Senior attack Lizzy Drumm scored six goals in the loss, matching her career high.
The first 10 minutes of the first half saw back-and-forth scoring from both teams, but Duke dominated the last 20 minutes of the half. The hosts put their first goal on the scoreboard after converting on a free position shot and didn’t trail for the rest of the game. Princeton evened the game at 1-1 roughly two minutes later with a free position goal by sophomore midfielder Charlotte Davis.
The Blue Devils struck back to take a two-goal lead five minutes after the opening whistle. Princeton continued to fight hard and created a few offensive opportunities, one of which it converted at 22 minutes, 39 seconds when sophomore attacker Jaci Gassaway fed Drumm on the crease for a quick shot and goal.
But in less than two minutes, Duke scored three unanswered goals to lead 6-2. Gassaway earned her second assist of the half with a pass to Drumm, who scored her second goal of the game. Princeton would be held scoreless for the remaining 19 minutes of the half, however, while Duke tallied six more goals to widen the halftime margin to 12-3.
The Blue Devils outperformed the Tigers in the first half in nearly every column of the stat sheet. Princeton got off 14 shots while Duke tallied 25. Duke won over 60 percent of the draw controls, leading to more possession and offensive opportunities.
Head coach Chris Sailer said her team felt overwhelmed in the first half, acting nervous in transition and making uncharacteristic turnovers as a result of the high pressure from Duke.
“We saw a team on Saturday who went hard, played at a great pace and trusted each other,” Sailer said. “Games like this teach us how to compete at a high level.”
“I think we struggled on our defense,” Drumm said.
“We never really felt settled and let Duke take advantage of that. We also broke down on our transition. We had trouble finding the open player in the midfield and moving the ball on to the offense.”
At halftime, the team discussed some adjustments and the team mentality. “We were playing nervous and felt at times like they had two extra players on the field,” Sailer said.
The team talked about competing harder, being tougher and more aggressive and dealing with pressure better in transition.
The visitors fought hard for the entire second half but could not dig themselves out of the hole. The Tigers came out of halftime with a man-up advantage resulting from a Duke yellow card late in the first half, won the first draw control and scored the first two goals of the period. Drumm scored the first on a free position shot and the second goal came from an assist from junior attack Barb Previ to sophomore attack Sam Ellis.
The first 10 minutes of the half were reminiscent of the opening 10 minutes of the game. Duke answered with two goals to bring the score to 14-5, but the Tigers added a pair of their own in a 90-second span, when Drumm clicked for her fourth goal of the game off a pass from Previ, Princeton won the draw, and Ellis fed Gassaway.
In the next seven minutes, Duke scored three goals while Davis found the net twice. The scoreboard read 17-9 for almost 10 minutes until Duke scored two more times, widening its margin to double digits for the first time.
Princeton finished the game on a high note, scoring three unanswered goals within 80 seconds. Drumm scored two back-to-back goals, the second off an assist from junior midfielder Cassie Pyle. Pyle made the final goal of the game unassisted.
“We had a different attitude in the second half that was more relaxed and confident than the first half,” senior goalie Erin Tochihara said. “In the first half, we played scared, but in the second half we started to play our game. Regardless of the score, our team fought hard until the end. We started the second half strong and continued to improve our game as time went on.”
“In the second half we were controlling the draw better which allowed us to get back into the game,” Sailer said. “We were in our attacking end more and finishing more of our shots.”
In fact, the Tigers won 14 out of 16 of the draws in the second half and outshot Duke 17-13.
However, the breakdowns in transition and in the defense were not stopped completely, as the Orange and Black turned the ball over 11 times.
The Duke cutters went fast and hard at the net, leaving the Princeton defenders a step behind and unable to effectively deny the pass, resulting in open looks for the Blue Devils in front of the goal.
The Tigers said they plan on focusing this week in practice on better positioning, anticipation and communication on defense as well as working better as a team to help.
Princeton will host Brown on Saturday afternoon for the Tigers’ first conference game.
“The Ivy League is our focus all year long,” Sailer said. “We hope to get off to a good start and take care of this weekend’s issues.”
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