Women's lax holds off fiesty Harvard to stay atop Ivy League

Taking a large lead in the first 10 minutes of the game, the women's lacrosse team once again proved why it is ranked third in the nation, as it controlled the game and managed to answer every Harvard comeback.

Led by junior attack Kim Smith with six points, three goals and three assists, the Tigers maintained their lead in the Ivy League, and extended their win streak to nine games with a 14-9 defeat of the Crimson Saturday at 1952 Stadium.

Holding first place in the Ivy League, Princeton (10-1, 4-0) has swept through all of their games since the Loyola loss on March 11. After the Loyola game, the Tigers have averaged 12 goals a game, and their stingy defense has only allowed 6.7 goals against them a game.

Harvard (5-5, 0-4) has had much less success in the Ivy League but several of its losses have been very close, including a 10-9 loss to the second-place Yale team.

Opening the game with a 5-0 run, freshman Theresa Sherry began the scoring run by slashing through the Harvard zone and forcing her shot past the keeper with 27 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the first half.

Igniting the offense has become almost a habit for Sherry as she scored Princeton's first three goals against Temple on Wednesday.

Once again, all of Princeton's top players chipped in with valuable contributions. Senior midfielder Julie Shaner scored the Tigers' second goal two minutes after Sherry. Junior attack Lauren Simone, who had three points on the day, scored the Tigers' third goal with 23:08 left in the half.

But the Crimson did not collapse, as many had expected they would after looking at their record. At 16:15 remaining in the first half and Princeton ahead 5-0, Harvard finally found a hole in the defense as senior Lauren Korkery found the net and got a ball past Princeton's keeper, freshman Meghan McInnes. Sophomore Whitney Miller answered for the Tigers with her 12th goal of the season, but then Harvard scored the next three goals, at 14:17, 9:10, and 5:03 left in the half.

With their lead diminishing to only two goals, the Tigers had another productive last minute of the half, as Sherry scored her second goal of the game with one minute remaining and junior attack Charlotte Kenworthy scored her second goal of the half with 23.6 seconds remaining. The two goals extended the Tigers' lead to 8-4 at the half.

Harvard would not go away though, as the Crimson opened the second half with a goal, drawing Princeton's lead back down to three. Then Smith came to the Tigers' rescue.

With the game still in question, the junior began the scoring onslaught, as she tallied the first of her three second-half goals with 26:03 remaining.

The teams went back and forth throughout the half, but Princeton managed to increase its lead and keep the momentum from moving to far to the Crimson's side of the field.

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The lead back to three, with a score of 10-7 with 20 minutes remaining, Princeton's powerful offense moved in for the kill, and the defense ended Harvard's hopes for an upset. Smith scored her third goal of the half at 18:41, putting the Tigers ahead, 11-7.

A minute and a half later, sophomore attack Liza Hillenbrand added another goal, and with 7:09 remaining in the game, fellow sophomore midfielder Alex Fiore increased Princeton's lead to six with a goal of her own.

Harvard, however would not lie down and responded with two goals in the final seven minutes of the game, but Princeton's defense and an insurance goal by Simone with 4:49 remaining in the game put the game out of reach.

While Princeton's offense was extremely successful on Saturday, much of the the credit for the win must be given to the Tigers' defense. Allowing nine goals, two more than their average during the win streak, the defense came up with the the big stop when Harvard had momentum, and McInnes continued her strong play of late with 14 saves.

Finally alone at the top of the Ivy League, Princeton will travel to Philadelphia on Wednesday to take on Penn in its fifth Ivy League game of the year.