Bouncing back won't be easy for w. lacrosse

It's been a long time since the women's lacrosse team has had to bounce back from a loss. Just about a year, in fact. Before Sunday's 9-8 double-overtime loss to Loyola, the Tigers had won 20 straight games, dating back to last year's season-opening loss to Georgetown — which, coincidentally, also came in double overtime.

Princeton (1-1), now ranked No. 2 in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaching Association's weekly poll, will test its recovery skills over spring break as the Tigers take on three of the top 15 teams in the country — No. 5 Duke, No. 8 Virginia and No. 12 Penn State.

"In the key games coming up next week, we want to improve our shot selection even more and increase communication all over the field," sophomore attack Leigh Slonaker said. "Our spring break trip will present us with three talented teams who will provide great competition for our team, and our team thrives on competition."

Princeton will first take on Virginia, a team the Tigers have beaten each of the last three years. The Tigers' recent string of wins over the Cavaliers belies how close the games have actually been — Princeton took the three contests with a combined margin of only six goals.

Virginia (3-2) has had a fairly good start to its season, beating three lower-ranked teams and falling to No. 3 Maryland and No. 7 Syracuse. The team's strength thus far has been its attack. Sophomore Cary Chasney leads the Cavaliers with 17 goals and four assists for 21 points in her first five games, while senior — and high school teammate — Lauren Aumiller is right behind, with 16 goals and three assists for 19 total points.

The Tigers travel farther south to Durham, NC to play Duke on March 19. The Blue Devils (5-1) have also been testing themselves early, as they have already played two teams ranked in the top 15 — Johns Hopkins and Maryland — and will host No. 9 North Carolina tomorrow.

Duke's grit was tested in the Blue Devil's recent 9-8 overtime loss to No. 3 Maryland. After spending much of the second half playing catchup, Duke rallied to send the contest into overtime with three goals by freshman Katie Chrest, Duke's leading scorer with 11 goals on the year. Though the Blue Devils eventually dropped the game in overtime, the battle with Maryland proved they will not concede the game if the Tigers get the upper hand early.

Penn State will not be starstruck by the defending champions, either.

"Penn State is always a heated game," junior midfielder Theresa Sherry said. "They are an aggressive team, and there is an intense rivalry between our programs that extends beyond when I started playing here."

So far this season, the Nittany Lions (2-1) have upset Vanderbilt and pummeled Davidson, with their only loss coming against No. 10 James Madison.

Also, Penn State's junior attack Katie Jeschke earned American Lacrosse Conference Player of the Week honors for her four goals against Vanderbilt, while freshman Liz Frandé was named National Rookie of the Week by womenslacrosse.com.

The Tigers know that, when taking on this caliber of competition, bouncing back from the loss against Loyola is completely on their shoulders. Princeton must build on the strengths exhibited in its first two games while avoiding the mistakes it has made early.

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"The one thing we may have been lacking coming into this season is some experience in the starting lineup, so overcoming that will be key to our success," Sherry said. "I am confident in everyone out there, though, and in Sunday's game alone we were tested in situations that we could have seen over an entire season."