Women's Lacrosse: Defensive effort leads to easy victory

Princeton (6-3 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) remains undefeated in league play after its third consecutive victory, while the Bulldogs (2-9, 0-4) are still looking for their first conference win.

Senior attack Lizzy Drumm wasted no time getting the visitors on the board. She took a pass from senior attack Maisie Devine and scored on the first shot of the game for either side, firing the ball past Yale goalie Whitney Quackenbush just over one minute into the game. Drumm added a second goal midway through the second period, increasing her team-leading season total to 19.

Yale midfielder Devon Rhodes soon returned the favor to tie the game at one, but it took less than a minute for the Tigers to pull back ahead. Junior midfielder Cassie Pyle scored unassisted, kicking off a 5-0 Princeton run that spanned 45 minutes of play. Junior attack Barb Previ scored twice during the stretch, while Drumm and sophomore attack Jaci Gassaway scored the other two goals.

Tochihara only needed to save three shots on goal during the long shutout stretch as Princeton’s offense dominated possession, attempting 33 shots to Yale’s 13, while the visitors’ defense harassed Yale into 24 turnovers. The Bulldogs did not score in the run of play after the first four minutes, as both second-half goals came via free-position shots from attack Jen DeVito.

The senior goalie now ranks second in the Ivy League in save percentage, having stopped 48.5 percent of the shots on goal she has faced.

DeVito’s first goal finally stopped the run with 10 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in the game. Freshman midfielder Sarah Lloyd, coming off a career-best four-goal performance at Cornell, added a pair of insurance goals late in the period, and Gassaway capped the scoring by finding the net off a Devine assist with 80 seconds remaining.

The score could have been more lopsided if not for a strong performance from Quackenbush. The Yale goalie made 18 saves, including 11 in the second half.

The last time the Tigers allowed as few as three goals in a game came against the same opponent almost exactly one year ago. They beat Yale 11-2 at home on April 10, 2010.

Their three-game winning streak will be tested on Wednesday, as they travel to No. 1 Maryland, the defending national champion. The Terrapins won last season’s meeting 13-6 at Princeton Stadium and have defeated the Tigers in each of the last four seasons.

Princeton will return home on Saturday to face Harvard, which currently sits just a half-game behind the Tigers in the league standings.

The Tigers are one of three undefeated teams remaining in the Ivy League, as Penn and Dartmouth are currently 4-0 in conference play. The Tigers will face both on the road in a four-day span later this month.