Tigers battle three top foes over break

Looking at the women's lacrosse team's early season schedule, one can't help but wonder if the Tigers are gluttons for punishment. Princeton's tough opening schedule continues over the next week, as the Tigers will play three Top-20 teams in just six days — No. 11 Loyola (1-2) at home on Sunday, No. 4 Duke (5-0) in Durham, N.C., on Wednesday and No. 16 Penn State (3-0) at the Class of 1952 stadium next Saturday.

Coming off of a sloppy home win against No. 6 Johns Hopkins last Saturday, head coach Chris Sailer sees these three games as opportunities to demonstrate the team's strength even after losing several significant contributors to graduation.

"We realized across the board that we didn't play nearly as well as we are capable of [against Johns Hopkins]," Sailer said. "We were just not able to the handle the pressure as we should have . . . We are looking forward to creating more options, more movement. . . and being more threatening with our attackers."

The Tigers' first test will be against a Loyola team that is a perennial Final Four contender. The Greyhounds returned eight seniors and its four top scorers from the 2004 season, players who accounted for over 60 percent of Loyola's scoring. The team also returns 21 other players from last year's squad. The Class of 1952 Stadium will be the Greyhounds' second stop on their three-game roadtrip, their longest of the season.

After that, Princeton will at last get to head south, hitting the road to face Duke in North Carolina. It will be the team's first road game of the young season and an important one. Some of the toughest teams Princeton will face this season will be away from home, as the Tigers must play in front of road crowds at Virginia, Dartmouth and Maryland. Sailer is anxious to see how her team handles playing in foreign territory.

"It will be good for us to experience [the road] early," Sailer said. "I think that it is always good for you take a road trip. It's spring break, so it's nice getting to go down to Durham to some warmer weather."

The Tigers will not have time to sunbathe, however, as Duke will most certainly be the biggest challenge of the three games. Earlier in the season, the Blue Devils handily beat a strong Maryland squad, 10-7, in a game that Sailer has had the opportunity to watch and learn from. With its five wins thus far, Duke has tied the best season-opening streak in school history.

"People would see Duke as the furthest along and the most threatening [team over break]," Sailer said.

The Blue Devils have played in each of the past seven NCAA tournaments and are coming off of a successful season in which Duke captured the ACC title. U.S. national player and Tewaaraton Trophy candidate Katie Chrest leads the Blue Devils on the field. Chrest, who has already earned a Player of the Week honor this season, scored three goals and tallied an assist in Duke's first-ever win at Maryland.

After its brief southern swing, Princeton will return home to face the currently undefeated Nittany Lions on the final Saturday of spring break. Penn State is off to its best start since the 1993 season but will face No. 1 Virginia on Friday night.

The Nittany Lions are led by their three All-American Lacrosse Conference players: senior goalkeeper Lee Tortorelli, senior attack Kristen Burke and junior midfielder Lori Havrilla. Tortorelli, the 2004 ACL Goalie of the Year, broke Penn State's all-time career saves record earlier this season. Havrilla and Burke have 11 and 12 points, respectively, on the season, and senior Emily Chambers leads the team with 11 goals and 17 points.

The fact that these important games are crammed into a six-day period will force the Tigers to be sharp. Sailer knows that in order to win, the Tigers will need to play a better game than they did against Hopkins.