Dartmouth Opens Ivy League Play Saturday at No. 20 Princeton

GAME 5
Dartmouth Big Green (0-4, 0-0 Ivy) vs.
No. 20 Princeton Tigers (0-4, 0-0 Ivy)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 – 12 p.m.
Location: Princeton, N.J. – Bedford Field
All-Time Series: Princeton, 24-8-2
Last Time: Sept. 21, 2013 – L, 7-1 (Hanover)

SATURDAY'S GAME
The Dartmouth field hockey team travels to Princeton this Saturday to take on the Tigers in the 2014 Ivy League opener for both programs. Game time is set for noon from Bedford Field.

LAST TIME OUT
It will have been seven full days since the Big Green last played a game when they take to the field Saturday in New Jersey. Dartmouth fell, 2-0, at Northeastern on Friday, Sept. 12 before the current week-long hiatus from game action. Twin sisters Marissa and Kelly Dunn netted a pair of tallies roughly four minutes apart in the second half to lead the Huskies to the win.

SCOUTING PRINCETON
The Tigers are currently No. 20 in the latest National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) rankings, but that might be more based on promise and expectations than play on the field this fall. Princeton is also off to a slow start as it has the same 0-4 record as the Big Green entering Saturday's matchup. The team has just six goals in four games, while allowing 13 — including one in overtime — during that stretch. Sydney Kirby is the lone multi-goal scorer to this point with a pair of tallies, while also leading the way with four points. Anya Gersoff has a 3.22 goals against average and a .705 save percentage despite her 0-4 win-loss record.

AGAINST THE TIGERS
Princeton holds a 24-8-2 advantage in the all-time series. Dartmouth's last win came on Sept. 17, 2011 with a 2-1 victory at home. That triumph marked the end of the Tigers' 24-game winning streak against conference opponents and the first win for the Big Green in the series since the 2004 season. The loss to Dartmouth that day remains Princeton's lone Ivy loss since the start of the 2008 season (41-1) and just the second since 2005 (62-2).

ONLY ONE
In the meeting between these two teams last season in Hanover, the final score was 7-1 in favor of the visiting Tigers. However, despite the loss, Dartmouth was able to do what no other team in the Ivy League managed the entire season against Princeton: score a goal. The Tigers pitched six shutouts against the other Ancient Eight teams in 2013 with Ali Savage's first-half goal the only one surrendered.

A HOMECOMING OF SORTS
Saturday's game is a homecoming for senior Rebecca Hu, a native of nearby Skillman, New Jersey. Hu has played just one game at Princeton — Skillman's neighboring town — in her career. Dartmouth dropped its Ivy League opener, 4-1, in 2012 at Bedford Field to a team that would eventually go on to win the national championship.

FOLLOW ALONG
Saturday's game will be carried live on the Ivy League Digital Network. Fans who have purchased a subscription to the league's video portal will have access to watch the game live from Princeton. Live stats are also available for fans looking to keep up with the action.

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Dartmouth is back in action at Chase Field in Hanover on Sept. 27-28. The Big Green begin Ivy League home games with Brown on Saturday at noon before hosting non-conference Bryant the following afternoon at 2 p.m.