Buzzer-beater seals crown

The second-seeded Tigers qualified for their title shot with a definitive 10-4 win over Maryland (22-15, 4-4) earlier in the day.

Princeton established momentum early in the first quarter against third-seeded Maryland — who had defeated the Tigers 12-9 on April 12 — by putting two fast ones in the back of the cage and leaving the Terrapins scoreless for the first 15 minutes. Both teams traded goals in the second quarter, however, giving Princeton a two-goal margin heading into halftime. The Tigers defended their lead aggressively in the second half, and Maryland never narrowed the deficit.

“Last time we played [the Terrapins], we lost because our defense wasn’t on the same page, and they capitalized on our mental mistakes,” Meigs said. “This time around, we really wanted to focus on our defense and hoped that our offense would follow suit.”

Princeton broke the game open early in the third quarter with two quick goals and later extended its lead by three, making the score 8-2 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. With the outcome essentially determined, the Tigers held off a Maryland comeback attempt late in the fourth and ended the game 10-4.

Princeton’s defense kept the game under control, as the Tigers killed a majority of the 10 man-advantage opportunities that the Terrapins earned in the first three quarters.

Later that evening, Princeton faced No. 20 Bucknell (25-8, 6-2) in the Bison’s home pool for the championship match. Both of the earlier contests between the two teams had been low-scoring games decided by one goal.

Princeton came out strong during the first few minutes of play, trying to set the rhythm of the game with two quick goals, but Bucknell answered with two goals of its own by the end of the first quarter. Strong defense from both teams kept offensive opportunities to a minimum, and the Bison had a 4-3 lead at the end of the first half.

“We were hoping to set the tone early in the game, but they came back right away,” Meigs said. “We had a lot of turnovers that game, and that was killing our offense [during] the first half of the game. That allowed them to stay in the game a lot longer and really killed our momentum.”

Both teams fired it up during the third quarter, capitalizing on mental mistakes and counterattacks to put up three points each, making the score 7-6 in Bucknell’s favor going into the fourth quarter. Down by one, the Tigers regrouped and shut down the Bucknell offense for the full 15 minutes. With three minutes, 48 seconds to go, sophomore utility Phoebe Champion got one past the Bucknell keeper, tying the game and giving Princeton a chance in overtime.

“We came into the second half of the game not just trying not to lose, but [trying] to win,” Meigs said. “We really wanted to shut them down and actually start dominating the game instead of giving away turnovers, but it just kept on going back and forth for the rest of the game.”

The Bison came out hard with two quick goals early in overtime, but Princeton quickly equalized. With 14 seconds left to play, the Tigers seemed to be at a disadvantage as Bucknell earned a five-meter penalty shot. The spotlight didn’t faze senior goalie Natalie Kim, however, who stepped up and stuffed the shot.

Princeton regained possession, and Champion drew an ejection with five seconds to play. Meigs then got the ball and lobbed a hail mary from five meters, which got past the Bucknell goalie and ended the game 10-9 in overtime.

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With the win at Southerns, Princeton earned the fourth seed at the upcoming Eastern Championships, where it will collide once again with fifth-seeded Bucknell for the first match of the three-game weekend. The winner of Easterns will qualify for the NCAA championship, which will be hosted May 9-11 by Stanford University.