Whitney Miller went shopping Tuesday and bought an Oven Roaster chicken. The next night, before the women's lacrosse team left the locker room to confront No. 7 Delaware, she and a couple of other freshmen took the dead, stinky chicken, painted it blue and strung it up in the middle of the locker room.
Players stopped, stared, and then screamed with laughter. Take that, Blue Hens.
It was an omen of what was to come for Delaware — a previously undefeated team that had taken the Tigers into overtime the last two years. They would be manhandled by Princeton. And it would be humiliating.
After Delaware (8-1 overall) pulled to within 3-2, six minutes and 22 seconds into the first half, the Tigers (8-1, 2-0 Ivy League) roared out to a 16-3 lead before ultimately sealing a stunning 17-5 victory. The No. 2 Tigers further entrenched themselves near the top of the rankings, winning their seventh-straight contest.
"We thought it was going to be the scariest game of our lives," freshman attack Miller said, grinning after the game. "We were fired up. This was incredible."
The Tigers were coming off a shaky performance against Cornell, that saw them stake the Big Red a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes before Princeton scrambled to recover, snatching a 12-7 win. Veterans also remembered the last two years, where the Blue Hens clung to the games, fighting furiously until the finish, and they passed the stories onto the freshmen.
So they rested on Monday, and watched chickens. But the Tigers were nervous — until they started to play.
"I'd say it was a pretty convincing win for our team," coach Chris Sailer said. "We knew they were undefeated, and a tough time. They were riding a wave. But everybody worked really hard, executed, and got a great team win."
The Tigers set the tone for the game immediately. One minute into the game, sophomore Lauren Simone scored her first of four goals in the game. Five minutes later it was 3-0. Thirty minutes later, Princeton was coasting with a 10-3 lead. What had they been so worried about?
"We came into the game a little nervous because we didn't really know what to expect," freshman attack Kelly Quayle said. "But as soon as we started playing we knew we were the better team."
Nervous netminder
Princeton also benefited from some advance scouting:The Tigers were told that Laurie Tortorelli, the Delaware goalie, was weaker on high shots. So the Tigers raced around the goal, initiating one-on-one confrontations and firing the ball so that it soared near a flustered Tortorelli's head.
In contrast, when senior goalie Laura Field was charged by a Delaware player midway through the second half, Field stepped up calmly and stuffed the ball back in her face.
It was a resounding victory, in a season that continues to astound. Seven different players scored, including six goals by sophomore attack Kim Smith. In the second half, Sailer emptied the bench, spilling the subs out onto the field, where they held Delaware's first team to one goal.
"This is better than we ever anticipated," Field said. "The big deal this year is that we're such a team and this really shows it. Last year we had, what, eight All-Americans and the game went into overtime. This year we beat them with our subs on the field for the second half, and they played as well as the starters.
"I love those guys from last year, but this is just a better feeling."
For the Tigers, maybe. But not for the chicken.
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