Twelfth win in a row for Tigers as women's lacrosse dominates Quakers

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said, "I fear we have but awakened a sleeping giant."

Last night, when attack Crissy Book gave the Quakers a 2-1 lead over the women's lacrosse team at Class of 1952 Stadium, she may have found herself muttering Yamamoto's words.

No. 1 Princeton scored the next four goals en route to a 10-3 halftime lead and a 14-7 final.

The Tigers have won 12 straight since their season-opening loss to Georgetown, while Penn dropped to 5-7 with the loss.

14 minutes, 45 seconds

The Quakers kept the game competitive for the first 15 minutes — which is about 14 minutes and 45 seconds longer than Harvard, Princeton's last opponent, managed to do.

In that game, the Tigers scored after winning the first draw and never looked back.

Last night, Book scored two goals in the first five minutes after senior Mimi Hammerberg netted the game's first score at 28:16. After Book's second goal, there was a period of rough play, leading to a yellow card on a Penn attacker after she leveled a Tiger defender.

After Princeton got the ball into the Quaker end, senior attack Lauren Simone positioned herself near the left corner of the goal.

She picked up the ball and sneaked a bouncing shot past the Penn netminder at 19:29, knotting the game at 2.

Simone also scored the next goal two minutes later for the Tigers. Her score came right after a restart deep in the Quaker end.

With 14:38 remaining in the first half, freshman midfielder Lindsey Biles showed the Quakers why Princeton had won eight straight games in the series and 13 of the last 14.

Biles brought the ball to the edge of the arc and backed down a Penn defender. Another Quaker came over to help, prompting the freshman to turn and make a spin move than split both of the defenders. Biles then shot the ball past the Penn goalie, awing the crowd and leaving the Quakers shaking their heads.

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That was the story of the game — the Tigers had too much speed, skill and strength for the Quakers.

About three minutes later, Hammerberg took the ball behind the Quaker net and surveyed the defense. She saw Biles cutting to the goal and hit her with a crisp pass. The freshman flicked the ball into the goal, giving the Tigers a 5-2 lead at 11:23.

Penn tightened the score to 5-3 a few minutes later, but that was as close as the Quakers would get.

Sophomore midfielder Theresa Sherry, who leads Princeton in goals this season, scored the next three points to stretch the lead to 8-3. The Tigers scored two more goals in the remainder of the half, including one by Biles with just six seconds left in the stanza. She underhanded a shot into the net after receiving a pass from Hammerberg.

The second half was more of the same, with the outcome of the game never in doubt.

Princeton now looks ahead to this weekend. The Tigers face Dartmouth 3 p.m. Saturday at 1952 Stadium in a crucial Ivy League matchup.

In recent years, women's lacrosse in the Ancient Eight has been a contest between only Princeton and Dartmouth. Two years ago, the Tigers were ranked second nationally and expected to beat the Big Green in their game at Princeton Stadium.

Princeton led by three with under two minutes in the game, 13-10, but Dartmouth, the defending Ivy champion, mounted an improbable comeback to send the game into overtime. The Big Green dominated the extra frame and won, 16-13. Dartmouth celebrated another Ivy title on the Tigers' turf.

Last year, the Big Green topped Princeton in Hanover, N.H. during the conference season, but the Tigers came back to beat Dartmouth in the NCAA tournament to reach the Final Four. Saturday's game promises to be another hard-fought game in one of league's best rivalries.