Women's Lacrosse: Ivy dreams dashed by Penn in loss

The five-goal margin actually paints a rosier picture for Princeton (10-2, 4-1) than an account of what actually happened. For most of the game, the Tigers had only two goals, not only because of the Quakers’ stingy defense but also because of their patient attack.

“It really came down to possession time,” senior midfielder and tri-captain Katie Cox said. “They had the ball on their attack for a significant portion of the game. Usually when we play attack, we get a lot of transition goals, and that didn’t happen in this game. That happens when you just don’t have the ball that much. It’s hard to establish momentum — get into a rhythm on attack.”

The game got off to a rocky start for the Tigers. The Quakers leading goal-scorer, midfielder Ali DeLuca, struck first 2 minutes, 31 seconds into the matchup after a Princeton turnover. Attack Erin Brennan snapped off a pass to DeLuca from behind the goal, and DeLuca’s low shot got past sophomore goalkeeper Erin Tochihara.

Tochihara saved attack Courtney Lubbe’s shot a few minutes later, but Lubbe came up with the loose ground ball and found Brennan, who scored to give Penn a two-goal lead before the Tigers had even recorded a shot.

Junior attack Kristin Morrison had an excellent chance to respond after Princeton won the next draw. Morrision was fouled and had a free-position opportunity, but unfortunately for the Tigers, her shot hit the post.

It was going to be that kind of night for Princeton.

The Quakers scooped up the loose ball and cleared the ball downfield to Brennan, who, after assisting on DeLuca’s goal and scoring the Quakers’ second score, knocked in the game’s third tally unasssisted. Her goal forced head coach Chris Sailer to call a timeout in an effort to right the ship.

The Tigers won the ensuing draw control, but Penn goalkeeper Emily Szelest saved Morrison’s shot.

For the next six-and-a-half minutes, the Tigers’ defense held firm. Tochihara made a save along the way to keep Princeton within three.

Senior midfielder and tri-captain Holly McGarvie finally sparked the Tigers to a goal a little less than halfway through the opening period. McGarvie grabbed a loose ground ball after attack Becca Edwards turned it over. Princeton cleared quickly and worked the ball around to McGarvie, who was fouled and earned herself a free-position shot attempt.

McGarvie cashed in on the opportunity, and the Tigers trailed 3-1 — very much within striking distance — despite the first quarter of play being dominated for the most part by the Quakers.

Penn put together a 2-0 run and looked to go into halftime with a 5-1 lead. With 1:41 remaining in the half, a yellow card on DeLuca gave senior midfielder Kristin Schwab another free-position attempt. Her shot found the net, and the Tigers headed into the half down 5-2 despite being outshot 15-5 for the period.

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Both of Princeton’s first-period goals came from the eight-meter line. Despite the low offensive production, the Tigers were still in the game, thanks to Tochihara’s solid play in the cage, in particular her four saves in the period.

The Princeton defense held firm for the first six minutes, but Edwards drew a free-position shot that she ultimately converted, pushing the lead to 6-2. Her goal was the first goal in a 4-0 run to start the half, a run that more or less ended the Tigers’ hope of claiming sole possession of first place in the Ivy League.

Schwab’s low shot with 3:15 remaining finally broke Princeton’s scoreless spell, but by then it was too late as Edwards scored her second of the game shortly thereafter.

Sophomore attack Lizzie Drumm and Schwab each netted goals in the final two minutes to finish off the scoring. Schwab topped off a hat trick with her goal as play wound down.

For the Quakers, Brennan paved the way with a hat trick of her own, along with a pair of assists.

Though the team lost, one bright spot for Princeton was Tochihara, who saved 10 of the 29 shots fired by the Quakers.

“She always comes up really big,” Cox said of her goalkeeper. “She’s definitely the anchor of our defense. Today, when we weren’t making big pays, she was making huge plays.”

As a whole, too, Princeton played well on defense, hustling to make plays and disrupting the Penn attack.

It was clearly an agonizing loss for the Tigers.

“There’s no doubt that this loss really stings, more so than our Duke game, where it was an end-of-the-game thriller,” Cox said. “This was very much a game that we lost. We played out of our game. We had an opportunity to play against a great opponent and prove ourselves, and we didn’t take advantage of it.”

Princeton will have to regroup quickly: It has another huge contest coming up at Dartmouth on Saturday. The winner will take sole possession of second place in the Ivy League, as both teams currently have 4-1 records.

“We will take it no further than tonight,” Cox said. “We’re not going to focus on what we did wrong against Penn because it was an uncharacteristic performance for us.”