Top-ranked women's lacrosse hosts Cornell

After a less-than-perfect win over Delaware on Tuesday night, women's lacrosse looks to clean up the technical aspects of its game Saturday against Cornell at Class of 1952 Stadium.

Princeton (8-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) hosts the Big Red (1-6, 0-1) for its second consecutive home game.

Both teams have just one other league contest under their belts. The Tigers handed Columbia a 17-6 loss on the Lions' home turf last Wednesday, and Cornell lost its Ivy opener to Penn, 13-7, last Saturday.

Though fresh off a commanding 15-8 victory over Delaware, the Princeton squad knows it still has a long way to go to bring itself up to the level of play it strives for.

Against the Blue Hens, too many Tiger turnovers and a lack of communication allowed the feisty Delaware team to stay within striking distance for much of the game. Princeton's 22 turnovers that night more than doubled its previous turnover average of just over 10 per game.

No player emerging from the locker room looked happy with the game, despite its one-sided outcome.

"We weren't winning groundballs, and we just didn't play together as a team," head coach Gail Sailer said.

After the contest, senior captain and attack Theresa Sherry listed several aspects of her team's game that need improvement.

"It was the fundamentals — hustling on groundballs, talking on defense, playing as a unit on defense, playing as a unit on attack," Sherry said. "There was a lot of individual play."

For the rest of the week, the Tigers will work on these fundamentals to make sure the Big Red can gain no ground against them.

Cornell, originally ranked No. 15 in the nation, dropped off the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association polls after the second week of the season. Since then, the Big Red has struggled — its lone victory came against Rutgers, a close contest, 8-6.

The Cornell defense has not yet been able to find its rhythm, though sophomore goaltender Maggie Fava has put forth a valiant effort all year long. The Big Red offense is led by junior attack Kristen Smith, who has found the net 15 times this season. Smith is joined by junior attack Lindsay Steinberg, who has a total of 10 goals, and sophomore attack Allison Schindler, a dangerous passer who leads the team in points with four goals and an impressive 13 assists.

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Even though the Tigers were not satisfied with their team play against Delaware on Tuesday, the contest reaffirmed Princeton's confidence in its many offensive weapons. Most notably, junior attack Lindsey Biles recorded seven points on the night, consistently penetrating the Blue Hen defense for five goals and two assists.

Biles now leads the team with 25 goals on the season. Sherry is not far behind with 23 tallies of her own. Even when an opponent is able to stop one of these two dangerous attacks, the Tigers have a handful of other shooters who know how to find the net. These other secret weapons include junior midfielder Elizabeth Pillion and freshman midfielder Kathleen Miller, though Miller has recently been quiet.

The Princeton defense has been no slouch, either. Junior goalie Sarah Kolodner boasts a 6.07 goals-against average, while the rest of the Tiger defense makes it hard to get a clean shot off.

In virtually every statistical category, Princeton holds a large advantage over Cornell. While the Tigers have outscored their opponents, 104-50, and put up an average of 13 goals per game midway through the season, the Big Red has been outscored 89-58 and has averaged just over seven goals per contest. Princeton also forces its opponents to give up an average of 11 turnovers per game, while Cornell itself earns only 4.1 takebacks.

Still, statistics don't win games. The Tigers need to take the Big Red seriously and not give them many opportunities.

Against Cornell, Princeton looks to extend its 17-game winning streak, a run that dates back to last April.

As long as the Tigers put together a more complete game than they did Tuesday, they can easily maintain their hold on both their Ivy League title hopes and their No. 1 national ranking.

After the Cornell game, Princeton faces Temple in Philadelphia on Wednesday before returning home for Ivy League games against Yale and Penn. Harvard, Dartmouth, Maryland, and Brown round out the schedule. The biggest date on the calendar? The 2004 NCAA Championships, held conveniently this year at Class of 1952 Stadium.