Entering this week ranked No. 6 in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association Poll, the women's lacrosse team did not just win its game against No. 2 Maryland on Wednesday night — it dominated.
After the Tigers' narrow 10-9 victory over No. 8 Dartmouth on Saturday, Princeton (11-4 overall, 5-1 Ivy League) rolled into College Park and shocked higher-ranked Maryland (16-2), 13-6, dominating on both offense and defense.
"Everything clicked," sophomore attack Leigh Slonaker said. "We stuck with our game plan and didn't allow Maryland to get into any kind of rhythm. Every phase of the game flowed into the next, and we never felt panicked or threatened by what Maryland threw at us on either side of the field."
Defense set the tone of the first half so that, with 10 minutes elapsed, the game was still tied at zero. Maryland finally broke the stalemate when Annie Collins scored unassisted at 11:27. Slonaker answered under a minute later, scoring her 19th goal of the season.
A goal by Jessica Dorney put the Terrapins back on top — but only temporarily. At that point, Princeton broke out into a four-goal sprint.
Capped by back-to-back goals from sophomore midfielder Lindsey Biles, the sprint resulted in a 5-2 Princeton lead with 6:00 remaining in the half.
In those last minutes, Maryland managed to put in two more goals, thinning Princeton's halftime lead to one. However, the Tigers' seven-often first-half draw controls and sophomore goalie Sarah Kolodner's five first-half saves showed that they were the ones in control.
Although the Terrapins scored the first goal after the break just 37 seconds in, it was Princeton's offense that dominated the second half, beginning with two draw controls in a row that the Tigers converted into goals.
Slonaker fired the first one in off a pass from sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Pillion, and junior midfielder Theresa Sherry eluded her defender to whip in the second, her 100th career goal. Then senior attack Whitney Miller, who scored back-to-back goals in the first half, repeated the performance. Pillion liked what she saw and decided to put in two in a row herself. Senior midfielder Alex Fiore added one, and, finally, Miller scored her fifth goal of the game to close the night.
The Tigers swept up 22 ground balls in the game and caused eight turnovers. In the final 28 minutes they outscored the Terps, 8-1.
With the loss, Maryland dropped to 16-2 overall and will close out the season against current No. 1 Loyola on Saturday.
Princeton has now won four straight contests and will package up the regular season with a home game against Brown on Saturday at 3 p.m.
The Bears (5-8, 3-3) went 1-1 last week, dropping a close 15-10 decision to No. 12 Yale before beating Penn, 10-8.
In the loss to Yale, freshman Kate Staley led the offense with three goals and two assists, while freshman Ashley Holden, junior Laurel Pierpont and senior Bekah Rottenberg each added two goals. In net, sophomore Julia Southard registered a career-high 19 saves.
The Bears' two other Ivy League losses were against No. 12 Cornell, 15-11, and No. 13 Dartmouth, 17-11. They are tied with Cornell for fourth place in the League below Dartmouth, Yale, and Princeton.
In the win over Penn, Rottenberg led the offense with four goals and one assist. She is now seventh on her school's all-time scoring list with 120 points.
Brown has also defeated seventh-ranked Harvard, 7-5, and cellar-dweller Columbia, 13-6.
As a basis of comparison, the Bears did not dominate in their game against Maryland — they were dominated, 15-5, on Mar. 15. And they lost to Princeton last year, 10-6.
Nevertheless, the Tigers are not complacent as they look forward to Saturday.
"Brown is a huge game," Slonaker said, "and I think everyone is thankful to return home to [Class of] 1952 Stadium after three away games.
"If we play against Brown as we did against Maryland, we will have similar results. It's our last regular season home game, our last Ivy League game and our last chance to get ready for the NCAA tournament — we'll be ready."
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