Tigers waste no time diving into tough schedule

To say that the women's lacrosse team faces something of a gauntlet in its first six non-league games would be a gross understatement. All six opponents are top 14 in the national Division I poll and four are top 10. They are already a combined 9-0 in the young season. The Tigers, on the other hand, have yet to play a game.

This kind of demanding schedule so early in the season is nothing new for Princeton lacrosse. Because of the way the Ivy League schedule works, tough national opponents only fit in at the very beginning of the year.

"If we're going to play the top teams, we've got to do it early," head coach Chris Sailer said. "That's tough because we don't have the fall season they do and often they've had a lot more games under their belt when we play them."

Their first opponent and obvious focus for the week is Johns Hopkins. The Tigers will be traveling to Baltimore to face the perennial powerhouse that is fresh off a solid showing against George Washington. The Blue Jays did not have as successful a season last year as they have in the past, but it was something of a rebuilding year for them. This season, 12 returning players have at least 10 starts under their belt and all three top scorers remain. They will probably pose much more of a national threat than they did last year.

Princeton will head back to Baltimore four days later to face fourth-ranked Loyola, before returning home for their opener against second-ranked Duke (3-0-0 overall). The Blue Devils, more than any other team on the schedule, have already proven that they deserve to be near the top with three strong wins, including one over then-fifth-ranked Maryland.

The team hits the road again for its next two games against Penn State (1-0-0) and Georgetown (1-0-0). Penn State was challenged in its opener by Vanderbilt, while Georgetown blew out Northeastern.

Princeton hosts Virginia in its last game before starting the Ivy League schedule. The Cavaliers' two-time All-American Nikki Lieb seems to be in top form again and was named ACC Player of the Week last week. The Tigers will face Maryland, Delaware and Temple later in the year.

"It's exciting for us; those are the games that really give meaning to your preseason when you're getting to play an opening stretch of six or seven games like that," Sailer said.

The Ivy League is shaping up to have a typical year. Traditional Ivy powerhouses Princeton and Dartmouth (0-1-0) are tied for third nationally and Cornell squeaked into the top 20 at No. 18. Yale was a preseason top 20 but has moved down since teams have begun play.

Do not be fooled by Dartmouth's loss — it was by one goal to Syracuse, which will most likely be one of the top teams at the end of the season. The Dartmouth game is certainly the one to watch. They play at Princeton in late April toward the end of the regular season. Three Big Green players are on the preseason "Watch List" for the Tewaaraton Trophy, including a senior defender, a goaltender, and an attack (two Tigers, sophomore midfielder Katie Lewis-Lamonica, and senior defender Lauren Vance are on the Watch List). Needless to say, Dartmouth has weapons all over the field. Last year, the Big Green outplayed the Tigers to a 12-9 win on its home field. It did so mostly by bottling up Princeton's main weapons. This year, with more depth and home field advantage, the Tigers should make a much better showing. But Dartmouth is returning the aforementioned players in addition to a host of other talent. It is almost certain to be the best match up in the Ivies all year.

Always posing a threat is Cornell (1-0-0), which sits at No. 18 in the poll. The Big Red won its opener over Colgate convincingly, thanks to goals by Margaux Viola and Lindsey Moore, both of whom were top five in scoring for Cornell last year.

Yale (1-0-0), ranked No. 20 in the preseason poll, returns sophomore Lauren Taylor, a third-team All-American. The Bulldogs squeaked past UConn in their season opener.

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Rounding out the Ivy opponents are Harvard, Columbia, Brown and Penn. Harvard, which went 3-13 last season, returns its top four scorers. Columbia, Princeton's first league opponent, can put up a lot of offense but not much else. The Lions' seven wins last year was a program record. Brown (1-0-0) is a largely untested team. The 4-10 squad from a year ago graduated many of its top players but still has a few weapons, including leading offense threat Amie Biros. The Tigers put 17 goals on Brown last season. Finally, Penn (1-0-0) was ranked nationally last season but finished a game over .500. The Quakers beat Monmouth convincingly in their opener, scoring just one touchdown less than the men's basketball team was able to get on them.

This season should be very similar to past years' for the Tigers. They face a seemingly impossible opening non-league schedule before receiving a small reprieve when they hit the Ancient Eight, except for the classic rivalries against the likes of Dartmouth and Cornell. But those games might as well be next season. Right now, the team can only think about Hopkins.