Women's Lacrosse: Schwab, Tochihara pace commanding second half

With Princeton (14-3) leading 7-3 nine minutes into the first half and the Tigers’ defense smothering Georgetown (13-6), it looked like the match was set to be a blowout.

“Our team was really mentally focused, and we came out and really executed our game plan very well,” head coach Chris Sailer said. “We have been united in a common mission all year long, and we saw that on the field today.”

The momentum visibly shifted, however, after the Hoyas found the back of the net at nine minutes, 33 seconds and fired one into the cage again less than a minute later. Though senior midfielder Kristin Schwab got one past the goalie at 4:44 after dropping the ball and almost turning possession over Georgetown, the Hoyas quickly and aggressively retaliated with two goals of their own in the final 26 seconds of the period.

The Princeton defensive squad which had dominated during the first 10 minutes of play appeared incapable of retaliating against the one play Georgetown kept successfully running over and over: The players would clear the crease, and then the offender behind the net would come around the side of the goal, rolling around the defender to access an open look to the net.

“Clearly [Georgetown’s run] concerned me,” Sailer said. “We had seen some of their games on film before, and they are able to score goals very quickly. They’ve got a very talented attack, and they see each other very well, so yeah, it did concern me.”

This dangerous attack resulted in a series of Hoya goals that ate up the deficit, leaving the Tigers with an uncomfortable one-point edge at 8-7 by the end of the half. Fortunately for fans of the Orange and Black, Sailer apparently gave some inspiring words during the break, because Princeton hit the turf aggressively in the second period.

“The play that they were beating us on, we diagrammed that, and I made sure that they knew how we had to change how we were defending it so they couldn’t beat us around the crease,” Sailer said. “We talked about the importance of the draws and really trying to limit our unforced errors.”

While the Tigers controlled possession of the ball through the opening minutes of play, it wasn’t until 26:20 that they managed to light up the board: Schwab picked up a stray ball and fired it from the crease for her fourth goal of the game. After that the match was a flurry of Princeton shots that kept the back of Georgetown’s net hot as the Tigers scored five unanswered goals to bring the score to 13-7. Keeping the ball away from the Hoyas and in Princeton’s sticks was a notably forceful defense.

“We played great defense,” Sailer said. “We really limited the looks that [they] were able to get, and when they were able to get some shots through, [sophomore goalie Erin Tochihara] came up with some big, big plays for us. They only had two goals in the second half, so that was a great defensive effort.”

The Tigers’ comeback was aided not only by a strong defense that interrupted the play frequently but also by the Hoyas’ offense, which stumbled due to sloppy passes and shots. Thanks to a series of missed opportunities and turnovers, the Georgetown offense didn’t get one into the goal until there was just 3:12 left in the half. The Hoyas scored once more and even made a last-ditch effort to get some points on the board by yanking their goalie in favor of an extra man on offense, but all that resulted in was two more Princeton goals.

Vital to the Tigers’ win Sunday was Tochihara, who frustrated Georgetown shot attempts time after time and ended the game with eight saves after playing the full 60 minutes.

“I came out in the second half a lot more relaxed and really just focused on playing my game,” Tochihara said. “I think coming into the second half I knew that I could take them and make the saves.”

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Leading the team from the front end of the field was Schwab, who scored a game-high five goals, and senior midfielder and tri-captain Holly McGarvie, who made three goals, one assist and eight shots.

With this win, the Tigers advance to round two of the NCAA championships, where they will face defending champions No. 1 Northwestern on Saturday in Chicago — the same undefeated team Princeton lost to in the championship last year.

“I told them in the locker room that there is not a person in the U.S. outside of this locker room who probably thinks we can beat Northwestern,” Sailer said. “But that really doesn’t matter. We just need on one day to be able to beat them and to put together a great 60 minutes. Clearly they are a tough opponent, but I’ve got a great team here, experienced kids, a lot of seniors, and we are going to go for it.”