Owls host No. 1 women's lacrosse

In the land of cartoons, physically superior characters like Sylvester the Cat are always foiled by pesky opponents like Tweety Bird. Women's lacrosse, however, can find solace in the fact that a Tiger is much more than a caricature cat. When Princeton (9-0 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) breaks up its Ivy League schedule with a trip to Philadelphia to face Temple (3-5, 1-1 Atlantic 10) this afternoon, the Tigers expect to be plucking Owl feathers before sundown.

Temple enters the game with confidence reinforced by its dominating weekend performance against Saint Joseph's. The team's 17-5 triumph was its first home win of the year and truncated a two-game losing streak.

Both Princeton and the Owls have played against Penn State and Virginia this season. While the Tigers beat Penn State handily and squeezed out a victory against No. 6 Virginia, Temple fell to both. These losses both came from the Owls' inability to slow their opponents' offensive onslaughts.

The Tigers exploited a similar flaw in Temple's game last year as they rolled to a 13-5 triumph. Princeton took over the game with three goals in a 40 second stretch, two of which were contributed by this year's leading scorer, junior attack Lindsey Biles. The Tigers then rattled off five straight goals to start the second half and secure the win.

"Scoring runs gives our team a real psychological lift and, conversely, takes the wind out of the sails of our opponents," head coach Chris Sailer said. "If the runs are part of an overall strong team performance that's the best, because ultimately we want to be playing well throughout the game, not just in spurts."

A major roadblock for the Tigers will be slipping the ball past Temple goalie Megan McLouth. Her .549 save percentage and 89 saves this season have kept the Owls within striking distance during most of their games. But Princeton has outscored its opponents by a game average of almost seven goals, and the team has been held under double-digits in scoring only twice this season. Offensive production should not be a problem for this freewheeling Tiger team.

The magic number for the Temple offense is 10. The Owls have scored in double digits three times this year and have won each of those games. Unfortunately for Temple, Princeton has allowed only one team to reach that mark. Cornell scored 10 goals last weekend, but the Tigers still bagged the victory.

"When we're playing our best on defense we are dictating what the opponent can do, seeing and reading the plays develop and working together as a team to stop the opponent and recover the ball," Sailer said. "We redefend so well and often recover the ball before it gets settled in our defensive end."

Although Princeton started the season with a series of non-league games, many of these opponents ranked among the nation's best. While the Tigers played these games with impressive resolve and ended each game on top, they have also shown a distressing tendency at times to play down to the level of their opponents.

Although Princeton beat both Cornell and Delaware convincingly, the Tigers did not dominate as much as they could have. They suffered from lapses in intensity, particularly on the defensive side, and had difficulty playing as a cohesive unit, letting the opposition creep back into contention.

Still, even though Princeton has not yet demonstrated a consistent intensity and primacy playing teams against whom they should cruise, ultimate victories in these cases have never been in doubt. A victory over Temple will position Princeton only one game away from equaling its previous record of 20 straight wins. The Tigers hope that motivation will propel them to a complete game effort and decisive triumph.

It is a testament to the enduring Tigers' talent that they can afford their mistakes and still pull out the win.

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"When you practice and train as much as we do, and have only 16 regular season games, it's hard to imagine not getting up every time you have the privilege of taking the field," Sailer said. "We know that games aren't won on paper."