Wild Scene At 52

TigerBlog was talking with field hockey assistant coach Sarah Mansfield yesterday about using a picture in a graphic.

The one he had chosen, it seemed, had been used once before. No problem, TB told her. There were a lot of celebration shots to choose from after the team's most recent game had ended.

The field hockey team defeated Maryland 4-3 in overtime on Bedford Field Tuesday afternoon in what was a thrilling game. It also said a lot about the Tigers.

Princeton was two days removed from a 2-1 overtime loss to Northwestern, the defending NCAA champion and the No. 1 team in the country. At that point, Princeton had a 3-3 record — with the three losses against the No. 1, No. 2 (North Carolina) and No. 4 (Louisville) teams, all by a single goal.

The Tigers had a 1-0 lead on Northwestern deep into the fourth quarter before the Wildcats tied it and then won it in the OT. It was, or at least could have been, a deflating loss for Princeton.

And now the task was to dial up the physical and emotional intensity with only one day off in between. And they had to do so against another team that is as good as any in the country. 

Not only that, Princeton fell behind by a goal three times in the game. Each time Princeton fought to tie it, Maryland took the lead again. It looked like it would be another heartbreaker, until Beth Yeager did what next-level players do. 

First she tied it with less than two minutes to play. Then she won it in the second overtime. Of course, this was more than just one player who did it all herself. It was a total team win. When Princeton needed goals, though, Yeager came through.

It was impressive by the entire team. It also was huge. Princeton vaulted to No. 3 in the RPI with the win, helped by its strength of schedule, which ranks No. 1 in Division I.

On another note, Princeton and Maryland have now played seven straight one-goal games. The last five games between the teams have gone to overtime. 

The scene Tuesday late afternoon into evening at Class of 1952 Stadium was awesome. The Princeton-Maryland game was heading to overtime on Bedford Field. The Princeton-Loyola men's soccer game on Sherrerd Field was approaching. 

Had the field hockey game gone to a shootout, maybe they could have even overlapped a bit. Either way, it made for a great scene, with two games separated by a few yards.

Maybe it wasn't a great scene if your job was to figure out how to stream two games from one facility with one press box that came so close to overlapping. Or if you work in events. But hey, it was definitely something different.

Speaking of great celebration pictures, there was this one after the men's soccer team won its game against the Greyhounds 2-0:

That would be Gabriel Duchovny, who hammered in a perfect shot late in the first half to make it 2-0 for the Tigers. It was the first collegiate goal for Duchovny, a freshman.

TB's question is this: Was he pointing at the photographer, or was he pointing to teammates and the photographer was standing in the right place? 

For someone who scored his first goal, it would be amazing presence of mind to realize where the photographer was. 

If you liked the Class of 1952 doubleheader, or if you missed it, you can do it again tomorrow. 

The field hockey team's next game is tomorrow at 4 and is the Ivy League opener against Penn. The Quakers are 0-6, but they have the second-best strength of schedule and also have a one-goal loss to Northwestern (4-3 last week).

The men's soccer team will again follow that with a game of its own, this tine against Rider, again at 7. 

The Broncs are coached by Charlie Inverso, who goes way, way back with TB and way, way, way back with Princeton head coach Jim Barlow. Inverso is a great person, and he also is as good as doing impersonations as anyone TB has ever heard (other than Rich Little, Eddie Murphy and Andrew Dice Clay, and he's close).

So that's two games, 50 yards or so apart, once again. Both are free.

How can you beat that?