Women’s lacrosse defeats Brown 11–9 to clinch spot in Ivy League Tournament

On Saturday, No. 19 Princeton women’s lacrosse (8–6 overall, 4–2 Ivy League) earned an 11–9 win over Brown (7–6, 3–3) away in Providence, R.I. The Tigers led for most of the afternoon, but the Bears kept it close throughout before Princeton made key plays late in the match to secure the victory.

With the win, the Orange and Black has clinched the No. 3 seed and will travel to Yale (12–2, 6–0) for the Ivy League Tournament. Princeton’s first game will be against No. 2 seed Penn (7–6, 5–1) on Friday, May 1 at 7 p.m. 

“Ivy League play is always competitive and as the season comes to a close everyone is fighting to get into the tournament,” senior attacker Haven Dora wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “Clinching a spot is a really good feeling going into our last regular season game.” 

The Tigers set the tone early behind senior attacker Jami MacDonald, who finished with a seven-point game, scoring four goals and adding three assists.

Princeton opened the scoring in the fourth minute when senior midfielder Maggie Molnar finished a feed from MacDonald. Less than a minute later, MacDonald scored to make it 2–0, and she added a free-position goal shortly after to push the Tigers’ lead to 3–0.

Brown answered with three straight to tie it at 3–3, but Princeton steadied quickly. Molnar scored again off another assist from MacDonald, and MacDonald managed another strong unassisted finish right at the end of the quarter to make it 5–3.

The second quarter slowed into more of a defensive battle. Brown scored in the first minute to cut the margin to 5–4, but junior attacker Meg Morrisroe responded less than a minute later with an unassisted finish to restore Princeton’s two-goal cushion.

From there, neither side found much rhythm for nearly the entire rest of the half. Senior goalkeeper Amelia Hughes helped the Orange and Black manage through that quieter stretch, consistently preventing the Bears from converting their chances.

Brown finally scored with just over two minutes left before halftime, cutting Princeton’s lead to 6–5 heading into the break.

Princeton extended its lead in the third quarter. With three minutes left in the period, junior attacker Merrill Watson scored on a man-up opportunity off an assist from MacDonald to make it 7–5. Less than a minute later, MacDonald scored again to give Princeton an 8–5 lead.

“It was a crazy start to the game with a lot of back and forth,” senior defender Abigail Roberts wrote to the ‘Prince’ after the game. “But as we got more comfortable we started to gain a lead, and it just felt like we were going to win the game at that point.”

Brown scored late in the quarter to make it 8–6 heading into the fourth.

The Tigers struck first in the final quarter, as junior midfielder Ella Sloan scored in the third minute to make it 9–6. The Bears responded with a man-up goal in the sixth minute, then scored again in the eighth minute to cut it to one, 9–8.

The Orange and Black responded quickly. In the ninth minute, Morrisroe finished an assist from Dora to restore the two-goal lead at 10–8.

“As an attack unit, this weekend we played against a man as opposed to a zone, which was a different look for us,” Dora wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “We played cohesively as a unit and scored in many different ways against their man defense.”

From there, the Orange and Black leaned on their defense to close it out. In the fourteenth minute, with the Bears pressing, the Tigers managed to force a rushed pass behind the net, where Hughes stepped in to pick it off. Sloan then converted a free-position opportunity to make it 11–8. 

Brown scored once more in the final minute, but Princeton managed to hold their ground for the remaining seconds. The final score read 11–9.

“Brown was a huge win for us,” Roberts wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “It secured us another week together and I’m excited to see how far we’ll go.”

Princeton will conclude the regular season at home against Dartmouth (8–6, 2–4) next weekend.

“We cannot get complacent at this point; we need to continue to grow as a team to prepare us for the remainder of our season,” Dora wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “This weekend, it’s important for us to be ready to compete for all four quarters and fight hard from the very first draw.”

Kai Kim is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’ He can be reached at kaikim[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.