Drumm’s five leads home rout

The No. 2 Tigers’(7-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) powerful offense helped them to a 19-10 victory against Cornell (4-4, 1-2) during Princeton’s Ivy League opener Saturday at home. The Tigers dominated the field, holding a 34-28 advantage in shots, a 20-15 advantage in ground balls, and recording four hat tricks to complete their 21st straight win against the Big Red.

“If we play our ‘A’ game, I don’t think there is a team that could beat us,” senior defenseman and captain Norris Novak said. “But on the same note, if we don’t bring our best game to every game our opponents will take us down. Cornell is a great team, but we won because we pushed as hard as we could.”

Contributing to the 19 goals scored by Princeton, the most the Tigers have scored against Cornell in series history, was freshman midfielder Lizzy Drumm, who scored a season-best five goals.

Despite Princeton’s impressive win, the Big Red opened the scoring, and the game began as a tight contest between the two teams. Drumm knotted the game at one with a goal 11 minutes, 25 seconds into the match when she came around a pick and slipped one past the Big Red’s goaltender high in the righthand corner. Just 32 seconds later, Drumm found the ball again and quick-sticked the shot to the back of the net. Drumm’s goals turned the game around for the Tigers, and they took control of the field and never looked back.

“One of the greatest things about our team is how much depth we’ve got,” Novak said. “It’s hard for teams to scout us because our attack has so many threats that even if the opposing team’s defense takes away one or two of our girls, we still have so many others who can step up.”

After Princeton’s second goal, junior midfielder Kristen Schwab and Novak each scored within a 37-second span. Drumm found the back of the net twice more, bringing the Tigers to a 7-1 lead less than seven minutes after her first goal.

“Lizzy is one of the most poised freshmen on the field and she proved herself to be a dominant player this weekend,” Novak said. “She is definitely learning to use the fact that she is a lefthanded offenseman to her advantage.”

In spite of the Tigers’ offensive domination in the first half, Cornell hit the field hard during the second period and proved it was ready to make a comeback. The Big Red opened quickly, bouncing a shot into Princeton’s net just 1:09 in and scored again less than three minutes later, getting within five of the Tigers. That proved to be as close to a comeback as Cornell was going to get, however, as Schwab netted her second goal of the game 45 seconds after a Princeton timeout, beginning a three-goal run for the Tigers.

“Cornell is a very strong team,” Novak said, “and if you let your guard down against them they will take advantage of it. There was a 15-minute time span where our defense had a lapse and lost their focus. We called a timeout to regroup, refocus and resettle ourselves.”

The Big Red scored one final goal with 49 seconds left on the clock, but it was far too little too late.

Princeton scored an impressive 19 of 34 shots made during the game, with all six Tiger goal-scorers netting at least two goals, including senior attack Katie Lewis-Lamonica, who scored four times in the second half. In the back, sophomore goaltender Kaitlyn Perrelle stopped a season-high nine shots to help Princeton to the win.

The win is a testament to the strength of the Tiger offense. With 10 of the 19 goals coming off assists and six Tigers netting goals, Princeton’s high-octane performance is simply more evidence that its offense is a force to be reckoned with every time the team steps on the field.