Princeton’s eight-game road trip started with the Aztec Invitational tournament in San Diego. The trip included games against four ranked teams: No. 15 UC San Diego (21-2), No. 6 San Diego State (11-13), No. 14 Long Beach State (11-10) and No. 11 Loyola Marymount (11-8). Unfortunately for the Tigers, the three losses all came against ranked opponents.
“It went really well,” freshman driver Lauren Brunner said. “We won some big games.”
The highlight of the week for Princeton (12-8) was Saturday, March 15, the second day of the Aztec Invitational. Brunner starred that day, scoring the winning goal in both of the Tigers’ games. With 11 seconds left in regulation, Brunner broke a 9-9 tie against Colorado State-Bakersfield (14-11) to win the game 10-9. Princeton had come back from an early 3-1 deficit in that game.
But the most intense game of the week was that afternoon against No. 15 UC San Diego. It was a defensive battle against the Tritons, as the Tigers led 3-2 at half. The second half was even more tense, as neither team could score until UCSD broke the deadlock with 23 seconds left to send the game to overtime. In the first overtime, the Tritons scored, but after the break Princeton evened it up at four to send the game to sudden-death overtime. Brunner scored the game-winner for the Tigers with 1:10 left in the sudden-death period for her second goal of the game.
The Tigers finished 4-1 in the Aztec Invitational, with their only loss coming to host San Diego State, 10-2, on Sunday, March 16. That loss was tough, as Princeton was outclassed the entire game. But not all was bad on Sunday. In the afternoon, the Tigers crushed Colorado State, 12-6. Brunner scored three goals during that victory, as the Tigers scored three goals in the first period and two in the second en route to an 8-2 halftime lead. Freshman utility Julie Phillips also added two goals in the win.
On Friday, the first day of the Invitational, Princeton easily outclassed Pacific (4-17), winning 9-4. Junior utility Claire Jacobson scored three goals in the win.
“We beat one ranked team, but we lost some really close [games] to the other ones,” Brunner said.
After the Invitational the Tigers set out to face Long Beach State, Pomona-Pitzer (4-3) and Loyola Marymount. This was a tough stretch, as Princeton lost close games to Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount, both ranked teams.
Despite a 5-4 fourth-quarter lead against Long Beach State on Tuesday, the Tigers could not hold on against the 49ers. After LBSU scored three straight to make the score 7-5, sophomore center defender Lauren Sabb scored a goal to bring Princeton within one. But it was not to be, as the 49ers added two late goals to bring the final score to 9-6.
“We lost a few tough ones that we think we should have won,” Brunner said.
Tuesday was not all glum, though, as the Tigers defeated Pomona-Pitzer that evening with another great game from Brunner, who scored three goals in a 12-7 win. Brunner has 21 goals for the season, and Sabb, who also scored two goals in that game, leads the team with 30. During the two games, senior goalie Natalie Kim made 23 saves.
“We were really good at defense, and we held teams to really low scores, but we couldn’t get the ball into the net,” Brunner said.
On Thursday the Tigers fell to Loyola Marymount after the Lions jumped out to an early lead. A 4-0 LMU lead at halftime proved too much for Princeton to overcome, as the team lost 6-4. A hat trick by Lion junior Nicole Hughes was killer, as the Tigers’ offense could not produce. Phillips had two goals in the loss.
Looking ahead, the Tigers now enter a stretch of six in-conference games to end the regular season. They play Bucknell, Maryland and George Washington twice each to close out the conference season.
“We really need to work on our offensive flow,” Brunner said. “I think we have a chance to win Easterns this year and get to [the national tournament].”
The first of those games is this Friday against Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa. — in an East Coast indoor pool.
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