Women's Lacrosse: Princeton looks to regain form vs. No. 5 Duke

Junior attacker Jaci Gassaway leads Princeton on offense, with a team-leading eight goals and 12 points. She broke her personal record for most points in a match in the very first game of the season and kept up her strong performance in the team’s loss to Rutgers. There is no questioning that Gassaway will have to continue her great play if the team wants to leave Saturday’s game with a second win under its belt.

Another key player for the Tigers this Saturday will be sophomore attacker Mary-Kate Sivilli, who has scored two goals and at least one assist in the first two matches of the season. Those games were Sivilli’s first two starts, making her performance that much more impressive.

“We are used to playing with each other at this point, and we know how the others like to play so we can help set one another up,” Sivilli said of her impressive start to the season.

“I definitely think the cohesiveness of the team has been a huge factor to our success thus far,” freshman goalie Annie Woehling added. “Stepping onto the field knowing 23 other girls have your back is really important to game execution and success.”

Woehling, like Sivilli, also made her first two starts. As a freshman, she plays one of the most important positions on the field as Princeton’s goalie.

“The team has made the transition from high school to college sports a lot easier, and I am learning so much from them each day,” Woehling said. “It has been hard work but not a hard decision to show up and want to get better each day.”

The team is facing a very tough adversary in Duke, who beat a Maryland team that was ranked second in the nation last weekend. A win would be a huge confidence boost and could help dismiss the loss to Rutgers as a fluke. A loss, however, would leave the Tigers with a losing record and winless at home with some ground to make up.

Woehling and Princeton’s defense will be very important in the match against the Blue Devils as both of Duke’s losses have been more defensive games. The Blue Devils lost to Vanderbilt 7-5 and to top-ranked Northwestern 13-5. If the Tigers are able to successfully limit the number of goals scored, then Princeton will be in a good position, especially with the offensive power of Gassaway on its side. The best way to limit Duke’s offense is to put a lot of pressure on its freshman attacker Kerrin Maurer, who leads the Blue Devils with 20 points.

“For Duke, I think we really just need to play our game and come out hard and control the tempo of the game from the beginning,” Woehling said.

“We have to play together and remain composed,” Sivilli added.

The Tigers have lost to Duke for three straight years and have only beaten the Blue Devils once in their previous six matchups, a 13-8 win at home in 2008.