Women's Lacrosse: Win over Brown secures second place in Ivy League

Senior attack Christine Casaceli scored four goals while senior midfielder and tri-captain Holly McGarvie earned two points for the Tigers (12-2, 6-1).

McGarvie noted that Casaceli had a great game on Saturday in front of the home crowd.

“Christine had a tremendous game for sure,” McGarvie said. “She put the goals in that we needed. It was great to see her out there, and she played a really strong game. When we needed her, she pulled through.”

The first half started with senior attack Anne Murray finding the back of the net only 27 seconds into the game. Casaceli brought the Tigers’ lead to two after capitalizing on a free-position shot. Brown brought the score to 2-1 at eight minutes, 29 seconds.

The game remained stagnant for the next 12 minutes until sophomore attack Lizzy Drumm netted a goal at the 8:21 mark. Brown came back with another score with 2:51 left, and the half ended with Princeton up 3-2.

McGarvie said that, though the Tigers didn’t play a stellar game, they did what they needed to do to come away with the win.

“It wasn’t our best game, unfortunately,” McGarvie said. “If I were to say one thing, it was a test and gut check, and we were able to pass the test. It was a pretty flat game overall and not our best, but we’ll try to forget about it as we move on in the season. Our coach put it best: It’s a test, and we have another one in the win column.”

At the start of the second half, Princeton increased its lead to 5-2 on goals from senior midfielder Kristen Schwab and Casaceli.

Brown made a free-position goal at 21:36, but Casaceli came back with her third score of the day at 17:36 to bring Princeton’s lead to three.

The Bears went on a three-goal run to knot the score at six with 7:11 left in regulation.

Following a crucial timeout by Princeton, the Tigers gained control of the draw, and Casaceli found the back of the net, giving Princeton a 7-6 lead at 6:14.

McGarvie added another goal at 5:33. Schwab received a yellow card at 5:23, forcing the Tigers to play strong on defense for the next three minutes.

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Sophomore goalie Erin Tochihara saved two shots by Brown, but the Bears scored with 2:36 left to make the score 8-6. Tochihara came up with a big save at the end of the game to seal the win.

“Tochihara also had some phenomenal stops in the last minute,” McGarvie said. “She definitely was the rock of our defense. [It was] great to see her make those important saves.”

Princeton had a 24-19 advantage in shots, 21 ground balls and a 10-6 lead in draw controls. Tochihara made seven saves, while Brown’s goalie Isabel Harvey collected 11.

The win was the second-to-last home game for the Tigers, who will face Loyola on Wednesday at Class of 1952 Stadium. The game also commemorated the nine graduating seniors for their four years of dedication to the team.

“This was definitely a special day for us,” McGarvie said. “You don’t really recognize what it’s going to mean until you’re there. It’s awesome to have nine of us out there. We’re going to miss it a lot next year. It’s been such an amazing experience, and [it’s] not over yet. We’ve had a great time, and all our teammates and the pump-up stuff they did was great and really exciting. Hopefully we can keep up our strong season.”

Though the seniors are graduating soon, the team has a long week ahead before the Loyola game.

McGarvie said the Tigers will work on the same things they have been working on all season.

“What kind of hurt us in the Brown game was our transition,” McGarvie explained. “We had a lot of good defensive stops, but we couldn’t really get it up the field for attack. We are a very threatening team, and we want to come out and play strong Princeton lacrosse. We are looking to go hard and be threatening around the cage.”