WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The Monmouth University field hockey team, the 2014 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Regular Season and Tournament Champions, will host Princeton University in the NCAA Opening Round game this upcoming Wednesday, November 12th at 1:00pm, on So Sweet A Cat Field. It marks the fifth time in Monmouth Athletics history that the Hawks will host an NCAA event on campus as men’s soccer hosted three events (2009, 2010, 2011) and women’s lacrosse took on Georgetown in 2006 in West Long Branch.“This is a great opportunity to host Princeton here at Monmouth,” commented head coach Carli Figlio
. “This being our first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, this is an unbelievable way to start. We are so excited.”Monmouth, which ended the year on a six-game winning streak, claimed the MAAC Field Hockey Championship, its first title in program history with its 6-1 win over Rider. Senior Amanda Schoenfeld
(West Sayville, N.Y./Connetquot) registered nine points over the championship weekend, including posting her first career hat trick in her first seven-point game, to be named All-Championship Team Most Valuable Player. Trish O'Dwyer
(Dublin, Ireland/Loreto Beaufort) became the program’s all-time points leader with her two goals and four assists over the weekend to increase her career total to 141. She earned All-MAAC Tournament Team honors along with freshman Julie Laszlo
(Rotterdam, Netherlands/Rotterdams Montessori Lyceum) and sophomore Casey Hanna
(Seaville, N.J./Ocean City). The Hawks landed a league-high eight All-MAAC players and five major award winners in MAAC Player and Offensive Player of the Year (O’Dwyer), Defensive Player of the Year (Hanna), Rookie of the Year (Meg Donahue
) and Coach of the Year.Monmouth entered the weekend ranked in the top 20 in the country in assists per game (19th - 2.11), defensive saves (7th - 11), goals per game (19th – 2.78), penalty corners per game (3rd – 8.67), scoring average (18th – 2.74) and scoring margin (19th – 0.93).Princeton (7-10, 6-1 Ivy League), which opened the week 24th in the NCAA RPI ratings, clinched its 10th-consecutive and 20th Ivy League championship in the last 21 years with a 4-3 victory over Penn on Saturday. The Tigers have won at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the last six years, including a run to the 2012 National Championship. Princeton played a brutally challenging non-conference slate this season, with road contests at Duke, Virginia and Penn State to go along with home games against Syracuse, Maryland and Connecticut. Sydney Kirby leads the Tigers with 18 points on six goals and a team-high six assists. Maddie Copeland has scored a team-high eight goals, while Allison Evans (13), Ryan McCarthy (12), Cat Caro (11) and Teresa Benvenuti (11) have also reached double digits in points.Monmouth and Princeton have met twice in its history dating back to 2006. The Tigers have won both affairs.