Princeton sees Quakers clinch title

It seems that Penn has Princeton's number this year.

The No. 15 women's lacrosse team (6-5 overall, 2-2 Ivy League) fell to the No. 3 Penn Quakers (12-1, 6-0), 14-10, at Philadelphia in a marquee Ivy League matchup with crucial Ivy title implications: the game was Princeton's last chance at the automatic Ivy League bid into the NCAA tournament was at stake.

The Quakers' win secured them the Ivy title while seriously damaging the Tigers' NCAA championship hopes.

Long scoring runs by both teams marked the game. The Tigers found themselves looking at the wrong side of a four-goal deficit 10 minutes into the game. Penn's evenly distributed attack resulted in five quick goals by four different players.

Princeton responded to the Quakers' offensive attack with three unanswered goals, the first two scored by senior attack Kathleen Miller.

After this scoring barrage by the Tigers, however, Penn went on a game-changing five-goal run, culminating with a goal by attack Rachel Manson early in the second half. At this point, Princeton was down 10-4 and in need of an outstanding second half to erase a six-goal deficit on the road against the third-ranked team in the country.

The Tigers tried hard to make up this deficit, scoring two goals in 42 seconds and adding another goal by junior midfielder Katie Lewis-Lamonica with 22 minutes, nine seconds left in the second half. That goal made the score 10-7 and might have put some doubt into the once-confident Quakers.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, that was as close as they would get to a victory over Ivy rival Penn.

Penn always seemed to have an emphatic response to Princeton's scoring runs. After the Tigers' swift three-goal flurry, the Quakers went on a three-goal run of their own, bringing the score to 13-7. The run lasted just under 10 minutes and essentially put an end to any chance Princeton had at winning the contest.

"Penn is well-disciplined and executes their ride well," senior defense Caitlin Reimers said. "While they don't have any superstars and individually, [and] they do not match up against players we have seen in our Duke or Virginia games ... they play well together and don't make a lot of mistakes."

Looking at the scoring log and the final score, it seems like the Tigers were simply bested by the Quakers. Looking at the statistics tells a different story, however. Princeton was down 9-4 at the half, yet the team had only two fewer shots on goal than Penn. In the second half, the Tigers out-shot the Quakers 17-9 but only outscored Penn 6-5.

Another telling statistic is turnovers. Princeton, despite a paltry first half, turned the ball over four fewer times than Penn during that period, and during a resurgent second half, the Tigers turned the ball over seven fewer times than Penn.

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"Our statistics were, on average, better than Penn's," Reimers said. "However, we needed to finish better on both ends of the field to pull out a win. Defensively, if we had been able to hold them to a lower score with stronger one-on-one stops, that would have given our attack more time to execute their shots. On the attack end, we had three or four shots hit the post — that is the game right there."

The loss to the Quakers puts more pressure on the Tigers in their quest for a national championship. Princeton is 0-2 against ranked Ivy League opponents and is 2-5 against all ranked opponents. To be competitive in the NCAA tournament, Princeton will have to start beating the best competition.

"While this type of loss cuts deeply, we are looking forward," Reimers said. "Dartmouth, Georgetown and Maryland are ahead of us — these are all ranked teams that we intend to exploit to move ahead in the NCAA tournament."

Dartmouth up next

Fortunately for the Tigers, formidable opponents are plentiful in the Ivy League: Princeton will play No. 17 Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday.

Senior midfielder Whitney Douthett has scored 27 goals and assisted on 24 others for the Big Green, giving her 51 points in only 12 games.

Other bright spots on Dartmouth's team are senior attacks Sarah Szefi and Jen Pittman, who have 26 and 27 goals, respectively, and junior attack Kristen Barry, who has 31 goals.

As a team, Dartmouth averages a little less than 13 goals a game, a rate very similar to Princeton's. The Big Green is a very good home team, going 5-1 in Hanover. The team was just 1-4 against ranked opponents, however.

"Dartmouth is always an epic game for Princeton," Reimers said. "During my four years, we have battled back and forth for the Ivy title and in NCAA tournament games. We couldn't be in a better place mentally to take on Dartmouth. We believe we are a stronger and more skilled team, and no team could want or need this game more than the Tigers."

The Tigers hope that their desire to prove themselves worthy of an NCAA bid is enough to win Saturday's game and continue the quest for a national championship.