With the win, Princeton handed Penn its first loss in its last 35 Ivy League games. This game also marks the first time the Tigers have defeated a team ranked in the top 10.
After losing to Harvard, head coach Chris Sailer said that the team was hoping to change “everything about how [it] competed on the field.” She said her players were hoping to be more alert and aware and take advantage of their opportunities.
“We focused on ourselves and tried to play a great game,” Sailer said of the victory over Penn. “We were confident and stayed calm and played great defense. It was a total team effort.”
The Tigers had many goal scorers: Junior midfielder Cassie Pyle scored three goals, senior attacker Lizzy Drumm also netted three and sophomore midfielder Charlotte Davis added two more. Sophomore attacker Jaci Gassaway had a goal and an assist and freshman midfielder Sarah Lloyd had two assists.
Princeton got the momentum early in the game when senior attack Kaitlyn Mauritz earned the first draw control. After the teams traded posession, Pyle found the back of the net off of a free position shot in the fourth minute of the game.
Though the Quakers took control of the next draw, the Tigers quickly regained possession of the ball after a save by Tochihara. Only 12 seconds after Tochihara’s clear, Lloyd found Drumm near the net, who brought the score to 2-0 with 23 minutes left in the first half.
Over the next three minutes of play, the Tigers earned three free position shots off of fouls from the Quakers but could not convert any. Penn then gained possession of the ball and scored its first goal of the game. However, Princeton answered quickly with another Drumm goal, bringing the score to 3-1 midway through the period.
The teams traded two-goal runs for the rest of the first half. The Quakers picked up momentum as they scored twice over the next three minutes to tie the game 3-3. But the Tigers soon regained their stride, finding the cage twice in 45 seconds. Pyle struck first for her second goal of the night, which was followed by a goal by senior attack Maisie Devine.
Penn returned the favor, tying the game again, 5-5, with eight minutes left in the half. But Princeton found the net twice in the final six minutes to regain the lead at 7-5 before halftime. Gassaway scored her 19th goal of the season off of an assist from Pyle, and with only 29 seconds before the halftime horn, sophomore midfielder Caroline Rehfuss scored her second goal of the season on a free position shot after being fouled by Penn defender Lydia Miller.
Davis scored her first goal of the game just one minute into the second half. Three minutes later, Princeton increased its lead to four goals as Pyle completed a hat trick, bringing the score to 9-5.
After a few changes of possession, Penn scored one goal back, but senior goalie Erin Tochihara and the Tigers’ defense held the Quakers scoreless for the next 13 minutes. Tochihara made eight saves, continuing a stellar season in the net.
The Quakers found the back of the cage once more to cut the lead to two, but Davis answered with her 14th goal of the season only 40 seconds later. Drumm tallied the last goal of the game when she caused a turnover, ran to the cage and converted.
Next for the Tigers is their penultimate Ivy League game against No. 14 Dartmouth on Saturday. As of now, Princeton, Harvard, Penn and Dartmouth each have only one loss in the league, so the Tigers’ final two games are crucial in its chase for the conference title.
Apart from the game against Penn meaning that the Tigers are coming closer to the league title, Sailer noted other importance for the team.
“For us versus Penn, it’s been four years since a win,” she said. “This is a huge win for our team, and to play as well as we did, I’m really proud.”
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