Unseeded Princeton shellacked by Virginia

Despite scoring the game's first two goals, the women's lacrosse team (10-7 overall, 5-2 Ivy League) failed to recreate last year's first-round upset of Virginia, falling 19-10 to the No. 3 Cavaliers (17-3) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament yesterday.

Prior to the much-awaited clash in Charlottesville, Va., Princeton boasted an immaculate 6-0 record in NCAA first-round games since the tournament expanded to 16 teams in 2001. The most recent of those victories was an 8-7 shocker over a No. 2 Virginia squad in last year's tournament. But history accounted for nothing in the heated encounter at the Cavaliers' Klockner Stadium, as the Tiger season came to a premature end.

Princeton started the game solidly with an early two-goal lead thanks to two experienced upperclassmen. Just after the first minute of play, senior midfielder Alex Gangler scored the game's opening goal following a Virginia turnover. The Tigers extended their lead less than 30 seconds later on a goal by junior midfielder Katie Lewis-Lamonica, who was unanimously voted first-team All-Ivy earlier in the week. Lewis-Lamonica notched five goals against the Cavaliers, good for half of her team's scoring total.

Virginia got on the board three minutes after Lewis-Lamonica's score, when Blair Weymouth, who had 46 goals during the regular season, picked up her first of the postseason. The Cavaliers gained momentum, scoring the equalizer 17 seconds later.

Princeton nipped the Virginia run when Lewis-Lamonica broke through two minutes later to put her team up 3-2, but the one-goal lead against the potent Cavaliers was short-lived. Only a minute after Lewis-Lamonica's goal, Princeton witnessed the onslaught of goals that would decide the game — at the wrong end of the field.

The Cavaliers scored four straight goals to jump ahead 6-3, and head coach Chris Sailer called a timeout for the Tigers 10 minutes before halftime, looking to stop the bleeding. Yet, despite efforts to regroup, the Tigers found themselves in danger again just 30 seconds later, when Virginia's Ashley McCulloch's shot hit the crossbar. From there, the Cavaliers got right back to where they left off, extending their lead by two more goals to make the score 8-3 in their favor at halftime.

Virgina's Kate Breslin, who scored six goals on the day, netted three of those during her team's decisive six-goal run to close out the first half. The host Cavaliers outshot Princeton 20-7 in the first half and also led in ground balls, 8-6.

The Tigers reduced the gap to four when Lewis-Lamonica found the back of the net two minutes into the second half. The Cavaliers responded with three unanswered goals of their own, however, extending their lead to 11-4 with over 24 minutes remaining in the game. After another Princeton timeout, an intense period of crossfire in which five goals were exchanged in seven minutes left Virginia up 13-7.

That was the closest the Tigers would come, though, as the game's next seven minutes sealed their disappointing fate. The Cavaliers launched a breakaway with five unanswered goals from five different players, making it 18-7 with 11 minutes left.

Princeton scored three of the game's last four goals to make the final score 19-10, but realistic hopes of a comeback never materialized.

Breslin, who scored three times against the Tigers in the teams' first-round match a year ago, had two assists for Virginia to go along with her half-dozen goals.

Senior attack Kathleen Miller scored two goals to finish her Princeton career fourth all-time in scoring with 207 points.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Virginia will face North Carolina, which defeated Richmond 14-7 in its opening-round game, in the quarterfinal round this Saturday.

In the meantime, the Tigers will return to their academic commitments and Sailer will make preparations for Princeton's next title run. The Tigers hope their current level of big-game experience and talent — as well as the new blood that will be injected by next year's freshmen — will be more than enough to cope with the loss of Miller and a fine crop of graduating seniors.