It will be an interesting weekend in field hockey as all the local college teams have key games as they begin the final stretch of the regular season and get into many key conference matches. No. 14 Tigers Look to Rebound After a tough 3-2 loss to No. 2 Northwestern, Princeton gets back to the Ivy League with a meeting in Ithaca against Cornell and then heads further upstate to face No. 15 Syracuse. Princeton (5-4, 2-0 Ivy) has won seven straight over the Big Red (3-5, 1-1 Ivy). After dropping the first five games of the season, Cornell has won three straight. The Tigers are led by All-America and reigning Ivy Player of the Year Beth Yeager with five goals and four assists. Beth Schultze is next with eight points on three goals and two assists. There will be three local players on the field at Cornell. Talia Schenck (Lawrence) is with the Tigers, while Olivia Weir and Delaney Keegan, who both played for Princeton High, play for Cornell. Syracuse (6-3, 1-2 ACC) faces No. 16 Louisville on Friday before the Tigers visit. Rutgers Looks to Build on Iowa Win It was a huge win for the Scarlet Knights when they downed No. 7 Iowa in a shootout, and now they hit the road for games with No. 2 Northwestern on Friday and Indiana on Sunday. Rutgers (4-4, 1-1 Big Ten) saw goalie Sophia Howard named the NFHCA National Defensive Player of the Week and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Anna Cogdell was the conference Rookie of the Week. Northwestern (10-0, 2-0 Big Ten) has six wins over ranked teams and is led by Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year Annabel Skubisz. Rutgers will play Indiana (3-5, 0-2 Big Ten) for the 15th time, having previously earned an 11-3-1 record in the all-time series. The Scarlet Knights are 7-1 against the Hoosiers since 2017 and have outscored IU, 20-5, in that span. Rutgers sophomore Maddie Olshemski will look to meet up against her former team, as she played in 11 games last season as a freshman at IU prior to transferring to Rutgers. Road Trip for the Broncs Rider, which saw their three-game winning streak snapped by Drexel, will look to get back on track this weekend in Massachusetts. On Friday, the Broncs (5-4, 2-0 NEC) have a conference match with Stonehill (1-8, 0-1 NEC) and then on Sunday face Holy Cross (4-5, 0-2 Patriot). This is just the second meeting ever with Stonehill. The Broncs have won both and hold a 10-0 advantage in goals. Stonehill has dropped seven straight games. Maya Zahlan, who played at Hun, is a freshman at Holy Cross. Freshman Olivia Machiavelli leads the Broncs and the conference with 15 points on six goals and three assists. Megan Normile, who played at New Egypt, and Valeria Perales each have five goals. Ang Borisow has a team-high four assists. Rider is tied with St. Francis, Wagner and Sacred Heart for the top spot in the NEC as all are 2-0 in conference play. Sacred Heart won the league last year. Rider did so in 2022. TCNJ Looking For Third Straight The Lions are coming off impressive wins over No. 16 Ursinus and Arcadia. Both were shutouts. Now, TCNJ (5-4) heads to Albright (4-6) on Saturday for a 12 p.m. start. The College of New Jersey has won all 10 games played against Albright, and the Lions have allowed only three goals. Freshman Avery Vacca was named the NJAC Rookie of the Week after it was her goal that gave the Lions a 1-0 win over Ursinus. It was also Vacca’s first collegiate goal. She has started the last seven games in the midfield. Sophomore Isabel Maher scored both goals in the Arcadia win. Jadyn Huff, who played at Princeton Day, leads TCNJ with eight goals and Claire Engbreth has five assists. The Lions last won a conference championship in 2017 and will begin NJAC play on Tuesday when they visit Kean (3-7). TCNJ has a 66-3 record against the Cougars and has won the last four.