W. lax pulverizes Le Moyne in first round

It was deja vu all over again for the women's lacrosse team yesterday afternoon at Class of 1952 Stadium as the No. 5 Tigers hosted Le Moyne (12-6) in the first round of the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. The result was familiar as well, as Princeton destroyed the Dolphins, 19-1, to move onto the tournament quarterfinals.

The game started off with a glimmer of hope for Le Moyne. After a teammate was awarded a free position shot on the Tigers' 8-meter arc, Le Moyne's Caitlin Lowie received the ball behind the net and rolled the crease, flinging a sidearm shot towards the goal. The ball trickled by sophomore goaltender Sarah Kolodner and put the Dolphins up temporarily, 1-0, five minutes, 38 seconds in.

The Le Moyne faithful should have pulled out their cameras at this point, for it was all she wrote for the Dolphins after this.

The Tigers went on an offensive tear for the rest of the game, scoring 19 unanswered goals to pave their way to the second round.

Senior attack Whitney Miller started the offensive deluge less than a minute after the Dolphins had enjoyed their moment of glory. Receiving the ball outside the 12m arc, Miller broke towards the goal, faked out a few defenders and fired high to tie the game at 6:47.

The Princeton machine did not let up after that, squelching any fleeting hopes Le Moyne may have had of knocking out the defending champions. Sherry, junior midfielders Mary Beth Hogan and Liza Hillenbrand, sophomore attack Leigh Slonaker, sophomore midfielders Elizabeth Pillion and Ingrid Goldberg, junior attack Tara Hardiman and freshman attack Olachi Opara all added goals in the dominating win.

"It was pretty exciting," Pillion said. "It was just a fun game to play although it was a little hard to come out 100 percent. There's always room for improvement. We would have liked to cut down on our turnovers a little."

While Princeton was clearly the better team today, the Tigers did not play up to the level that they had against Brown, Maryland or Dartmouth. Princeton's passing looked sloppy at times, but the Tigers were able to keep turnovers relatively low with a 29-12 edge in ground balls.

Princeton will have to make sure it brings its "A" game on Sunday when it hosts No. 11 Ohio State. The Buckeyes upset No. 4 Duke yesterday in North Carolina, 10-7.

"I think if we had gotten Duke we would have been more than excited because we lost a game we shouldn't have to them earlier," Pillion said. "Ohio St. is a strong team, though, and we're very excited to be playing at home."