On an ominous day at Class of 1952 Stadium, Ohio St. stood between women's lacrosse and a fourth-straight Final Four appearance.
After letting the Buckeyes (14-4 overall) hang around for much of the first half, Princeton (14-4) took control by scoring four of five goals to close out the half on its way to a 17-8 win before 906 fans.
With the victory, the Tigers will travel to Syracuse next week for the women's Final Four where they will play No. 1 Loyola on Friday.
Getting back to this stage was not entirely expected considering what the Tiger's lost last season.
"We lost a lot of key scorers from last season's national championship team," head coach Chris Sailer said. "We asked for people to step up all year — they did."
Midway through the first half of yesterday's contest, the Tiger's found themselves facing a gutcheck. The favored Tigers were down 5-4 and had been unable to slow down the Ohio St. attack.
What happened next gives Tiger fans hope that a second straight national title is very much within reach.
Princeton ripped off 11 of the next 12 goals to put the game away and to start the travel plans to Syracuse.
Down 5-4, senior defender Rachel Becker carried the ball into the offensive zone and dished to sophomore attack Leigh Slonaker.
"Things just started clicking for us [halfway through first half]," Slonaker said. "We didn't get flustered." This was just the beginning. Junior midfielder Theresa Sherry scored the game's next two goals, before Ohio St. closed the gap to 7-6 with four-and-a-half minutes left in the first stanza.
Sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Pillion gave the Tigers some breathing room heading into halftime scoring a goal with 32 seconds left in the half, and adding another 13 seconds later. She also opened the scoring in the second half pushing Princeton in front, 10-6.
Senior attack Whitney Miller (1), sophomore attack Lindsey Biles (2), and senior midfielder Alex Fiore (1) also scored on the Tiger's run. When the run was over, Princeton found themselves up, 15-6.
"We are playing so well as a team," Biles said. "Everyone is contributing so much and I think that is the biggest reason for our success today and this season."
Sherry finished with a game-high five goals and an assist, with Biles adding four goals.
Princeton will leave for Syracuse on Thursday to play the Greyhounds at Syracuse.
"[Loyola will] come out really agressive and we're looking for it to be a really competitive game," Slonaker said.
The Tigers lost a tough double-overtime game to Loyola in their second contest of the season, 9-8. They will hope to reverse that result this week. A win on Friday means that Princeton will play in the title game on Sunday.
"I'm excited to play Loyola," Becker said. "I'm looking forward to playing them again."
Loyola defeated Yale 13-7 today in another quarterfinal matchup.
"It's great to be back in the Final Four," Sailer said. "It really says a lot about this senior class to be here all four years."
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