Women's lacrosse blows out Brown

Amidst the revelry and festivities of Houseparties on Saturday the women's lacrosse team was all business. The Tigers hosted Brown (5-8 overall, 3-3 Ivy League) with the Ivy League title on the line — a win would grant Princeton a share of the crown with Dartmouth and Yale while a loss would take the title from the two-time defending champion.

Blocking out visions of formal dresses and tuxedos, Princeton (12-4, 6-1) got the job done easily on Senior Day, beating the Bears, 19-10.

"It was definitely a little more emotional today," senior midfield Alex Fiore said. "It started in the locker room with us all looking around and thinking 'this is the last time we're doing this in the regular season.' It definitely got us fired up to win."

The Tigers let it be known early that they would in no way let this become the classic letdown game after big wins over No. 8 Dartmouth and No. 2 Maryland. Princeton won the opening draw and carried the ball into the Bears' half. After passing around the perimeter to open up space, sophomore midfield Elizabeth Pillion got the ball at the top of the 12-meter arc and charged in on Brown goaltender Julia Southard herself. She ripped the shot past the goalie to put Princeton up, 1-0, only 50 seconds into the game.

After Brown was able to work the ball deep into the Tigers' end of the field, sophomore goalie Sarah Kolodner made a save on a low shot and looked upfield for the clear. Junior midfielder Theresa Sherry broke free of her defender 30 yards from the cage and received the pass from Kolodner before turning and finding sophomore attack Lindsey Biles streaking down the middle of the field. Biles charged towards the goal with a three-on-two opportunity, before dishing to sophomore attack Leigh Slonaker, who found the back of the net to put the Tigers up by two at 2:45.

Princeton continued to roll, adding one goal by senior attack Whitney Miller, three by Biles and one by Fiore in the next 15 minutes of the game. After Biles' third score at 8:58 the Bears began to pressure, threatening Kolodner several times. Finally a Tiger was whistled for a foul, putting Brown's Christine Anneberg on the 8-meter with a free position shot. Anneberg converted, finally getting Brown on the board at 14:07. Princeton regained control of the ball and the momentum when Pillion found Biles in front of the net for her fourth of the day to once again extend the lead to seven at 8-1.

Each team then went on mini scoring streaks to close out the half with Princeton up, 13-4.

Brown came out strong in the second half and scored only 24 seconds in. Once again Princeton would not let go of the momentum, though, as Pillion added another goal before freshman attack Olachi Opara muscled in two goals.

A high point in the game came when senior defender Rachael Becker got her first goal of the season at 13:21. After missing on a free position shot two minutes earlier, Becker scooped up a ground ball deep in her own zone and ran the length of the field largely uncontested, before stuffing it by Southard to the delight of the crowd.

After Becker's score made it 17-6, Brown answered back with a trifecta of goals to bring the game to within eight once again. This was as close as the Bears could get, however, as another Brown goal was sandwiched between two Princeton tallies by Opara and Pillion to close out the game. The Tigers were able to thoroughly control the game from beginning to end, perhaps aided by the extra emotions that Senior Day brought.

"Brown has given us trouble in the past because we've usually been coming off big wins over Dartmouth and Maryland," Fiore said. "We knew we couldn't have a letdown and we couldn't let this team in at all. With Senior Day and the emotion pumping that wasn't hard."

Princeton now looks to the NCAA tournament where it will face Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Le Moyne (12-5) at home May 8.