Women's lacrosse knocked out

With a berth in the Final Four on the line, the women's lacrosse team needed to play a perfect game against No. 1 seed Northwestern (19-0 overall) on Sunday afternoon.

But the No. 8 seed Tigers (13-5 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) were far from perfect, turning the ball over 19 times and falling 8-6 in front of 1,200 fans on the Wildcats' home turf in Evanston, Ill.

On a chilly afternoon along the shore of Lake Michigan, it was both teams' defense that shined. Northwestern forced 12 of the Tigers' turnovers and held them to a mere 13 shot attempts — 15 shy of their season average.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats scored in single digits for only the second time all season, despite a four-goal performance from senior Sarah Albrecht.

Though Princeton won the draw control battle, 9-7 — only the third time this season an opponent has bested the Wildcats in that category — the Tigers' turnovers allowed Northwestern to control the ball for most of the first half. The Wildcats took advantage, taking a 4-2 lead into the locker room, thanks in part to a momentum-seizing goal by Albrecht with one minute, 18 seconds left in the first half.

Albrecht kept the momentum rolling after the break, scoring two more goals within the first six minutes of the second half. The latter gave Northwestern a four-goal lead, 7-3, with 23:48 to play.

The Tigers attempted to rally, as senior attack Lindsey Biles struck with 11:10 left in the game off of a feed from junior attack Jamie Sundheim to pull the Tigers to within three goals. Only two minutes later, however, Northwestern regained its four-goal lead when Lindsey Munday scored on a free-position shot.

Still, Princeton kept firing. Senior attack Ingrid Goldberg scored off of a feed from sophomore defender Caitlin Reimers with 6:36 remaining to close the gap to three goals, and freshman attack Ashley Amo scored with just under two minutes to play to make it 8-6.

The Tigers then won the ensuing draw after Amo's goal and called a timeout, but Northwestern's Annie Elliot intercepted senior midfielder Elizabeth Pillion's pass soon after play resumed, ending Princeton's hopes of a miraculous finish.

When the Wildcats ran out the clock, they advanced to the Final Four for the first time in team history and became only the second squad from outside the Eastern Time Zone to make it. With two more wins, Northwestern would claim the first national championship — in any sport — in school history.

Meanwhile, the loss ends Princeton's run of consecutive Final Fours at five. The Tigers won the national championship in 2002 and 2003 and lost in the title game to Virginia in 2004. Princeton's last quarterfinal round loss came in 1999, when the Tigers lost to Penn State in overtime.

Goldberg and Biles both scored twice in their final game in Orange and Black. With her two goals, Biles finished the season with 55 goals and 71 points and finished her career second all-time in both goals (175) and points (221) in the women's lacrosse team's history. Sophomore midfielder Kathleen Miller also added a goal for Princeton.