Women's Lacrosse: No. 18 Princeton upsets No. 6 Penn State

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in front of a packed stadium, the women’s lacrosse team pulled off an upset of No. 6 Penn State in its final game of the regular season, winning 14-9. The No. 18 Tigers (10-5 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) finish the regular season undefeated on their home turf.

“I think the best way to describe our effort is as a complete effort,” sophomore attacker Erin McMunn said. “We played hard and fought for a full 60 minutes, and we played well all over the field. Everyone was focused and just executed everything. We played a very complete game, and that made the difference for us.”

Before the game, the team’s five seniors were honored for their dedication and contributions to the team over the last four years. The game was also part of the team’s effort to raise awareness about autism.

“Our seniors really have been amazing leaders this year both on and off the field, and as a result our team has become a really cohesive unit,” junior goalkeeper Caroline Franke said.

Despite having the advantage in nearly every statistical category, the Nittany Lions (15-4, 11-1 ALC) were unable to overcome a fast and talented Princeton squad. Penn State had a 29-21 advantage in shots, grabbed one more ground ball and one more draw control than the Tigers and had eight fewer turnovers than Princeton. However, the Nittany Lions’ two goalies combined for only four saves, while Franke matched her career best with an impressive 13 stops for Princeton to carry her team to victory.

“Franke was huge for us in this win,” McMunn said. “She played lights-out on Saturday, and we were able to take energy from the way she played. She was huge for us, and we're so happy for her.”

The Tigers jumped out to a four-goal lead in the first period of the game, and maintained control of the game for the remainder of the half. Senior attacker Sam Ellis struck first with a high shot unassisted and quickly followed up with a second score off of a hard drive to goal.

McMunn sent a feed from behind the cage to sophomore midfielder Erin Slifer, who caught the ball and sent it low past Penn State’s keeper to put the Tigers ahead by three after 10 minutes of play. Three minutes later, Slifer converted a second opportunity with a hard and high shot from the outside.

Halfway through the first half, Penn State scored its first goal of the game. Princeton answered back with a McMunn goal from around the crease. McMunn assisted the next goal, sending a pass from behind to Ellis, who caught it and finished to earn a hat trick in just under 20 minutes of play.

The visitors scored the final goal of the half off of another crease roll and shot into the high corner. The score was 6-2 at the half, with Princeton having maintained a comfortable lead throughout.

“The best part about the game was that everyone worked together all over the field, and everyone really fought hard from the start of the game all the way through to the end,” Franke said.

For the first 15 minutes of the second half, the teams took turns scoring. Penn State fired first in the opening minutes to start the half, proving that the Nittany Lions were going to do all they could to fight back. Junior attacker Mary-Kate Sivilli checked the ball away from the Nittany Lion’s keeper behind the net and sent a quick pass to Slifer, who was able to finish into an empty net for her third goal of the game. Penn State received a yellow card following the goal for rough play.

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Senior attacker Jaci Gassaway scored her 100th career goal with a quick-stick finish off of a cross-crease pass from McMunn, but Penn State answered back on the next play to bring the score to 8-4.

Junior midfielder Sarah Lloyd beat her defender one-on-one and netted her first goal of the game with a hard shot from far out. Lloyd also contributed five ground balls, seven draw controls and four caused turnovers. The Lions changed their keeper for the third time with 21 minutes left to play.

Slifer earned her fourth point of the game with an assist to freshman midfielder Anya Gersoff to put the Tigers ahead 10-4. Over a six-minute period, however, the visitors strung together four unanswered goals to bring the game back within reach.

After a timeout, the Tigers retook the field ready to take the game back and scored four goals of their own in four minutes. The Nittany Lions set up a double team, but Slifer was able to pass over the top to an unguarded Lloyd, who scored. The next goal came during transition when Ellis fed McMunn, who was open on the crease and finished low. Despite being down a player, the Tigers were able to score again when Ellis rolled past her defender on the goal line to net her fourth of the game. The fourth goal in the run also came off of a transition and a series of quick passes ended with Ellis connecting with McMunn.

With seven seconds left on the clock, the Nittany Lions sent in a final goal. The score ended 14-9 in favor of Princeton.

“With their comeback, they started to get a little momentum off of draws, so we just really wanted to focus on winning the draw and stopping their fast break,” McMunn said. “We did a good job of playing through their momentum swing, making stops on defense and finishing our shots on the other end, and that let us get some of that momentum back.”

Next weekend, the Tigers compete in the Ivy League tournament. Seeded at No. 2, Princeton will face off against Dartmouth on Friday night in a rematch of last weekend’s game, which the Tigers won 15-13. The finals will be held on Sunday against either host University of Pennsylvania or Cornell.

“We are really excited for the Ivy tournament, especially coming off of this big win,” Franke said. “We can't wait to play Dartmouth again, and it'll be an exciting week building up to this weekend.”