Are You What Your Record Says You Are?

Had a bounce here or there been just a little different, then the Princeton field hockey team wouldn't have brought four losses into its game Sunday against No. 1 Northwestern. 

Unfortunately for the Tigers, those bounces went against them in a series of one shootout after another, resulting in those four losses. It put Princeton into the extraordinary circumstance of being unbeaten in 11v11 play and yet with four defeats in four shootouts — to teams whose RPIs are now No. 1, 3, 4 and 15. 

So are you, indeed, what your record says you are, as that great football coach always said? Or, in the rarest of occasions, can you be more than your record? 

TigerBlog isn't sure. Four losses are four losses, right? Or is it different if you haven't been beaten through regulation or overtime? 

If any team falls into that latter category, it's the current Princeton field hockey team. TigerBlog has never seen a team quite like this one. Even the 1988 Princeton men's basketball team, which lost three straight mid-season Ivy games on buzzer beaters to fallout of contention and then blasted league champ Cornell on the final day of the regular season as a prelude to the next four years, all of which ended with an Ivy title, lost those three games in what TB would call "the run of play."

The shootout, as TB has said multiple times this year, doesn't feel like the right way to decide a game that is even after 60 minutes of regulation and then 15 more minutes of overtime (that's 11v11, not the 7v7 of years past). A tie would be fine with him. The ice hockey system of awarding a point for a shootout loss would be better. Penalty strokes would be better, since those are things that actually happen in field hockey, as opposed to eight-second breakaways with multiple shots permitted.

With all of those four shootouts reversed, Princeton would be flying high. With half of them reversed, Princeton would be nearly a lock for home games in the NCAA tournament. With those four shootout losses, though, nothing is certain. 

If nothing else, it messes with a team's psyche. Is this just not our year? Did we get all of our good luck in last year? 

Ah, last year. You remember that. Princeton ran all the way to the NCAA championship game, falling in double overtime to Sunday's visitor, Northwestern.

Were the gods or the odds or whatever stacked against Princeton this time around? Three of those shootout losses came consecutively, against three of the top four RPI teams. The Tigers could be forgiven for scratching their heads a bit.

From what he's seen from his front row seat, though, TB can say that this isn't a team that has lacked confidence. It's a team that continues to play with great cohesion. It's a team that still believes it can beat anyone. 

At the same time, it was also a team that had its last chance at a Top 5 win in the regular season with the Northwestern game. So what happened? 

Princeton defeated Northwestern 2-1 in overtime (but not the dreaded shootout), in the driving rain that has been as much a part of this season as those shootouts. Pru Lindsey tied the game with just 1:13 to go on a penalty stroke, and she then fed across the cage to Ella Cashman for the winner with 5:42 left in the OT. 

Here are some numbers for you:

* Northwestern is now 36-2 in it last 38 games, with both losses to Princeton
* Northwestern has now lost in the regular season to Princeton each of the last two seasons, ending long winning streaks each time (15 games, 23 games)
* Princeton remained unbeaten in games that haven't gone to shootouts
* Princeton's RPI jumped from No. 9 last week to No. 5 now 

They were obviously happy Tigers when it ended, as well they should have been. The win vaulted them right back into the national conversation, somewhat similarly to a year ago. And it was dramatic, coming the way it did with the late goal to tie it and then winning it in overtime.

But it was also a businesslike celebration. This season could be a long way from over. 

Is this team what it's record says it is? The Tigers are 8-4. They don't feel like an 8-4 team. 

The story of the first part of the season was shootout losses. What will the story the rest of the way be?