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Women's lacrosse defeats Columbia, clinches share of league title

The Princeton women’s lacrosse team continues their remarkable run at success, as they defeated the Columbia Lions on Saturday to maintain a perfect record in Ivy League play.

The Tigers (11-3 overall, 6-0 Ivy League) had to weather some hard times before they took the game against the Lions (5-9, 1-5). While starting off strong to take a solid lead, they would then see the tide turn against them as the Lions came back to tie the game 6-6 with about 17 minutes to go.

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This, however, is a position with which the Tigers are well acquainted. Against the Cornell Big Red in Ithaca on April 11, the Tigers found themselves on the wrong end of a run that started in the first half and carried over to the second.

In the Columbia match, Princeton finished the first half with a 5-1 lead. After about 13 minutes in the second half, the game was tied at 6-6.

The Tigers, however, responded with fervor, absolutely dominating the rest of the way. They would score 6 straight goals to take down the Lions, and in the win clinch at least a share of the Ivy League title, and are guaranteed to be hosts throughout the Ivy League tournament.

Tigers look ahead to postseason, build on huge win against Penn on Wednesday

The lowly Brown Bears (7-7, 1-5) are the last game remaining for the Tigers before the Ivy League tournament. The Tigers are all the more invigorated after grabbing the win over Penn on Tuesday. This same Penn team defeated Princeton in the Ivy League tournament final last year.

Dealing with runs was a problem in that game too. The Quakers opened the game with a 6-0 run, a deficit the Tigers would be unable to make up.

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Senior attack Erin McMunn spoke about how to deal with being on the bad side of a run in situations when the stakes have been raised.

“In terms of leadership, you have to give each other energy and you have to give each other support,” McMunn said, commenting on her role as a senior and captain for this team. “You have to not get quiet and internal when a team goes on a run because that’s when you start to question yourself. “

After handling situations like the Cornell game and the Columbia game, McMunn expressed confidence that her team knew what to do when facing a deficit on the scoreboard.

“You have to keep chipping away, keep fighting," she said. "We know that we can come back from it. “

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McMunn stated that adding to the Tigers’ hunger for victory was the sense of redemption and the desire to prove themselves to this team after not putting on their best performance in the Ivy League title game.

“The biggest difference was that in the Penn loss in the Ivy tournament, we didn’t play a full game,” McMunn said. "The whole second part of the first half was turnovers and poor decisions on our part. Knowing that wasn’t the team we wanted to be and that wasn’t the team that we were.”

Sophomore attack Olivia Hompe expressed a slightly different sentiment. While getting to face the team that knocked them out last season is clearly important, this Princeton team tries to approach every game with the same high level of intensity and fervor.

“This year, we were treating every game as if it was the Ivy Championship, and that’s been a huge focus for us,” Hompe explained. “Penn’s a great team … we certainly marked this game out as special, I don’t think we tried to play anything super differently than we normally do.”

Tigers think about Ivy League tournament and NCAAs

While the Ivy League rivalry is always an exciting topic, the Tigers have goals even beyond the confines of the Ancient Eight: an NCAA title. The Tigers are ranked 16th in the nation as of April 14, and given their play in the Ivy League have every reason to shoot for the stars.

Their postseason performance last year speaks volumes to this team’s talent and preparation. They knocked off Penn State, ranked eighth at the time, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and lost by just two goals to 11th-ranked University of Virginia.

Similar to her fellow attack, Hompe has noticed the improvement of this team throughout the season, especially in the way they stepped up against Penn. She says that the ability to maintain the belief in themselves will be a critical point for postseason success.

“Our team has gotten a lot more confident over the course of the season. As a team there was a lot of belief that we could win [the Penn game],” Hompe said. “That’s really important going into the playoffs. For us it’s really just a matter of taking it one game at a time.”

Certainly, this time of the year is bittersweet for the seniors on the team. After a fantastic career at Princeton, McMunn notes that she certainly doesn’t want her last Princeton game to be a loss.

“As seniors, we’re becoming hyper-aware of the fact that our careers are coming to a close faster than we want them to," she said. "We’re just trying to enjoy every game we have left together, and leave everything that we have out there, and take it as far as we can go. We don’t want to be done yet.”