Women's lacrosse defeats No. 4 Loyola in emotional contest

The women's lacrosse team opened and finished strong against Loyola on Saturday and this was enough for the Tigers to pull out a critical early-season 9-5 win.

While the game didn't need any additional hype — Princeton (2-0 overall) is ranked No. 1 and Loyola (3-1) is No. 4 — it got it as the Greyhounds held a pre-game ceremony as their field was renamed Diane Geppi-Aikens Field. This was in honor of the longtime coach of the women's squad who passed away of brain cancer last June. This was after leading the Greyhounds to a semifinal match-up in the NCAA Tournament last year with Princeton. The Tigers won that contest at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., 5-3.

With a hyped-up crowd on hand, the Tigers got off to a fast start to quiet it down. Princeton scored the game's first four goals, with junior midfielder Lindsey Biles scoring the first and fourth. Biles first goal came less than seven minutes into the game and freshman midfielder Kathleen Miller scored again only 32 seconds later.

Miller and Biles finished with three goals apiece, with Miller also adding two assists.

"Loyola was really concentrating on [Sherry] and our more experienced players, and I was lucky to convert the opportunities I got," Miller said.

After a strong opening to the first half, the Tigers' offense stagnated. Their defense continued to remain strong, however.

Loyola came back as Taila Shacklock put the Greyhounds on the board with just over 14 minutes to play. Senior attack Theresa Sherry answered with her second goal of the game to give the Tigers a 5-1 advantage.

The Tigers fell apart in the last nine minutes of the first half. Loyola scored three unanswered goals to go into halftime down only 5-4. The last of these goals came with just 10 seconds remaining in the first half.

Despite the meltdown at the end, junior goaltender Sarah Kolodner finished the game with a career-high 14 saves including eight in the first half.

"We've kind of jokingly told Sarah that her first two years she could depend on experience in front of her on defense but now the defense is depending on her," head coach Chris Sailer said. "She had a lot of great saves in the first half."

Three minutes into the second half Loyola tied the game at five. The Tigers responded as they held the Greyhounds scoreless over the last 27 minutes of the game.

In addition, the Tiger offense came to life. Miller put Princeton ahead for good with an unassisted goal with 19 minutes left in the contest.

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The Tigers iced the game just three minutes later as junior midfielder Elizabeth Pillion scored her first goal of the game. Miller's third goal came only 45 seconds later as the Tigers continued to score in spurts. Biles finished the scoring with just over eight minutes remaining in the game. From then on out, all the Tigers had to do was hold on for the win.

"We have a lot of weapons on attack," Miller said.

The teams finished with the same number of shots (29) although Princeton had the edge in the second half. The Tigers also won two more draws.

With the win, Princeton extended its winning streak to 11 games dating back to last season. They look to extend that mark next Sunday against No. 9 Virginia.