A, 2 Pts., 5 Shots, 3 SOG

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, November 6
1-No. 12 Lafayette at No. 2 Princeton, 1pm

KEY
1-NCAA Tournament Play-In Game at Columbia

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
September 4 – Kathleen Sharkey (Princeton)
September 11 – Gabby Kozlowski (Columbia)/Katie Reinprecht (Princeton)
September 18 – Kathleen Sharkey (Princeton)
September 25 – Maggie Scanlon (Dartmouth)/Sarah Hasson (Penn)
October 2 – Carolyn Horner (Cornell)
October 9 – Hannah Balleza (Cornell)
October 16 – Ali Savage (Dartmouth)
October 23 – Shannon McSweeney (Brown)/Ali Savage (Dartmouth)
October 30 – Kathleen Sharkey (Princeton)
November 6 – Kathleen Sharkey (Princeton)

ROOKIES OF THE WEEK
September 4 – Elizabeth Hitti (Penn)
September 11 – Anna Scipioni (Columbia)
September 18 – Teresa Benvenuti (Princeton)
September 25 – Elizabeth Hitti (Penn)
October 2 – Alexis Miller (Brown)/Elizabeth Jacobson (Harvard)
October 9 – Marisa Siergiej (Cornell)
October 16 – Taylor Standiford (Cornell)
October 23 – Teresa Benvenuti (Princeton)
October 30 – Alexis Miller (Brown)
November 6 – Molly Wolf (Yale)

HONOR ROLL
September 4 – Liza Masini (Dartmouth), Shannon McSweeney (Brown), Christie O’Hara (Columbia), Hannah Rogers (Brown), Julie Tahan (Penn), Cynthia Tassapoulos (Harvard)
September 11 – Mary Beth Barham (Yale), Amelia Cohen (Penn), Clayton Christus (Brown), Elizabeth Hitti (Penn), Hannah Rogers (Brown)
September 18 – Molly Andrews (Columbia), Hannah Balleza (Cornell), Mary Beth Barham (Yale), Christina Freibott (Columbia), Shannon McSweeney (Brown)
September 25 – Hannah Balleza (Cornell), Erica Borgo (Yale), Maddie Copeland (Princeton), Liz Malone (Columbia), Hannah Rogers (Brown), Kathleen Sharkey (Princeton), Brooke Van Valkenburg (Dartmouth)
October 2 – Allison Evans (Princeton), Ellen Meyer (Dartmouth), Meghan O’Donnell (Brown), Carly Sokach (Penn), Cynthia Tassopoulos (Harvard)
October 9 – Katie DeSandis (Columbia), Sarah Hasson (Penn), Elizabeth Hitti (Penn), Syndey Kirby (Princeton)
October 16 – Hannah Balleza (Cornell), Erica Borgo (Yale), Christina Freibott (Columbia), Gabby Kozlowski (Columbia), Julia Reinprecht (Princeton), Carly Sokach (Penn)
October 23 – Hannah Balleza (Cornell), Katie DeSandis (Columbia), Anna Masini (Brown), Julie Tahan (Penn)
October 30 – Hannah Balleza (Cornell), Erica Borgo (Yale), Janine Leger (Dartmouth), Shannon McSweeney (Brown), Creaghan Peters (Columbia), Rachael Rosenfeld (Harvard), Julie Tahan (Penn)
November 6 – Katie DeSandis (Columbia), Gabby Kozlowski (Columbia), Samantha McPherson (Dartmouth), Shannon McSweeney (Brown), Noel Painter (Harvard), Emily Schuckert (Yale)

WEEKLY AWARD HISTORY

*Shared honor