No. 1 women's lacrosse pummels Delaware

When you can play a technically poor game and still wind up with a seven-goal advantage at the final whistle, you know you've got a solid season in the making.

The No. 1 Tiger women's lacrosse team (8-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) hosted unranked Delaware (2-6) on a drizzly Tuesday night. Despite the Fightin' Blue Hens' modest record, they kept pressure on Princeton throughout the evening, thanks largely to careless play on the part of the home team. The Tigers held on for a 15-8 victory, their 15th consecutive win over Delaware dating back to 1990.

Senior attack Theresa Sherry displayed talent even before the first draw, singing the national anthem before the game. She later contributed to two of her team's 15 goals on the night.

Princeton struck quickly with the game's first three goals. Junior attack Lindsey Biles put the Tigers on the board with an unassisted goal just over two minutes into the game.

After a quick Princeton goal from senior attack Tara Hardiman, Biles scored the next three Tiger goals, two of them assisted by Sherry. Interrupted only by a goal from the Blue Hens' freshman midfielder Stephanie McQuade, Princeton possessed the early 5-1 lead.

The Tigers' early key to success was their dangerous shooting. Princeton's first four shots each resulted in a goal, evidence of careful shot selection. Delaware goaltender Patrice Hughes could only watch as the Tigers consistently found the net.

The Blue Hens stayed close to Princeton, pulling within three at 5-2 and then 6-3 before the Tigers closed the first half with a streak of three goals.

Despite the six-goal halftime advantage, Princeton was far from happy with its game. The Tigers had simply too many turnovers, too few groundballs and not enough team play.

Their woes continued in the second half. The Blue Hens surprised the Tigers with the first two goals of the second half to cut Princeton's lead to 9-5.

Though the two teams played evenly in the latter stanza, Princeton's advantage was too great for Delaware to overcome. The Tigers held on for the 15-8 win.

The deadly combination of Biles and Sherry allowed Princeton to maintain a comfortable lead throughout the game. Biles had a hand in seven of the Tigers' goals — five goals and two assists — and Sherry put up four points on two goals and two assists. Dangerously fast junior midfielder Elizabeth Pillion also earned a hat trick with three unassisted goals.

Princeton converted several of its free-position opportunities into easy goals. Also to the Tigers' advantage was their continued ability to find the net. They posted a .500 shooting percentage, converting on 15 of their 30 shots. By comparison, Delaware had eight goals on 28 shots.

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Yet Princeton was far from happy with its overall play on the night.

"I just thought we didn't play a very team-oriented game," coach Chris Sailer said. "We were a step behind in just about everything. I think we had 22 turnovers — that's ridiculous, and so many of them were unforced."

Sherry agreed with her coach's analysis, adding that the Tigers found several areas to improve for Saturday's game against Cornell.

"Our mentality is more about the process than the outcome," Sherry said. "[Tonight] it looked more like the beginning of the season than midway through it. I think we're just going to try to focus on the little things and move on from there."