Women's Lacrosse: McGarvie nets four in convincing win

“They were really aggressive, which was something we hadn’t expected,” senior midfielder and tri-captain Holly McGarvie said. “We had a few turnovers that were unforced, and we weren’t taking care of the ball as well as we should have.”

With No. 19 Cornell reeling after its second straight loss, Princeton (7-1 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) was undoubtedly the favorite in last weekend’s road game.

These expectations, however, were shattered within the first minutes of play as the Big Red (5-3, 1-2) started with a force that caught the Tigers off guard.

Princeton also came out of the gates red-hot, winning the opening draw and immediately bombarding Cornell’s goal with a flurry of shots. It was senior attack Sarah Steele’s goal off an assist by senior attacker Christine Casaceli that finally put the Tigers on the board with 27 minutes, 52 seconds left in the first half, and Casaceli kept the back of the net hot with another goal just two minutes later.

The Big Red refused to go down without a fight, striking back with a goal off a free-position shot to bring the score to 2-1 just 33 seconds after Casaceli’s lit up the board.

Despite this attack, Princeton dominated possession of the ball and created plays within Cornell’s crease, which resulted in two more goals sandwiching a second Big Red goal to bring the score to 4-2 at 20:34.

With their status in the Ivy League on the line, Cornell worked fast to put a stop to the Tigers’ building momentum, successfully clearing the ball out of the Big Red crease and finding the back of Princeton’s net midway through the half.

As the game got closer, the scrappy Big Red became visibly more hostile in pursuit of the win, earning five fouls on five separate players in a little more than four minutes.

This strategy eventually paid off when Princeton’s attempt to push back resulted in a foul that gave Cornell a freeposition shot. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Big Red scored the goal at 10:52 to knot up the score at four.

“The 50-50 balls weren’t going in our direction,” senior midfielder and tri-captain Katie Cox said. “Their goals were often in transition, so they didn’t necessarily have the ball in their hands for long, but they just capitalized on opportunities. The score in the beginning didn’t reflect that we had underestimated them, it just showed that they came out hard.”

Sensing a dangerous change in momentum, head coach Chris Sailer aptly called a timeout to give her team a chance to regroup.

Clearly this strategy worked: After leaving the huddle, the Tigers’ game was visibly more dominant.

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“Chris talked about a few things we needed to clean up,” McGarvie said. “We had a fire after that timeout and came out with more confidence. We started moving the ball better than we had before, and the defense was making some great stops.”

Princeton scored five successive goals to finish the half with a decisive 9-4 lead.

Freshman midfielder Cassie Pyle started the run with an eight-meter free-position shot, and senior midfielder Kristin Schwab finished up the onslaught with just 16 seconds left on the clock.

Though the Big Red ended its scoring drought at 27:29 of the second half, the Tigers’ offensive ambush continued with Princeton lighting up the board for three of the first four goals to take a firm 12-5 lead at 21:42.

Cornell took a tentative step toward closing the deficit by scoring just 25 seconds later, but this only seemed to fuel the Tigers’ fire.

After the Big Red turned over the ball, McGarvie gained possession, got past her defender and made a low shot to make it a 13-6 game at 15:41. Though Cornell scored the final goal of the game, it failed to diminish Princeton’s dominance in the last three quarters of the match.

Leading the offense was McGarvie, who scored five points, followed closely by sophomore attack Lizzy Drumm, who earned four points, including a hat trick.

Controlling the defense was sophomore goaltender Erin Tochihara, who made seven saves, including three saves on free-position shots in the second half.

The Tigers held a 32-15 advantage in shots and earned 17 ground balls to the Big Red’s 14.

Princeton continues its Ivy League season at home Wednesday night, when the Tigers go head to head against Columbia in Class of 1952 Stadium.