Last year, the women’s lacrosse team lost a particularly heartbreaking 13-12 game to Duke; in a matter of seconds, the Tigers’ joy of triumph proved to be misplaced. With two minutes, 59 seconds left to play, senior attack Sarah Steele ‘09 scored what would have been the game-winner, but she was called for an illegal stick, and the Blue Devils scored with a minute remaining. It was the Tigers’ first loss of the season.
On Wednesday night, No. 9 Princeton (1-1) again experienced its first taste of defeat with a nail-biting, one-goal game. The Tigers battled in their home opener — a back-and-forth match against Rutgers (3-0) — before eventually falling to the Scarlet Knights, 12-11. The final goal was scored with two minutes left to play.
When Princeton goes up against No. 6 Duke (4-1) on Saturday at Princeton Stadium, these two eerily similar matches will be etched in players’ minds.
As senior attack and tri-captain Kristin Morrison pointed out, however, Princeton doesn’t get discouraged or flustered easily.
“One thing about our team this year is that we are fighters,” Morrison said. “[Against Johns Hopkins], we fought for the OT win. With Rutgers, we were down 5-1 at one point but came back to lead 10-8. Obviously, it didn’t turn out how we would have liked, but we learned that in any game we play, we can never settle, even if we are leading by a couple of goals,” Morrison said in an e-mail.
Head coach Chris Sailer agreed that the Johns Hopkins game exemplified the Princeton attitude.
“It wasn’t always a pretty game, but it was very typical of an early game,” Sailer said. “I was really impressed that we kept our composure and were competing. We didn’t get rattled when we lost our lead — we just kept chipping away at it. That’s really the right mentality going into these games.”
Though the Tigers don’t perceive early hardship as a morale-killer, they face another disadvantage in scheduling. Duke played its first game on Feb. 12, and the Blue Devils had already competed in four games — all of which were victories — before Princeton even stepped out on the field to open its season.
“We start later in [the Ivy League] and play a lot of tough competition early,” Sailer said. “[Duke] has had significantly more game experience, and that often gives the edge to the non-conference teams. But you can’t use it as an excuse. We just have to be ready to compete as best we can.”
Morrison emphasized that playing a talented team like Duke early in the season is an opportunity, not a tribulation.
“Duke versus Princeton is always a close game,” she said. “It’s fun playing a strong team like Duke early on, because it allows us to figure out our strengths and weaknesses, which enables us to make the changes at the beginning of the season.”
As Sailer noted, Duke has a number of underclassmen on its squad, much like Princeton.
“They’re a relatively young team, but they also have a world cup player on their team in [midfielder] Sarah Bullard, and another talented player in [midfielder] Lindsay Gilbride, who started for four years,” Sailer said. “They’re a very athletic group, and Duke teams always have a lot of speed. They’ve got a lot of kids who’ve been waiting in the wings, who were top recruits in high school”.
“They can give you trouble offensively, they can keep their heads up well, and they have good cutters, as well,” she added. “I think ground balls are going to be key [in this game.] They anticipate well on the circle, so we’re going to have to be competitive and quick and really fight for the ball.”
In last year’s game, Duke had a 17-10 advantage in the draw control, but the Tigers has made that aspect of their game a priority this season: Princeton had a 16-9 edge over Rutgers and a 14-9 advantage over Johns Hopkins.
“We’ve had the advantage in draw controls in both of our games, but now we need to continue the play down the field and execute on our opportunities. We need to up our game in transition and look to work the ball more on the offensive end,” Morrison said.
Sailer stressed that defenders will have to be vigilant for several kinds of threats.
“Defensively, being able to handle the cutters will be important. Duke does a lot of stacks, so we have to defend the stacks and at the same time defend the crease rolls,” Sailer said.
Though Duke is typically the most challenging game of Princeton’s early season every year, the Tigers have already faced unexpectedly tough competition from Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have shut down two ranked opponents and are undefeated. In Duke, however, Princeton faces a known entity, and this game is practically guaranteed to be a challenge.
“When your season is 15 games, every game is important,” Sailer said. “Duke will likely be a top-10 team, so if you can knock off a win against them, that definitely helps you.”
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