Princeton takes over Cornell

In all but one of its losses this season, the women's lacrosse team has shown it can rally when down early. Granted, those rallies up until the game against Cornell have come up short but just barely. In the first game against Johns Hopkins, it failed by just a single goal. Against Duke the following weekend, another minute on the clock may have been all that was needed. But against No.12 Cornell this Saturday, Princeton was certain to close the deal.

When the Tigers have struggled to get on the board early, they have struggled to win. They have been down by at least two goals in the first half in all four of their losses. In their three wins leading up to Cornell, they had not been behind by more than a goal.

So when a tough Big Red squad got up on the Tigers 4-1 with 12 minutes, 36 seconds remaining in the first half, Princeton was expected to make a run to pull back. What was less certain, however, was whether they would be able to complete the rally. Time was obviously not an issue for this comeback.

Junior attack Kathleen Miller kept the Tigers close through the Big Red's early four goal run. Miller cut a 2-0 Cornell lead to one with her goal on a free position with 22:23 remaining. But Cornell responded with its two goals within 10 minutes, and the lead was at three.

And almost as though they could sense themselves falling into the same pit they had found themselves in earlier, the Tiger offense responded in a big way.

Freshman attack Katie Cox scored off a free position shot with 5:31 remaining in the half, breaking a 7 minute, 5 second scoring drought by either team. It brought the Tigers to within two.

Three minutes later, Miller added her second goal of the game, and just 56 seconds later, freshman midfielder Holly McGarvie tied the game up with an unassisted goal of her own. Cornell had been reeled in, and there was still 1:21 left in the half.

Lewis-Lamonica steps up

The onslaught did not falter with the half time rain. Sophomore midfielder Katie Lewis-Lamonica, who did not suffer any loss of footing, scored two unassisted goals to open the half. One came 2:07 into the half, and the second came a minute later and gave Princeton its first lead and its first breathing room of the game.

Junior attack Alex Gangler gave the team even more room to breathe with her sixth goal of the season off an assist from Lewis-Lamonica. Gangler's goal capped off a 6-0 scoring run that had lasted over 15 minutes. The run took them from a three goal deficit in the first half to a three goal advantage in the second. Princeton had just put together its first real rally of the season, and it did so in convincing fashion.

But with over two thirds of the second stanza still left to play, the Big Red had more than enough time to make up a three goal margin. The Tigers defense, however, held firm. Sophomore defender Norris Novak led the team's nine caused-turnovers with two of her own. The defense ultimately held the Cornell scoreless for 10:55 since Gangler's goal put Princeton up by three or 32:19 since a Big Red was last able to get the ball in the Princeton cage in the middle of the first half. Cornell's scoreless streak was finally broken by attack Charlott Schmidlapp.

Schmidlapp scored an unassisted goal with 10:17 remaining to bring her team back to within two, 7-6. But not to have the victory slip from its grasp, Princeton responded, again in a big way. McGarvie got her second goal of the day, her ninth of the season, with 4:31 remaining to put the Tigers back up by three. Then fellow freshman Sarah Steele secured her second career goal. The attacker's goal was assisted by junior midfielder Caitlin Reimers. And with 3:04 remaining and the Princeton lead at three, Steele put the game all but out of reach for the Big Red. Miller added the exclamation point with :44.

The difference for the Tigers' this weekend? One was free position shots. Princeton was able to capitalize on three of its four free position opportunities. Up until this game, the Tigers were just 14 for 29. Another factor was Princeton's athleticism which frustrated the Big Red, garnering 13 draw controls to Cornell's five. The teams had 26 ground balls apiece.

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Sophomore goaltender Meg Murray also played well, allowing only six goals while making seven saves. And it was not as though she faced a paltry number of shots. The Big Red actually outshot the Tigers 33-19.

A solid rally from behind had barely eluded the young Princeton sqaud all season long. That was true, of course, until they were able to do just that on Saturday. It might be a telling sign of a team quickly maturing.