Women's lacrosse plucks Blue Hens

In the blink of an eye, senior attack Melissa Cully put women's lacrosse ahead of Delaware, 1-0, with a goal seven seconds into the game. For the next twenty minutes, however, the visiting Blue Hens dominated, racing out to a 4-1 advantage over the stunned Tigers.

For the second consecutive game, however, Princeton rallied, using a strong second half to gradually pull away from its visitors from the south. Following junior midfielder Cristi Samaras's goal with 26 seconds remaining in the contest – her fifth tally of the game – the Tigers had an 11-5 lead that would hold until the final buzzer.

The key to this Princeton victory was junior goaltender Amber Mettler. With 9:39 to play in the first half and the Tigers trailing, 4-1, head coach Chris Sailer sent her into the game to replace sophomore netminder Laura Field. Although the Tigers' goaltending has been inconsistent throughout the season, Mettler performed brilliantly on this night, holding Delaware scoreless during her first 30:25 of action.

Clutch save

Her most important save of the contest occurred with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half. Samaras had just scored her first goal of the contest, pulling Princeton to within 4-3. On the very next play, however, Blue Hen midfielder Sarah Edwards streaked alone tow-ards the Tiger net. Her shot, taken from pointblank range, was stopped by Mettler and on the ensuing Princeton possession, Samaras scored to tie the game. Sailer was quick to praise her goaltender, while mentioning that particular sequence as a turning point in the contest.

"She came up huge," Sailer said. "I think it took a lot of wind out of their sails."

For Samaras, it was the fifth time this year that she has scored at least five goals. Unlike in the past, however, when she has been able to break free in front of the net for open shots, Samaras was forced to reach deep into her bag of tricks in order to overcome the Blue Hens' tough defense.

Following Mettler's key save in the waning seconds of the first half, Cully's pass was knocked down in front of the Delaware net. As the ball bounced high in the air, Samaras did the only thing she could, given the small amount of time on remaining. With her back to the goal, she smacked the ball out of midair, over her head and into the net. Although the stadium clock showed 0:00, the ball had clearly entered the net with one second still to play. The goal stood, giving the Tigers newfound momentum.

Repeat offender

Later in the contest, Samaras struck again. After taking a pass from junior attack Tice Burke, the Princeton star appeared poised to fire a right-handed shot towards the goal. Seeing that route cut off by a defender, however, Samaras flipped a nearly-impossible shot behind her head and past a befuddled Sabastian to put the Tigers ahead, 6-4.

From that point forward, Princeton controlled the game. Mettler's clutch goaltending and Samaras's offense were once again more than enough to lead Princeton past another dangerous regional opponent.