Women's Lacrosse: Tigers to face three of nation's top five

The women’s lacrosse team generally plays one of the toughest schedules in the country, and this season will be no different. No. 9 Princeton faces three of the nation’s top-five teams based on the preseason rankings. Boasting their youngest squad in years, the Tigers will have some on-the-job learning to do in games against traditional powerhouses like No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Penn and No. 5 Duke.

Johns Hopkins returns 11 starters from a team that struggled last season. The Blue Jays compiled a 5-12 record, and only one of those five wins came against a team that finished the season with a winning record. The Tigers defeated Hopkins 13-9 last year and look to start their season off with a win against the unranked Blue Jays this weekend.

After taking on Rutgers on March 3 at home, the Tigers will face No. 5 Duke at home on March 6. The Blue Devils finished 15-6 last season and lost in overtime to Penn in the NCAA quarterfinals. Ranked fifth in the preseason poll, the Blue Devils should continue to pose a challenge, since they return six starters. Key returners include midfielder Lindsay Gilbride, a third-team All-America selection who tied for the team lead last year with 59 goals, and midfielder Sarah Bullard, who was named a second-team All-American.

Princeton’s first Ivy League matchup is at Brown on Saturday, March 13. The Bears finished fourth in the Ivy League last season and posted a 7-8 record for the year. The Tigers narrowly defeated Brown 8-7 at home last year and hope to notch their first Ivy win in Providence, R.I., on March 13th.

Virginia, ranked No. 12 in the preseason poll, will travel to Princeton on March 20, hungry for revenge after last year’s 7-8 loss to the Tigers. The Cavaliers started off the season with a 15-11 home loss to No. 10 Loyola, and they face a tough schedule that will test them before they play the Tigers.

The Tigers finish the month of March with a stretch of three away games, starting at Ivy League foe Columbia, followed by non-league matches at No. 7 Georgetown and Temple. Georgetown will be the toughest opponent of the three, and it will be a rematch of the opening round of the 2009 NCAA tournament, which the Tigers won 15-9.

The Hoyas return their top four scorers — including returning All-America attacks Molly Ford and Ashby Kaestner — so the Tiger defense will be put to the test. Georgetown’s backline, however, is completely new, as all their starters graduated last year.

After three away games, Princeton will return home to face Ivy opponents Cornell and Yale, followed by what may prove to be its toughest match of the regular season, against Maryland.

No. 18 Cornell posted quality wins last season against three ranked teams and finished the season 9-7 overall, but the Big Red was only 3-4 in the Ivy League. Cornell returns eight starters, but they remain a young team, with twice as many freshmen and sophomores as upperclassmen. Senior Tissy O’Connor — the team’s lone returning All-America — will provide leadership for a youthful squad.

Yale was less impressive than Cornell last year, but the Bulldogs returns all but two of its starters. The Tigers handled them last year 15-6 in New Haven, Conn., and look to defeat the unranked Yale women again at home this season. Goalie Whitney Quackenbush, a second-team all-region player last season, will mind the net for the Bulldogs.

Next, the Tigers take on the Terrapins. The Tigers lost 20-12 to then-No. 2 Maryland last spring. The Terrapins will once again be one of the strongest teams in the country. They return three All-Americans at midfield, including senior Caitlyn McFadden, the 2009 IWLCA National Midfielder of the Year. The defense also returns two three-year starters, and the starting attack line returns two All-Americans as well.

To finish off the season, the Tigers will face No. 3 Penn and No. 16 Dartmouth at home. Penn is once again the Tigers’ biggest competition in the Ivy League: The Quakers were the Tigers’ only loss in the Ivy League last season.

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Penn has won the Ivy League for the past three years and is favored to take the title again this year. After losing almost half of last year’s starters, Penn’s fate remains uncertain.

The Quakers still boast a stacked lineup, headlined by returning Ivy League co-Player of the Year Emma Spiro and two-time first-team All-Ivy midfielder Ali Deluca. Knocking Penn off will be essential if the Tigers are to capture their first Ivy League title since 2006.

The Tigers conclude their regular season against Dartmouth on April 25. Kat Collins — a first-team All Ivy attack who totaled 38 goals last season — leads the Big Green offense.

After concluding its conference slate against Dartmouth, Princeton will take part in the first-ever Ivy League postseason lacrosse tournament from April 30 to May 2.

By that point, the young Tigers will have a full season of games under their belt and will have a much better idea of where they stand in relation to the rest of the nation’s top programs.