Tigers Trounce Terps

Senior midfielder Elizabeth Pillion had missed the last three weeks of the regular season with a hamstring injury, but in her first game back yesterday afternoon at home, no one could tell. Propelling the No. 8 Tigers (13-4) to a 16-8 rout of Maryland (12-7) in the first round of the women lacrosse NCAA tournament, Pillion contributed three goals as well as the hustle plays that have characterized her style of play throughout her entire Princeton career.

"It's not only on the field," head coach Chris Sailer said after the game. "It is an emotional impact to have her back for the team. She personifies the heart and hustle and intensity that we want all of our players to have. She made hustle plays early [in the game], and it just really elevated everybody to know that she was back in there with us."

Early on, it appeared as though this game would become a repeat of the teams' quadruple-overtime thriller in Maryland last week. But with Princeton trailing 3-2 with just over six minutes remaining in the first half and neither side taking any real initiative, senior attack Lindsey Biles decided it was time to step it up.

"It's always good to have momentum going into the end of the half. I think that was key for us," Biles said, who ended her Class of 1952 Stadium career with four goals and two assists.

Biles collected a feed from senior attack Ingrid Goldberg, dodged a defender and found the back of the net, tying the game at 3-3. Only 26 seconds later, freshman midfielder Katie Lewis-Lamonica put Princeton on top for good. Behind Biles' three first-half goals, one of which she fired past Terps' goalie Kirah Miles with one second remaining on the clock, the Tigers opened up a 7-4 halftime advantage.

Unlike its last game against Maryland, Princeton was not about to let that lead slip away.

Just two and a half minutes into the second half, the Tigers struck down any Terrapin hopes of a comeback with three goals off the stick of sophomore midfielder Kathleen Miller. Her offensive explosion triggered a 9-2 second-half run that would essentially punch the team's ticket to the NCAA's second round. The Princeton offense worked the ball around to the back of the net into the stick of Biles, who had the Maryland defenders on a string. She lofted the ball over the back of the net and found Miller cutting to the net. Miller proceeded to bounce the ball off of the turf in front of the goaltender's feet and into the goal.

At the 25-minute mark, Miller struck again after a swarming Tiger defense had caused a turnover in the defensive zone. On a free-position shot from the left hash mark, Miller fired low and just inside the outside past the outstretched leg of Miles.

Miller completed her three-goal run with just over 18 minutes remaining when Lewis-Lemonica, who finished the game with three points, found Miller on the right side of the net. Miller, the game's leading goalscorer, finished with five goals, her season high.

"Miller really shot the lights out tonight," Sailer said. "She was able to see when she had defenders one-on-one, and she took them to goal ... I think she is really starting to peak now offensively for us, and we are seeing her become the force that we know she can be."

With Maryland's hopes of reaching the second round fading fast, Princeton delivered the final blows — six goals in the next 10 minutes. Pillion, playing with a tightly bandaged right leg, increased the Tiger lead to 12-5 after scoring back-to-back unassisted goals. Pillion finished the game with hat trick.

Biles continued the onslaught of goals at the 10 minute, 55 second mark, when she spun past her defender, weaved through traffic on the left side of the field and beat the goaltender with a low shot. Exactly one minute later, Biles' athleticism resulted in another goal, extending Princeton's lead to eight goals. One-on-one behind the cage, she beat her defender, circled in front of the net and fired a shot to the bottom right corner. Having scored four times in the win, Biles is now within three goals of Christi Samaras' team record for goals in a season with 56.

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Maryland's goalie switch after Princeton's 14th goal did little to spark the Terps' offense. Instead, it resulted in more Tiger scoring. In the end, it was Princeton's constant motion and screening on offense that wreaked havoc on Maryland's defense — freeing up wide-open passing, driving and shooting lanes all afternoon.

Princeton, who outshot the Terps, 31-17, and won its ninth consecutive tournament game at the Class of 1952 Stadium, will need another colossal effort on Sunday afternoon when it faces a very athletic, top-seeded Northwestern team in the quarterfinals. Though Sailer was initially frustrated by the selection committee's seeding of Princeton at No. 8, she has realized that this will give her team a great opportunity.

"We think of this as the dream bracket," she said. "To get to beat Maryland in the first round and then to go up against the undefeated top seed — you can't write a better story for a road to the Final Four."