Women's lacrosse to meet Loyola in season's first test

Even after the dominating 16-3 win over Rutgers, the women's lacrosse team is all business with Loyola coming to 1952 Stadium Sunday.

This attitude is not only because Princeton is interested in picking up another important early-season victory at the expense of a strong opponent.

The Tigers also want revenge.

While Princeton is ranked second in the nation and Loyola is sixth, the Tigers remember last year all too well when the Greyhounds beat Princeton, 6-5. But with several new players taking over the reins, this is a different Tiger team than last year, and Princeton has its mind set on avoiding another upset.

Opening their season with a 17-8 stomping of the University of Maryland-Baltimore, the Greyhounds are already in rhythm with their high-scoring offense. Concerned with their high point totals, head coach Chris Sailer has prepared for their attack with a plan of her own.

"Their attackers will definitely be a challenge for our defense, but it's a challenge I believe we'll be up for. We plan to change up our defenses a bit to keep Loyola off-balance," Sailer said.

Already ranked as one of the top teams in the nation and one of only three squads to take out the Tigers a year ago, Loyola has its share of high-caliber players. The leader of the highly touted Loyola defense is its one preseason All-America, goalkeeper Tricia Dabrowski. Both Dabrowski and attack Stacey Morlang are nominees for the Tewaaraton Award, an honor given to the most outstanding lacrosse player in the nation.

One advantage for the Tigers will be that Loyola is playing fourth-ranked University of North Carolina Friday. Princeton hopes that the Greyhounds will be drained by the game against the Tar Heels, regardless of the outcome.

But Sailer does not think that Loyola's extra contest will be much of an advantage for Princeton.

"Most women's lacrosse teams are accustomed to playing games in close succession. I'm sure they'll be ready to play come game time," Sailer said.

The Tigers cannot dwell on Wednesday's big win if they want to come back and focus on the task at hand. Princeton is set on one goal, a national championship. Missing it by one game last year after a loss to Maryand in the finals has left a bitter taste ever since.

But Loyola has gone through the same agony.

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Loyola also lost to Maryland in the NCAA tournament, but they lost in the semifinals.

Never satisfied with just a win, Sailer feels her team has room for a lot of improvement. Although Princeton did a lot of good things against Rutgers, there were also a number of areas upon which it can improve.

"I think our kids understand that we can't rest on one victory. Loyola is a great team, and we are looking forward to testing ourselves against this higher level of competition," Sailer said. "This game begins a stretch of three games for us against top eight teams, so you can count on us being excited, focused, ready, and not at all overconfident. We'll learn a lot about ourselves in this upcoming stretch."

Excited or not, the Tigers will need execution and contributions from the whole team to beat Loyola. Besides the team effort, senior midfielder Julie Shaner might need at least a repeat of last year's performance, in which she scored two goals, and junior attack Charlotte Kenworthy will need to match her play from the Rutgers game, in which she led the Tigers with four scores.

The Tigers will play the Greyhounds at 1 p.m. at 1952 Stadium.

Princeton's battle against Loyola is just the starting point for a run of games versus elite competition.