Another OT thriller

For the second game in a row and the third in the past 15 days, 60 minutes was not enough for the women's lacrosse team. And for the second game in a row, working overtime paid off for the Tigers.

Princeton's two offensive senior stars, attack Lindsey Biles and midfielder Elizabeth Pillion, took advantage of a scoring chance with 14 seconds remaining in the first sudden-death overtime period to give the No. 4 Tigers (6-2 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) a 9-8 win over No. 14 Cornell (4-3, 1-1) on Saturday.

It was Princeton's second consecutive overtime win this week against a ranked opponent — the Tigers defeated No. 8 Georgetown 13-12 on Wednesday.

On a rainy day on the drenched turf in Ithaca, N.Y., Biles received the feed from Pillion and scored on a running shot four feet from the net against Big Red goalie Maggie Fava, keeping the Tigers undefeated in league play.

Late in the first half, though, things did not look so promising for the Tigers, as they trailed, 5-3. Princeton closed the gap to 5-4 heading into the locker room at the half thanks to freshman attack Ashley Amo's first goal of the game with almost eight minutes left in the first half. It was Amo who scored the game-winner against Georgetown.

Neither team could find the back of the net for the first 11 minutes of the second half until Pillion tied the game at five 11:14 into the half. Senior attack Ingrid Goldberg then put Princeton on top, 6-5, as she scored with 16:44 left in the half. The Tigers continued their unanswered four-goal run when Amo received a pass from sophomore midfielder Kathleen Miller and scored just 43 seconds later.

Amo scored her third goal of the game off of senior attack Leigh Slonaker's assist at the eight-minute, 49-second mark, giving the Tigers an 8-6 advantage.

"I was just open a lot in the middle [of the offensive zone]," Amo said. "We did a good job all game of finding the open person in the middle."

Despite these heroics, Princeton did let a late two-goal lead slip away.

Cornell responded after Princeton turned the ball over at midfield. The Big Red's Amanda Linnertz scored her first career goal just 31 seconds later on a low shot from the right side, closing the gap to one goal. Cornell completed its comeback with 3:11 remaining in the game when Katherine Simmons beat Kolodner on the right side, equalizing the score at 8-8.

Simmons also had a chance to score on the last possession of the game, but her shot was saved by Tiger senior goaltender Sarah Kolodner with six seconds remaining.

Sudden-death

After both teams could only muster one shot attempt combined in the first two overtime periods, the game went to sudden death. Entering yet another overtime period, the team was determined to leave upstate New York with a win.

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"It was so cold and rainy," said Amo, who recorded a hat trick in the game, "that we just wanted to finish the game and win, of course."

Princeton was unable to establish any offensive rhythm in the second overtime, as the Cornell defense tightened and almost forced three turnovers on consecutive Tiger possessions. Pillion had her first chance in the sudden-death period with 1:12 remaining, but her shot sailed wide.

But after a quick restart just under a minute and four Princeton passes later, Pillion fed Biles, and as they say, the rest is history.

Kolodner finished the game with seven saves and Cornell's Fava ended with 10 saves, seven of which came in the first half. Despite committing 19 turnovers, Princeton outshot Cornell, 30-22, and had a 15-6 advantage on the draw circle. Cornell picked up one more groundball than Princeton, 24-23.

Miller led the Tigers in scoring with four points on two goals and had two assists. Biles chipped in two goals as well.

Cornell had a trio of players with two goals: Simmons, Margaux Viola and Lindsey Moore. Seven of the team's eight goals were scored by freshmen and sophomores.

The Tigers' win extended their Ivy League winning streak to 13 games dating back to the 2003 season and snapped the Big Red's three-game win streak. Cornell has not beaten Princeton since the 1988 regular season — 18 consecutive games.