After early scare, w. lax beats up on Delaware

Thirteen minutes and 53 seconds into the women's lacrosse game Tuesday night at Delaware, it seemed that the Tigers might be heading towards a debacle.

Princeton (5-3 overall, 1-0 Ivy League), which had climbed to the No. 6 ranking in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association poll after a dramatic victory over Georgetown Friday night, was having trouble getting into the game against unranked Delaware (4-5), and had allowed the Blue Hens to build a 5-1 lead.

But 13:54 into the first half, all of this changed. Sophomore attack Lindsey Biles lit a spark under the Tiger offense with her seventh goal of the season and ignited a 12-goal Princeton run that would bury the Blue Hens and secure the win for the Tigers.

Delaware jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead just over a minute into the game with a goal by Erin Edell. This was quickly followed up by junior midfielder Theresa Sherry's first goal of the night to even the score at 27:34.

After this, however, the Tigers played on their heels and allowed Delaware to set the tempo of the game. The Blue Hens obliged, ripping in four more goals to build a 5-1 lead after 13 minutes of play.

After Biles brought Princeton to within three, sophomore attack Leigh Slonaker made sure the team would continue to climb out of the hole it had created with a goal of her own. Junior defense Katie Yakulis and her classmate, attack Liza Hillenbrand, both used dishes from sophomore midfield Elizabeth Pillion to add two more scores, tying the game at five goals apiece within four minutes of Biles' goal.

But the Tigers' goalscoring streak was nowhere near done. Sherry scored two of the next three Princeton goals to give her team the 8-5 lead heading into the locker room, with momentum squarely on Princeton's side.

After the break the Tigers picked up right where they had left off, this time led by Pillion and senior attack Whitney Miller.

The two teammates traded goals at the beginning of the half to widen the Princeton lead even further. Miller got on the score sheet 2:55 into the half with a goal assisted by Yakulis. Pillion then added a goal to her two assists thus far to push the score to 10-5, and Miller converted again 40 seconds later.

Pillion gained control of the ensuing draw and took off down the field. The ball was in the back of the net merely 10 seconds later, continuing the Tigers' roll.

Next to be heard from was Slonaker, who tallied the third of her team-leading four goals on the night with 16:38 remaining in the game.

The Blue Hens mounted a mini-comeback after Slonaker's third goal made the score 13-8, but it was too little, too late. In a game of scoring streaks, Delaware's three goals were countered by four from the Tigers, and the Princeton lead grew to nine goals at 17-8. Delaware scoring leader Nikki Kucharski added a final symbolic tally with two and a half minutes remaining, but it would have no effect on the result — a dominating 17-9 Princeton win.

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The Tigers benefited throughout the game from a very balanced attack. Slonaker led the team with four goals on the night, while Miller, Pillion and Sherry had three goals each and four other players contributed single scores.