The women's lacrosse team forced an impressive 21 turnovers at Virginia on Saturday. The only problem was they gave the ball up 22 times themselves.
It was a day of extremes on the stat sheet. The No. 4 Tigers (4-2 overall) held Virginia's top scorer, Amy Appelt, to only two goals, but Princeton's most powerful offensive threats, senior midfielder Liz Pillion and senior attack Lindsey Biles, only combined for three. But while the Cavaliers' supporting cast stepped up, the Tigers' did not, and Princeton fell to No. 3 Virginia (6-1), 8-4, on a cold and wet day in Charlottesville, Va.
"We grew up on defense today, competed for groundballs and did a terrific job on a great player in Appelt," head coach Chris Sailer said afterward. "But we just had way too many turnovers in the midfield that kept us from being able to establish anything offensively."
Sophomore midfielder Kathleen Miller found Biles just fifty seconds into the contest for the game's first goal, but that would be the Tigers' only lead of the day.
Shortly after Biles' goal, Appelt caught fire, scoring two goals to make the score 2-1 just five minutes into the game.
The Tigers created plenty of opportunities to score midway through the first to get back on top, but Virginia's goaltender, Ginger Miles, made six saves to keep the Tigers from adding to their total.
While UVA's goalkeeping checked Princeton's offensive output, the Tigers played solid defense, too. It was not until six minutes, 21 seconds remained in the half that the Cavaliers' Carey Chasney got the ball past senior goaltender Sarah Kolodner, giving Virginia a 3-1 advantage.
Though Princeton still trailed by two going into the locker room, the Tigers were buoyed by the knowledge that they've been a second half team so far this season, having already completed several comebacks.
No déjà vu
But it was not to be this time. Virginia took its momentum from the end of the first half and continued the offensive production. After Kolodner made one save early in the second half, the Tigers turned it right back over, and the Cavaliers' Kate Breslin wound up with the ball and fired a shot. This time Kolodner was unable to stop it, making the score 4-1. Chasney was fouled a few moments later, and she scored on the ensuing free-position play to extend Virginia's edge to 5-1.
Freshman attack Ashley Amo responded with a goal with 16:55 remaining, ending a 42-minute, 15-second scoring drought that extended back to Biles' goal 50 seconds into the game. But the Tigers still couldn't get any momentum rolling.
Tyler Leachman and Meredith Lazarus both scored for Virginia, giving the Cavaliers their largest lead of the game at 7-2. Lazarus' goal came after she caused one of her five turnovers on the day. She was later fouled, and she scored on the ensuing free-position shot.
Pillion did all she could late to keep Princeton alive, scoring two goals in just over two minutes of play to pull the Tigers within three goals with more than seven minutes remaining.
Too little, too late
The Tigers would get no closer, though. UVA tightened on defense and did not allow another Princeton goal for the rest of the game. Breslin added her second of the game on an empty net with 1:28 remaining to seal the 8-4 win for Virginia.
Kolodner had seven saves in the loss, including five in the second half. Miles made eight in the victory.
The teams played a relatively even game, with the Tigers simply unable to take advantage of opportunities, despite controlling nine of 14 draws. Both teams had more than 20 turnovers, but Virginia was able to get off 22 shots to the Tigers' 16. The most telling stat, though, may have been the 17 Princeton fouls, many coming at inopportune times.
The loss tied the Tigers' all-time series record with the Cavaliers at 11 games apiece. Virginia defeated Princeton in last May's NCAA title game.
Princeton returns to Class of 1952 Stadium on Wednesday night to host Georgetown, which is coming off a convincing victory against Rutgers.
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