Women's lacrosse falters, still gets No. 5 seed

There is no place like home, at least when referring to the Princeton-Georgetown women's lacrosse series. In a series now tied at 3-3, the mighty Stanwick sisters of No. 3 Georgetown proved too tough for the No. 5 Tigers (12-4 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) as the Hoyas took an early lead and retained their undefeated home record against the Tigers, winning, 15-10.

Scoring 15 goals on the normally tough Princeton defense, the Hoyas (14-2, 6-0 Big East) relied on the Stanwick sisters — senior Sheehan and sophomore Wick — to power them through the Tigers. The Stanwicks scored eight goals, answered every Princeton advance and proved to be the deciding factor.

In a game in which Princeton was expected to have more depth and spread out its scoring, it was Georgetown who used its entire offense to beat the Tigers. Every time Princeton seemed to gain momentum, a Stanwick had the answer.

The loss however, did not hurt Princeton's chances too badly in the NCAA Tournament as the Tigers received a No. 5 seed. Princeton will face Ivy rival Cornell in the first round of the 16-team tournament at home on Thursday at 3 p.m., and if the Tigers are able to get past the Big Red, they will most likely face archrival Dartmouth in the quarterfinals.

Princeton beat Cornell 9-6 earlier in the season in Ithaca, N.Y. and has been very good against the Big Red in recent years. Princeton has not lost to Cornell since an 8-2 defeat in 1988.

Against the Hoyas, the Tigers fell behind early, trailing 6-3 at halftime. If not for the exceptional play of junior attacks Charlotte Kenworthy and Lauren Simone, Princeton would not have been close. The two accounted for nine of the Tigers' 10 goals on the day.

Down 10-3 with 20 minutes remaining in the game, Kenworthy and Simone went on a tear. They outscored all of Georgetown, 6-3, over the next 10 minutes, cutting Georgetown's lead to 13-9 with nine minutes remaining. But the Georgetown defense shut the door on Princeton during the close of the game, and held on for the win.

While Georgetown played a great game, Princeton had many chances to score, as the Tigers outshot the Hoyas, 31-22. While the Stanwick combination scored enough goals to beat Princeton, it was senior All-America Bowen Holden who won the game for Georgetown, as the keeper had 12 saves, stopping several shots that appeared to be definite goals.

Princeton has not fared too well in the past two weeks of competition, going 1-3 and losing most of its momentum from earlier in the year. Playing Maryland, Georgetown and Dartmouth, ranked one, three and four, respectively, has been a tough stint for the Tigers. But Princeton has shown the ability to play with the top teams, just not to beat them. The last top-seeded team that Princeton beat was Duke on March 21. The Blue Devils received the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

The Tigers will see all of these familiar faces again if all goes according to plan, as the Tigers will most likely face the Big Green in the quarterfinals, and if Princeton can get by them, Maryland is waiting in the wings for a semifinal matchup.

Princeton knows that it will have to play its best lacrosse of the season to keep up with the national powerhouses, but the team knows it is capable of playing in the upper echelon of the teams in the country.

"I don't want to leave on any less than a high note," senior captain Julie Shaner said. "Once you've been to the top, it's hard to accept anything less."