Field Hockey (3-6, 1-2 Ivy) suffered a tough loss to Princeton (6-3, 3-0 Ivy) Friday in a heavily carded, fast-paced game.
Before the pass back, Princeton head coach Carla Tagliente said: “Historically, this has been a really competitive, faster tempo game.” To win, Tagliente stated that the Tigers needed to “keep [Cornell] on their left side and capitalize on penalty corners.”
The match was energetic, with Cornell remaining competitive with Princeton — lots of quick switches, steals and physicality.
But the critical point of the game came after Princeton’s Talia Schenck scored. Immediately after, the umpires were keen on reviewing the point. In a hasty review, the umpires stated that the goal on the field would remain.
Head coach Andy Smith disagreed with this call and verbalized his dissent. His comments were not taken well by the umpire, who immediately red-carded him off the game.
“There is a very big disconnect between what we see on video and what the umpires see,” Smith said. “We need to understand that so we can be better coaches and prepare our teams better to play at this elite level.”
Following the card, assistant coaches Gareth Terrett and Kellie Joyce stepped up and coached the team through the rest of the game. Still, the red card frustrated the team.
“I apologize for that,” Smith said. “[The red card] has an impact on everyone but it doesn’t change anything. It’s just a game at the end of the day; it is not bigger or smaller than any other Ivy League game.”
When asked if he still disagreed with his red card, the Princeton goal, and the cards issued to freshman forward Uma Käding and senior defender Gabby Volpe, Smith said that he definitely did but plans to “deal with them in a very professional manner behind the scenes through the appropriate channels.”
Princeton went on to have 17 shots, nine of which were on target. Schenck recorded another tally and 2024 Olympian Beth Yeager scored, giving the Tigers a total of three goals against the Red.
In the final quarter, the Red were able to put a score on the board as sophomore forward Ashley Plzak scored off of an assist from junior midfielder Grace Leahy.
Still, Cornell struggled to create opportunities to score and finish on penalty corners. In total, the Red only took three shots, two of them on goal.
“Goalscoring is the hardest thing to teach. It is an innate skill,” Terrett said. “It is something we are going to continue to emphasize during practice.”
Now more than ever, the Red is anticipating its next Ivy matchup against Yale. The Red has bested the Bulldogs 25-19 in the series historically. Smith’s red card on Friday will also keep him off the bench for the upcoming matchup.
“There were a lot of emotions in this game but we will carry that forward into other Ivy games,” Leahy said. “Burying goals earlier is the key.”
Cornell is set to take on Yale in New Haven, Connecticut at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. with coverage of the game available on ESPN+.
Zeinab Faraj is a Sun Contributor and can be reached at zdf8@cornell.edu.
