W. lacrosse advances to quarters

Princeton had little trouble taking down Colgate in the first round of the NCAA tournament last night. In between three two-goal runs by the Raiders, the Tigers went on several large streaks of their own to advance to the tournament quarterfinals.

On its home turf at Class of 1952 Stadium, Princeton (17-0 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) dominated Colgate (13-7) in nearly every statistical category.

The Tiger offense wasted no time in finding the net. A quick five-goal run to start the game put Princeton gave the Tigers a 5-0 lead within the first 14 minutes of the contest.

The Raiders refused to let Princeton's No. 1 ranking by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association intimidate them, however. After a quick timeout following the Tigers' fifth tally, goals from Amanda Bradshaw and Katie McVeigh brought Colgate back within three.

Princeton quickly gained the ground back, chalking up three more first-half goals to give the team an 8-2 lead going into the break.

Junior midfielder Elizabeth Pillion sparked the early momentum, notching three of her team's eight first-half goals, including the game's first two scores.

Princeton outshot the Raiders 19-4 in the first half, but it was the Tigers' accuracy in the second stanza that buried Colgate for good. The home team capitalized on 10 of its second-half shots.

Not content to simply coast on to victory, the Tigers came out firing again in the second half. Though a shot just 15 seconds into the fresh stanza from freshman midfielder Kathleen Miller ricocheted off the post, junior midfielder Lindsey Biles soon hurled home her 50th goal of the season to increase her team's lead to seven. Three more goals brought Princeton's lead to a double-digit 12-2.

Another two goals from the Raiders brought the underdogs within eight, the closest Colgate would be for the rest of the game.

Six more consecutive goals allowed the Tigers to run away with the game in the second half.

Another pair of goals from the Raiders, the last coming with 25 seconds on the clock, proved too little too late. The final score of 18-6 gave heavily-favored Princeton a game to build on as it continues on in the tournament.

Fittingly, the game ended on a momentum shift. Each team went on several runs of at least two goals over the course of the evening.

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The score might have been closer if not for junior goaltender Sarah Kolodner's efforts. She had six saves on Colgate's 13 shots in the game, many of those saves coming from close range.

"[Kolodner] had a nice second half," head coach Chris Sailer said. "Down the stretch, when we really needed her to make some saves, when they got a couple of close shots in a row, she came up big for us. That made a big difference."

Biles, Princeton's most prolific goalscorer this season, added an impressive five goals to her season total of 53 last night. This total puts Biles second on Princeton's all-time single-season scoring list.

But last night's game was a team affair — six of Biles' teammates also scored to add to the Tigers' dangerous attack. Miller racked up a hat trick for the night, and senior attack Theresa Sherry, recently named a finalist for this year's Tewaarton Trophy, added two goals of her own.

Overall, the home team was happy with its performance, though Princeton had 14 turnovers over the course of the evening — still less than the Raiders' 16.

"We scored in a lot of different ways, which was nice," Sailer said. "We had a few more turnovers than I would have liked, but we were trying to push the tempo a little more than we usually do, and sometimes that happens. But I think we had an overall solid game."

With the first round over, Princeton now looks ahead to Sunday's quarterfinal action, when the Tigers take on a Big Green team that downed New Hampshire last night.