Syracuse to play Princeton in 1st round of NCAA Tournament

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Syracuse field hockey is headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.

No. 10 Syracuse (15-5, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) will face No. 7 Princeton (13-4, 7-0 Ivy League) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 11. This comes after SU fell in the ACC Tournament semifinals to North Carolina, the eventual conference champions.

The berth is Syracuse’s 16th in program history and the 13th in Ange Bradley’s 16-year tenure as head coach. In last year’s tournament, the Orange beat Penn State 4-1 in the first round before losing to Maryland 2-1 in the quarterfinals. SU is 18-12 all-time in NCAA Tournament games.

Princeton beat Syracuse 5-1 in their only matchup this season on Sept. 9. The winner of Friday’s game moves on to play either No. 3 Maryland or Liberty on Nov. 13.

Syracuse opened the season ranked No. 10 in the preseason National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll. Following a 4-0 start, the Orange moved up to No. 7 in the Week 1 poll, their highest ranking of the season. SU’s lowest rank was No. 13 in the Week 4 poll.

Forward Quirine Comans leads Syracuse with 39 points and earned First-Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors for the second straight year. The graduate student tallied 16 goals, the most in a single season since Alma Fenne in 2015.

Princeton clinched the outright Ivy League title with its 3-1 win over Columbia last Saturday. The Tigers finished their regular season undefeated in conference play for the 20th time in program history.

In its seventh season under head coach Carla Tagliente, Princeton has made the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time. The Tigers returned every starter this season and added six new players.

Midfielder Beth Yeager led Princeton in points (32) for the second consecutive year. The sophomore finished tied for 12th in the nation with an even 2.00 points per game. Behind Yeager, forward/defender Sammy Popper tallied 20 points on nine goals and two assists.