Women's Lacrosse: Tigers open Ivy League competition

A victory for Princeton this week will be a large step in recovering from a couple of disappointing losses last week. After thrashing Villanova in Philadelphia to open the year, the Tigers have lost two straight games coming into this week. The team’s first loss came via a double-overtime shocker to unranked Rutgers, before Princeton came up just short of upsetting No. 5 Duke. Brown is entering the matchup on a reverse of the Tigers’ trend. The Bears were pounded by Ohio State in their season opener before posting solid wins over Columbia and Manhattan. Saturday’s game will also be Brown’s home opener after starting the season with a three-game road trip.

Princeton has had great success in its matchups with the Bears throughout the history of the series, dominating Brown with a 30-3 overall record and victories in the past 21 contests. The Tigers posted an impressive 17-5 win last season on their home field. The last tightly contested face-off between these two teams occurred in the 2008-09 season, when Princeton closed out its conference schedule with a narrow 8-7 victory over the Bears.

The Tigers’ leading scorer coming into the match is junior attacker Jaci Gassaway, who leads Princeton in both points, with 13, and goals, with nine. Meanwhile, freshman attacker Erin McMunn has been the chief facilitator thus far in the season with a team-high seven assists. Sophomore attacker Mary-Kate Sivilli has also played a large role for the Tigers’ offense in the first three games of the year. She has tallied nine points by scoring five goals and dishing four assists, good for second on the team in every category. The impact of the underclassmen is not only felt on offense. Freshman goalie Annie Woehling has started all three games in the net for Princeton.

Brown’s offense is led by standout attacker Kaela McGilloway, whose six goals and four assists give her the team high in both categories. Attacker and midfielder Danielle Mastro has tallied four goals and two assists through the Bears’ first three games, good for second in both statistics. Brown’s starting netminder is Isabel Harvey, but Kellie Roddy is playing significant time in the goal as a sub, with 60 minutes of game time to Harvey’s 120.

The Tigers have the statistical edge against the Bears on paper. The Princeton offense has put up over 24 shots per game with a 48 percent conversion rate in comparison to Brown’s 19 shots per game with a 46 percent conversion rate. This translates to a three-goal-per-game advantage for the Tigers, who net 11.67 goals on average and allow 8.67. The Bears have so far scored 8.33 goals per game and surrendered 9.33.

Following their bout with Brown on Saturday, the Tigers will return to Princeton to face off against Virginia on March 17.