Amo scores winner in overtime

The last time the women's lacrosse team was forced into overtime, a 14-13 loss to Penn State on March 19, freshman attack Ashley Amo was not a starter. Wednesday night against Georgetown, she took advantage of her recent promotion, scoring the game-winning goal with 2:09 left in the second overtime to lead the Tigers to a 13-12 win over the Hoyas at Class of 1952 Stadium.

"Amo comes in when we need her," sophomore midfielder Kathleen Miller said. "She's clutch and lightning fast."

Amo wasn't the only underclassman who saw critical time and produced for Princeton against Georgetown: the Tigers thrived on a youth-led balanced attack. Miller and freshman midfielder Katie Lewis-Lamonica were crucial for the Tigers' offense, each notching a hat trick.

"I'm pleased with how they're developing. It's great experience [for the freshman]," head coach Chris Sailer said. "This was a big test and they came through."

Instead of just the normal two scoring options — senior attack Lindsey Biles and senior midfielder Elizabeth Pillion had combined for more goals than the rest of the team total, prior to Wednesday — six players notched goals for the Tigers on Wednesday night. It wasn't just the underclassmen — senior Ingrid Goldberg also turned in a hat-trick.

"So many attackers came to play," Lewis-Lamonica said. "Against Virginia we had great defense, we wanted to get everything else in order and really step up and play as a whole."

Trading streaks

Early on, after shooting out to a 4-1 lead, it seemed like Princeton would run away with the win. But the Hoyas were not to be defeated so easily, and they fought back with a streak of five unanswered goals later in the first half.

Allison Chambers kept the Hoyas in the game, scoring their first two goals of the evening. Starting with Chambers' goal with 10 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in the first half, the Hoyas dominated the game for a nine-minute stretch with their patient offense, pulling ahead 7-5 with 1:32 till the half on a goal by Catherine Elbe.

Determined to not enter the second half with a deficit, Miller scored unassisted with 46 seconds before the break. The Tigers controlled the ensuing draw, as they did throughout the game — they controlled 18 draws to Georgetown's 11 — and Miller took possession again.

Three times Miller attacked the net, and on each foray she was fouled — once knocked to the ground — and awarded a free possession. Finally, on the third chance, she launched an unimpeded shot past the Hoyas' goalie to tie the score with 6.8 seconds to go in the first.

"I guess the third time's the charm," Miller said. "I was just getting more angry each time."

Lewis-Lamonica and Miller opened up the second half with goals, and Princeton opened up an 11-9 advantage when Biles tallied two goals in a six-minute span after an abnormally quiet first half.

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After Georgetown's Coco Stanwick scored with 9:31 remaining to tie the score at 11, neither team was able to gain a lead, despite multiple attempts. Senior goalie Sarah Kolodner made a number of crucial saves, and Georgetown whittled down the clock, almost maintaining possession for the last three minutes of the game in an attempt to get off the final shot. But Princeton won a ground ball with fifteen seconds remaining, forcing the third overtime in the last four meetings between the two teams.

"We weren't walking off the field without a win," senior attack Ingrid Goldberg said of the team's attitude before overtime. "[The Penn State loss] gave us extra motivation."

After Lewis-Lamonica scored the first goal of overtime, Georgetown's Chambers answered with her fifth and final goal of the game. Amo then scored the go-ahead goal off a feed from Pillon.

Clinging to a one-goal lead, the Tigers had only to stall for two minutes to secure the win. They were successful until, with 24.7 seconds to go, Princeton was charged with purposely throwing the ball out of bounds, granting possession to the Hoyas.

Georgetown was able to attack once more, but Kolodner came up big, throwing herself to the ground to stop the Hoyas' final shot.

"It was kinda crazy in the end," Sailer said. "Georgetown has a great attack, our defense in the second half buckled down and played well. Tonight was important — it would have been tough to finish out the month with a loss."