In Princeton’s sole game on Sherrerd Field for the next month, the Tigers (1–1 overall, 0–0 Ivy League) made the most of home advantage and propelled themselves to a comfortable 15–9 victory over Rutgers (3–2 overall, 0–0 Big Ten) on Wednesday night.
After falling to Loyola Maryland over the weekend, Princeton was looking to rally and get back to .500 for the season. Having learned from Loyola’s decisive second-quarter surge, the Orange and Black flipped the script against Rutgers, erupting for six goals in the second quarter to seize control of the game.
“It is always important to get off to a good start at home, and that was even more needed for our group to settle in after the first game at Loyola,” Head Coach Jenn Cook said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian. “This was a lot closer to what we hope to be as a team with balanced scoring, sound play in the midfield and a cohesive and timely effort on defense in front of Amelia Hughes who was so good all game but especially in the first half when she made stop after stop and let us get going.”
“Rutgers is well-coached and athletic, we knew going in we needed to show improvements in all three phases of the game and we did,” Cook continued.
Junior attacker Meg Morrisroe got the Tigers on the board — and her stellar night underway — within the first five minutes, scoring her sixth goal of the season with an assist coming from senior attacker Haven Dora. Morrisroe would end the night with five goals, her second consecutive five-goal game to start the season.
Junior midfielder Colette Quinn scored her first goal for the season just a few minutes later to bring the Tigers up to 2–0. The rest of the period was fairly even as the Tigers and Scarlet Knights would score one apiece to end the frame, but Princeton crucially capitalized on power plays to score two of these goals.
A dominant second quarter proved pivotal in pushing Princeton ahead, as the Tigers capitalized with six goals on just 10 shots, their clinical finishing making the difference. Two more goals from Morrisroe and a clinical free-position goal from senior attacker Jami MacDonald with one second to go in the half helped put the Tigers up 9–3 at the break.
Although the Orange and Black had shown clear attacking prowess during the half, it was their defense that stood out especially. From Rutgers’ 11 shots on the half, senior goalkeeper Amelia Hughes made an impressive eight saves, and the team had allowed no free-position shots compared to the Tigers’ five.
The second half would be a more even affair with each team scoring six as Princeton managed to prevent any hopes of a Scarlet Knights comeback.
Goals from Morrisroe and Dora opened up the third as the Tigers surged ahead with an eight-goal lead at 11–3. Rutgers would cut it down to 12–6 by the quarter’s end, but it was the relentless Princeton attack, which shot nine out of its 10 shots in the quarter on goal, that kept them under pressure, forcing six saves from the Rutgers goalkeeper.
“There’s such good chemistry between everyone on the attack unit, and we feel like everyone is capable of going off like that at any given time and right now Meg [Morrisroe] is in the zone,” Cook told the ‘Prince.’ “She has shown over her career that she can score in bunches and the energy that a team gets when one of their top attackers goes on a run is real.”
The fourth quarter was no different, and a goal from senior midfielder Maggie Molnar halfway through the frame kept Rutgers at a six-goal reach. The match would end 15–9 as the Tigers’ victory was all but confirmed by the fourth quarter.
The Princeton offense managed to keep up their goalscoring in the second half but were much cleaner, with just two turnovers in the second half compared to their seven in the first. The Tigers’ defense was also praiseworthy, as Rutgers came into the game having a 72 percent assist-to-goal ratio, yet they managed just two assists by the end of the night.
“Our defense was especially amazing,” Morrisroe said to the ‘Prince.’ “They are all so fundamentally sound and are diligent in acing their scout assignments. The combination of those two things makes them such a cohesive unit. In addition, Amelia Hughes gives us all confidence by coming up with pivotal stops in big moments.”
Princeton women’s lacrosse now heads to College Park, Md., where they face the No. 3 Terrapins (4–0 overall, 0–0 Big Ten) in a ranked matchup. The University of Maryland — perfect on the season so far — will be a formidable opponent as they have already secured two victories against ranked opponents.
“This is such an important game historically for both programs, and it’s great to be able to get this game back on the schedule,” Cook told the ‘Prince.’ “We enjoy the opportunity to be on the road together as a team and embrace the challenges presented by a highly-ranked opponent.”
“If we continue to improve from game two to game three like we did from the first game to the second, and we are efficient with our offense and steady on defense we’ll be right there just like we expect to be every game,” Cook continued.
The Orange and Black should be confident in their chances to cause an upset with last season’s overall performance showing this squad — which has mostly stayed together — has plenty of resilience.
Alex Beverton-Smith is a senior Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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