Women's lacrosse defeats Georgetown in OT

Sporting events don't get much more exciting than the women's lacrosse team's 13-11 overtime victory against Georgetown (5-2) on Friday night to push their record to 4-3.

Two minutes into the first overtime, senior midfielder Alex Fiore found a hungry Whitney Miller in front of the net and fed her the ball. Miller, a senior attack, then fired a shot past Georgetown goalkeeper Dosha Straight to win the rematch of last season's NCAA championship game.

"We were running a set scoring play," Miller said. "I received a great feed from Alex Fiore and just told myself to relax and shoot around the keeper."

The Tigers had to dig themselves out of an early two-goal deficit 13 minutes into the game, created when Lauren Bernier made the score 4-2 in favor of the Hoyas. Miller and junior attack Liza Hillenbrand brandished the shovels, scoring back-to-back goals to even the score.

Junior midfielder Theresa Sherry then beat her defender one-on-one to put Princeton ahead. But Georgetown's leading scorer, Wick Stanwick, answered right before the half to knot the score at 5-5. Georgetown snatched the lead again when Anouck Peters scored her first of three second-half goals at 1:35 into the second period.

The ensuing nine-minute scoreless period was finally put to an end when Sherry scored her third goal of the night — and team-high 17th of the season.

From here, the game rocked back and forth, with the Tigers able to gain the lead — but unable to keep it.

Seesawing until overtime

One minute, 15 seconds after Sherry's goal, Hillenbrand put the Tigers ahead by one. A goal for Georgetown evened the score at 7-7, but then Miller put in her second goal of the night to put the Tigers back on top.

An unassisted shot by Fiore gave Princeton its largest lead of the night at 9-7. Like Princeton had done when it was down, 4-2, in the first period, Georgetown answered with two back-to-back goals to tie the game at 9-9. A goal by sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Pillion and another for Georgetown lifted the knot to 10-10 with a minute to play.

Then, Sherry, spinning around a defender, lobbed a pass to sophomore attack Leigh Slonaker, who took aim and scored with 19.4 seconds left.

"I think we showed incredible poise, in regulation and during overtime, on attack and on defense," Slonaker said.

Not to be outdone, Georgetown's Gloria Lozano controlled her 10th draw of the night to give the Hoyas possession. A scramble for a loose ball resulted in a free-position attempt for Allison Chambers, who capitalized on the opportunity and created the ninth tie of the game, throwing the teams into overtime.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Miller scored both extra-period goals to secure the victory for the Tigers — and the perfect payback for Princeton's 15-13 overtime loss to Georgetown in the season-opener a year ago.

Of the three overtime contests since 2001 that the Tigers have played, two have been against the Hoyas. Furthermore, of the nine games the Tigers have played against Georgetown in program history, the score has come down to two goals or fewer in seven of those contests.

Needless to say, the Hoyas are a talented team, and no easy win for the defending-national-champion Tigers.

In the end it was the Tigers' maturity in handling pressure situations that won the game. Their sudden-death overtime loss to Loyola earlier this season served as preparation for and motivation to beat the Hoyas — not to mention the memories from the last time they played Georgetown at Class of 1952 Stadium.

"After losing to Loyola in overtime," Miller said, "I was nervous, but when I thought about the intensity the team had played with during the first 60 minutes, of the game I was sure we could ultimately beat Georgetown."

Princeton and Georgetown entered Friday's game ranked seventh and fourth, respectively, in Inside Lacrosse Magazine's weekly poll. It should provide good preparation for a difficult schedule ahead.

"I thought the team played with great hustle, determination, and confidence," Miller said. "The attack finally came into its own and established itself. This win was really important in establishing confidence for ourselves for the tough week ahead against Delaware and Cornell."