Ivy season will wrap up at home

With just one week of classes left, the women's lacrosse team will work overtime this weekend, looking to snatch a pair of home victories in its final two Ivy League games.

No. 14 Princeton (7-5 overall, 3-2 Ivy League) will welcome Columbia (5-9, 0-6) to Class of 1952 Stadium today before entertaining Brown (4-9, 1-4) tomorrow afternoon. Both games will start at 3 p.m., and their outcomes will play a critical role in determining whether or not the Tigers earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in May.

"Everyone realizes that we need to enjoy [these games]," sophomore attack Christine Casaceli said. "It's so important to get into the NCAAs, and we really need to remember why we're playing."

Despite the less-than-favorable weather conditions that are likely to run through the two games, the Tigers will huff and puff to end their Ivy League campaign on a high note after failing to defend their conference crown. Princeton's title defense this season was derailed by a pair of road games earlier in the season — an agonizingly narrow 6-5 loss to Yale and a 14-10 defeat at the hands of No. 3 Penn.

"Penn is a really good team, and our loss was tragic," Casaceli said, "but in the Yale game we made some mistakes ... We let them score but we weren't getting the goals [ourselves], we weren't finishing off our plays."

The Tigers know that avoiding such mistakes will be just as important this weekend as any other. Though Columbia and Brown haven't traditionally posed much of a threat to Princeton, it will be up to the Tigers to finish the job in the back-to-back matches.

The key for Princeton could be to take control early, as both the Lions and the Bears have conceded more goals in the first halves than in the second halves of games this season. The Lions, who have allowed 10.5 goals per game this season, have given up 74 total goals in the first half, next to just 62 after halftime.

The Bears have let in 12.6 goals per game this season while managing only 8.5 goals per game themselves. Of the 165 goals they have allowed this season, 91 have come in the first half.

Both Columbia and Brown have also played better offensively in second halves than in first halves, so the Tigers will need to be wary of potential comebacks after the break and guard against complacency.

"[Columbia and Brown] have gotten a lot stronger than in the past," Casaceli said. "Anyone can play great games at any point in time, and they usually play their good games against us. Especially at a point [in the season] like this, we need to be extra careful."

The Lions, who actually have a better road record, 3-3, than home record, 2-6, will aim to make use of their attacking duo of Marisa Marcellino and Holly Glynn, who have tallied 38 goals and 41 assists for Columbia this season.

The Bear offense, meanwhile, will be spearheaded by Mimi DeTolla and Molly McCarthy, who have combined for 60 points on the year.

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The Tiger offense is potent in its own right, averaging 29.7 shots and 12.8 goals per game, compared to rates of 22.8 shots and 8.9 goals per game for their opponents.

Yet despite the apparent firepower, Princeton has come up short in key situations that have cost the team matches. As the season progressed, the Tigers have tried to remedy their recurring woes through both training and game experience.

"We've been working on things like offensive transition," Casaceli said. "We're struggling a bit, but we can really use these next two games to solidify our game for the [NCAA] tournament."

Needless to say, the Tigers will know exactly what they're playing for this weekend when they lock horns with the last two Ivy League opponents of their season.