Play the full seventy minutes.
For the past week at practice that has been exactly what head coach Charlene Morett has been driving home to her team, and although the outcome may have been upsetting, Morett felt that her mission was finally completed.
The No. 8 Penn State Field hockey lost to No. 4 Princeton in overtime 3-2 on Thursday.
“I think we definitely played a full seventy minutes,” Morett said. “That’s what we talked about and you could see their intensity and their pride when they came to play today.”
The Lions started out strong and aggressive, but it would be the Tigers Katie Reinprecht who would score first. The Lions quickly retaliated with their first goal of the game by senior Kelsey Amy with an assist by sophomore Laura Gebhart.
The Lions managed to keep good pressure on the Princeton defenders throughout the first half, utilizing good passing and strong breakaways. However, Princeton managed to hold them off, leaving the score tied at 1 heading into the second half.
The Tigers came back from the half ready to win, scoring their second goal with an unassisted goal from senior Kathleen Sharkey.
From there, Princeton managed to keep good pressure on the Lions defense, holding the ball in Penn State’s defensive third for much of the early second half.
The tough pressure caused Morett to call a timeout with 15 minutes remaining in an effort to regroup the Lions and get their momentum going.
“I thought we were getting a little tired, and I thought we were getting just a little disorganized on the field,” Morett said. “ I just thought we could bring them back in, pep them up a little bit, organize them and better our formation and structure.”
It seemed to work, as less then two minutes after the timeout, sophomore Katie Andrews who came on as a substitute, scored the tying goal.
Goalie Ayla Halus had an impressive game saving eight out of the twelve shots made on goal.
The Lions defense remained strong as regulation ended, with junior Ashtin Klinger and Hannah Allison in particular breaking up several Princeton attacks.
In the end it the Tiger’s Michelle Cesan would score the last goal in the sudden victory.
Morett said that the forwards gave great effort, but that they could have just done a better job on stick skills.
“Some of their top level players have great skill,” Morett said. “And I think if we had done a better job of reading their defender sticks then we could have had better threatening opportunities.”
Morett added that she felt there was total team effort and that they left everything out on the field and that she couldn’t ask for more.
The Lions will be on the road where they will compete against Temple University on Saturday at 1 p.m., and then they’ll return home to host Cornell on Sunday at 2 p.m.
