Women's lacrosse returns to Final Four

The women's lacrosse team gave their mothers something to smile about on Mothers' Day as they defeated Notre Dame 11-5 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I championship race.

Both Notre Dame and Princeton rode into Sunday's game on a wave of confidence. The Fighting Irish advanced with an 11-7 win over Ohio State, which brought their record to 13-4 overall and 5-1 in the Big East. The Tigers entered the game at 16-1 overall and 7-0 in the Ivy League after mercilessly demolishing the Le Moyne Dolphins 25-3 on Thursday.

Princeton's wave proved stronger than Notre Dame's on Sunday, which was understandable considering its most recent margin of victory was 22 goals.

"There was no doubt we'd get [to the Final Four] if we played our game," senior attack Charlotte Kenworthy said.

"Their game" is definitely what the Tigers played against the Irish, most notably in the first half. Princeton, as usual, jumped out to an early lead with goals from Kenworthy and senior attack Lauren Simone within the first five minutes.

Although Notre Dame made some key defensive plays in the first 30 minutes, Princeton was more successful at converting the turnovers it created into goals. At the end of the half, the Tigers led 5-1.

The Irish started out the second half better than the first, playing more aggressive defense and creating more chances to score. As the half wore on, however, the defense had trouble maintaining a firm stance, and the attack failed to capitalize on the scoring opportunities it created.

The Tigers regained control of the game when the score reached 6-3. Junior attack Whitney Miller put in a key goal that broke Notre Dame's momentum and prevented the Irish from closing the gap to two.

"I decided it was time to step up and play like a junior," Miller said.

What made Miller's goal especially important is that Notre Dame has a reputation of, in Sailer's words, "taking it to you down the stretch." Closing the gap to two might have given the Irish the spark they needed to push for more goals.

Notre Dame played very respectably considering it had no idea what to expect from the Tigers.

"We didn't know anything about Princeton coming into the game," Notre Dame's Meredith Simon said.

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"We watched a few tapes last night, and we knew that No. 25 [junior Rachael Becker] was their best defender. But we had to feel our way. We would have put in more goals if we came out in the first half as we did in the second."

The Tigers, who haven't lost a game since their first of the season against Georgetown, were even caught a little off-guard by Notre Dame's effort.

"They were a great team; they worked really hard," Kenworthy said. "I give them a lot of credit."

Although three Tigers—Miller, Simone and Kenworthy—had three goals each, Sunday was not, according to Sailer, "Princeton's best shooting day." Fortunately, freshman goalie Sarah Kolodner stepped up to make five big saves, holding Notre Dame scoreless on six free position attempts. She improved to 16-0 as a starter in goal.

"[The Irish] were not taking the best shots, so it made my job a little easier," Kolodner said modestly. But even if Notre Dame's shots had been on, Kolodner was ready for them, for her focus in practice all week had been defending free shots.

Kolodner's success in Sunday's game will only add to her confidence as the Tigers progress farther down the road toward the championship. Her poise in goal continues to increase with each minute of game experience she gains.

"I get more confident every game—different players, different shots," she said.