Women's lacrosse trounces Yale in battle of top-two Ivies

As the clock ran out at the Soccer-Lacrosse stadium in New Haven, Conn. on Saturday, one could look out over the field and see two women's lacrosse teams that had battled, each vying for the top spot in the Ivy League. But after a first half of a blitzing Tiger offense and a second half spent staving off a Eli comeback, Princeton (8-1 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) stood triumphant, having defeated Yale (8-1, 3-1), 13-8.

Junior attack Kim Smith started off the offensive onslaught by scoring her first two goals within a minute of each other. Shortly thereafter, Smith added her third marker, pushing the lead to 3-0. The junior would score three more times for a total of six goals before the final horn sounded.

The defense also put up a great effort, holding Yale to only two goals in the first half. Princeton would score four more times before the end of the half, sending them into the break with a comfortable 7-2 advantage, and it looked like the Tigers could write this game off.

"We went out to get the win," junior captain Lauren Simone said. "But we really wanted to focus on playing our best game."

The Elis refused to die, however. Yale came out firing in the second half, scoring four consecutive goals to bring the deficit to two. With the threat of a Yale comeback looming, Princeton head coach Chris Sailer called timeout and brought her team to the sideline. She then calmed the huddled team down, renewing the players' focus.

Whatever Sailer said to her team, it worked. The Tigers seemed to suddenly come alive. The defense stepped up behind the play of senior defender Dayna Federici, who keyed the suffocation of the Yale offense. Freshman goaltender Meghan McInnes also stepped up her play, allowing only two more Eli goals the rest of the game. McInnes finished the game with 11 saves including five in the second half.

Meanwhile, the Princeton offense went on a scoring spree. Led by Smith and Simone, the Tigers scored six more times — pounding the last few nails into the coffin that held Yale's hopes of keeping the Ivy League lead.

"After Yale started to come back in the second half, we really stepped up our game and scored a few goals at the end to regain the momentum," Smith said. "Our defense also did a great job of forcing turnovers, which enabled the attack to keep possession at the end of the game."

Strong play from the entire team was the key for the Tiger victory —both defensively and offensively. Throughout the season, Sailer has continued to push her team to stay focused on their "game plan." The benefits of sticking to that plan were particularly evident in this game.

"[Coach Sailer] has been emphasizing a team attack where everyone is involved, which is reflected in the way we play," Smith said. "Defenses have such a hard time guarding us, because anyone at any given time is capable of stepping up. In terms of our defense, that too is very team oriented and you can see that from the way our defenders play. Other teams have to worry about slides constantly coming which is why our defense is so hard to beat."

That team attack was evident in the five different Tigers who tallied points in the win including two for senior captain Julie Shaner.

The Elis, ranked No. 8 in the country before the game, threatened to damage Princeton's hopes at an Ivy title, but the Tigers refused to give way.

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"We, as a team, knew that the game was going to be intense and hard fought for the entire sixty minutes and it was our responsibility to remain focused," Federici said. "We knew that this meant that we would have to control the tempo on both ends of the field, making big stops defensively and capitalizing on every shot opportunity on the attacking end. And that is exactly what we did."