Women's Lacrosse: 2nd-seeded Tigers to face Dartmouth in first round of Ivy tournament

The women’s lacrosse team will face off against Dartmouth for the second time this season on Friday in the first round of the Ivy League Tournament.

After besting No. 6 Penn State 14-9 last Saturday, second seed Princeton (10-5 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) has a good feeling about the tournament.

“We got a lot of momentum coming off of last weekend and we’re looking to keep that going all through the tournament,” head coach Chris Sailer said. “I think we got a lot of confidence, and practices have been going well, so now it’s just a matter of getting out and putting it all on the field again.”

The Tigers met the Big Green (9-6, 5-2) for the first time this season two weeks ago and emerged victorious with a close 15-13 win. The two teams were very evenly matched, with the score tied seven times throughout the course of the game. Princeton won the first seven draw controls and took a 5-1 lead, but fell behind late in the game and pulled out the victory thanks to three straight goals with fewer than five minutes left.

“I think it’s going to be a great matchup,” Sailer said. “I think we’re confident knowing that we can win, since we just beat them two weeks ago, but at the same time we know that this is an entirely different game and both teams are really going to battle.”

Dartmouth rebounded from that defeat to beat Harvard 15-8 last Friday.

“We know what Dartmouth likes to do offensively, so for us it’s going to be a matter of being ready for the crease plays they run, being able to hold them outside on their corner challenges and just really being ready for the pace on which they play on offense,” Sailer said.

Should Princeton defeat Dartmouth for the second time of the season, the Orange and Black would face the winner of the first-seeded Penn and fourth-seeded Cornell game on Sunday.

Princeton last faced Penn (9-5, 7-0) in a grueling overtime loss that bumped the Tigers, then undefeated in the league, down to a second seed in the tournament.

Penn then went on to beat Brown in a 10-7 overtime victory to guarantee its position as first in the Ivy League before losing 15-8 to No. 4 Northwestern.

Cornell (10-5, 4-3) was also a close game for the Tigers — the score was tied five times during the course of the game and Princeton was not able to gain even a slight lead until the second half.

After losing to Princeton, Cornell went on to win four out of its next six games and is currently riding a three-game winning streak.

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Penn beat Cornell 12-11 in overtime when they last met on March 24.

“For us at this point in the season, we have to be prepared for every opponent and what their tendencies are, but really it’s so much about our own execution and our own game, doing what we do well,” Sailer said. “So whether it’s Cornell or whether it’s Penn, it’s the Ivy title that’s on the line ... Really, it could be anybody’s game.”

Princeton will face Dartmouth at 4 p.m. in Philadelphia. If the Tigers come out on top, they will then meet either Cornell or Penn in the final round of the Ivy League Tournament at 12 p.m. on Sunday.