Graceful Symmetry: What a Northwestern-Princeton title game means for Grace Schulze

Kory Schulze, father of Northwestern graduate forward Grace Schulze, described Sunday’s NCAA Championship game between NU and Princeton as “wonderful symmetry.” He looked back at his daughter’s six-year collegiate career, first in Princeton and now Evanston, full of hardship and characterized by perseverance.

“Sometimes, these sports narratives write themselves,” Kory Schulze said of the Northwestern-Princeton matchup.

Although she stands at just a tick above five feet, Grace Schulze is far from small in the field hockey world during her final year of eligibility — a hallmark year she’d been seeking since the turn of the decade. Two goals in the Big Ten semifinal against Michigan, one in the championship against Iowa and back-to-back game-winning scores in the NCAA Tournament only scratch the surface of a final year to remember for Schulze.

Seeing his daughter play in her first Final Four and, subsequently, her first and only national title game is “a validation of all her efforts,” as Kory Schulze eloquently put it.

“Keeping her head up, her ears pinned back and focusing on [her] recovery and contributing in whatever way she can,” Kory Schulze said of how his daughter will prepare for Sunday.

To fully understand this statement, one must travel back in time. 2,081 days to be exact.

Young Grace Schulze is finishing her senior year at Connecticut’s Greenwich Academy — a stellar year at that, as a two-time NEPSAC All-Academic Team member and former captain of her high school squad. She’s gearing up to pack her bags and head down a few states to New Jersey to join the Princeton Tigers and start the next chapter of her life.

That was until her life — and the lives of every NCAA athlete — was put on hold.

The day was March 12, 2020, when the NCAA announced it’d cancel all its remaining seasons and championships. The COVID-19 pandemic had the world in a chokehold, and not long after, the ever-dreadful global shutdown took full effect.

For Schulze, this meant her freshman campaign would be halted for another 12 months, but that didn’t mean that her development was put to a full stop.

“We did, kind of, make the best out of a bad situation. I ended up in England for a few months,” Schulze said. “So going over there and being able to play for a few months was great, A, for field hockey, and B, as a bonding moment.”

Roll the dial forward to the fall of 2021, to when Schulze netted a goal in her college debut against…well, North Carolina, the team that Schulze scored the game-winning goal against in the 2025 NCAA semi-final to land herself on championship Sunday.

When looking back at such a coincidence, Schulze couldn’t help but laugh at how “Hollywood” the course of events had seemed. But the truth of the matter was that she wanted one last chance to pick up the stick as a college athlete.

“I just didn’t want that to be my last field hockey game ever played,” said Schulze. “Knowing that it could’ve ended there was the extra motivator for me.”

The younger Schulze wouldn’t know that UNC could have ended her career. Then, she was only focused on getting her feet wet — providing quality play off the bench for a squad that finished just short of an Ivy League title.

After having a crucial role off the bench her first year at Princeton, Schulze broke out as a sophomore in 2022, earning second-team All-Ivy recognition. She finished in the conference’s top five in assists and points, leading the Tigers to a perfect Ivy League season and the conference title.

Schulze had her first taste of the NCAA Tournament against Syracuse, and it was a sour one. She put her squad on top with three minutes before half, and it looked as though they’d roll into the second half with the advantage of momentum on their side.

T’was not to be.

The Orange scored four unanswered goals to send Schulze and company packing, ending the then-sophomore’s season in heartbreak.

That can be seen as the beginning of a downward spiral for her.

2023 was a rough year for Schulze. A collarbone injury against UNC in only the second game of the year ended her junior campaign before it could truly take flight, and suddenly, the forward found herself in limbo.

Or so one would think, but that wasn’t the case for Schulze.

“That injury gave me a moment to take a step back and realize that college goes by so quickly,” Schulze said. “It gave me a year to take a backseat, to still be a leader but really just to focus on myself and my recovery while being someone that could help from the sideline.”

The year off did wonders for Schulze, allowing her to grow as a vocal leader and find deeper value in being a college athlete. Carrying those traits into her fourth year with the Tigers facilitated a quick rebound to All-Ivy form, as she posted four goals and seven assists in 2024 to earn herself an honorable mention.

Great, but the focus shifted to rectifying Princeton’s 2022 campaign in its quest for a national championship. Schulze wouldn’t let history repeat itself, assisting on fellow Greenwich native Beth Yeager’s decisive goal, beating Boston College 1-0 in the first round.

Yet, 2024 proved not to be Princeton’s year either, as Saint Joseph’s magical run ran through the Tigers. A late goal put Schulze’s second NCAA Tournament run to rest, leaving her at a crossroads, but there was one key moment that helped her find her way — Northwestern’s defeat of St. Joe’s in the final that year.

“My mindset was: where could I go where I’d fit in and have a good experience while having a chance at winning a national championship?” Schulze said. “And I think Northwestern really checked all those boxes.”

Schulze took a leap of faith in joining the ‘Cats in the spring of 2025, placing a bet on NU’s fast-paced offense —similar to Princeton’s — being the X-factor in her finally reaching the mountaintop. She was spot on in making that bet.

Kory Schulze described the change in scenery as “harmonious” for Grace.

“It’s a chemistry thing. The team has a fast attack,” said Kory Schulze. “‘Skies downhill,’ if you want to use that metaphor. There are more complementary players [for Grace] here at Northwestern.”

Because of Northwestern’s great fit, Grace Schulze could explore her aggressive play style that has earned her the title of a “ferocious bumblebee” amongst parents of the team.

2025 has proven to be the crescendo of Schulze’s career: 14 goals and 36 points, both career-bests, MVP honors at the Big Ten Tournament, and back-to-back game winning goals in the NCAA Tournament — one in the quarterfinals, one in the Final Four — to get her shot at the one accolade that has evaded her for the past six years: a national title.

“This was definitely the goal,” Schulze recalled last Wednesday, when thinking about why she put on the purple and white this season. “It was one of the reasons I wanted to join such a decorated program.”

On the other side? A squad full of friends that are now competitive foes: the Princeton Tigers, who were just cheering Schulze on two days before defeating Harvard to book their tickets to the final.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Schulze said of what Sunday’s game means to her personally. “It’s definitely a surreal moment and I think ‘scripted’ is the best way to put it. Before the season, if someone were to ask me ‘what would be the best outcome?’, I would’ve said a Princeton-Northwestern matchup.”

Win or lose, Schulze can end her college career knowing she has left a legacy that speaks to the virtues of passion, dedication, and most importantly, “tenacity,” as her mother, Katherine, put it.

But ask Grace Schulze herself, and she’ll have a much more wholesome answer as to what kept her going through trial and tribulation: “being present in the moment and enjoying the little things.”

A true world-class response from Kory and Katherine’s “humble warrior.”