Sept. 4, 2007
University Park, Pa. - The sixth-ranked Penn State field hockey team will return to the road for the third time in four games this year when it travels to Princeton, N.J. on Wednesday night for a 6:00 p.m. game against the Princeton Tigers. The game will be the fourth of a scheduled five straight contests against NCAA Tournament teams from last year to open the 2007 season for the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a loss to then-No. 5 Connecticut in their home opener on Sunday, which followed two wins over then-top 10 teams on opening weekend two weekends ago. Despite the loss, Penn State still moved up one spot from seventh to sixth in the STX/NFHCA Top 20 poll that was released on Tuesday. The Nittany Lions are also ranked sixth in the womensfieldhockey.com top 20 poll. Princeton was ranked No. 18 in the NFHCA preseason poll but dropped out of the rankings after falling to American in its season opener on Sunday. The Tigers are now receiving votes in the poll but are ranked 16th in the womensfieldhockey.com poll.
Penn State holds a 21-3 advantage over Princeton in the all-time series. The Nittany Lions have won seven straight in the series, including two wins in a pair of NCAA Tournament games in both 2002 and 2003. Princeton's last win in the series came in the 2000 NCAA Tournament.
Last year, the Nittany Lions won an exciting game in University Park, Pa. by a 3-2 score. After going up by a 2-0 score early, Princeton rallied and scored two goals early in the second half to tie the score, 2-2. However, just 48 seconds after the Tigers tied the score, Natalie Blasco scored her second goal of the night to put the Nittany Lions ahead for good, 3-2. Blasco, now a fifth-year senior, had just one career goal before scoring two against the Tigers last year.
Wednesday night's game will be the second of three games this week for the Nittany Lions, who will return home to face No. 11 James Madison on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. on AstroTurf Field.