Women's Lacrosse: Lloyd's 4 scores lead Princeton to 15-10 victory over Big Red

After losing to the Big Red (3-6, 1-3) at home last season by three goals, the Tigers (5-3, 2-0) returned the favor with a 15-10 road victory.

Despite being outshot 29-21 and winning only 44 percent of the draw controls, Princeton won its second consecutive game. Freshman midfielder Sarah Lloyd led the Tigers and tallied four goals and one assist to earn her first career hat trick.

“I think we really did well offensively reading their defense and being able to adjust to their style of play,” Lloyd said of her team’s strengths out on the field. “Defensively, I think our one-on-one defense was very strong and we slid as a unit, which helped us a lot.”

The Tigers were hot from the start, scoring the first two goals of the game within four minutes of the opening whistle.

Junior defender Cathy Bachur caused a turnover in the defensive end which led to sophomore midfielder Charlotte Davis’ connecting with Lloyd in transition for the first score of the afternoon.

Thirty-nine seconds later, senior attacker Lizzy Drumm drove free to the goal and put the Tigers up 2-0.

Cornell converted a free position shot in the sixth minute to get on the board. Davis earned her second assist of the game, however, helping Drumm score her second goal soon after.

The Big Red evened the score at three after scoring twice, once off of a free position.

The Tigers did not allow the game to be tied for long, and went on a run to separate from the Big Red. Nineteen seconds after the equalizer, junior midfielder Cassie Pyle drove in and scored to regain the lead. Later, she fed Davis from behind the cage and Davis worked her way inside for a goal.

Sophomore attackers Sam Ellis and Jaci Gassaway worked together on the next goal, as Ellis assisted Gassaway’s score.

In the final six minutes of the first half the Tigers added three unassisted goals by Lloyd, Pyle and Ellis to enter halftime ahead 9-3. Only one of Cornell’s goals came during the run of play, and the other two were off of free-position shots.

It seemed that the Tigers were going to run away with the game after a quick goal 15 seconds into the second half, as Gassaway assisted sophomore midfielder Jenna Davis to put Princeton ahead by seven.

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But Cornell did not give up. Four consecutive goals by the Big Red brought the game back within reach at 10-7 with 18 minutes to go. With momentum shifted in the hosts’ favor, the game could have gone either way.

“Cornell was able to get a lot of draw controls in the second half, which helped them begin their comeback in the beginning of the half,” Lloyd said.

“They also set some good picks and screens and were very good at drawing fouls, especially inside the 8-meter arc, which gave them a lot of free positions shots. [After their four goals,] our coach called a timeout, and our defense came together and we really emphasized stepping up our communication and getting back in transition. Once we made some key adjustments and started winning the draw controls, we were able to get back our momentum.”

Cornell’s scoring streak did not continue, though, as Lloyd put in her third goal of the game. Each team then hit free position goals, before Davis scored her second goal with just under 10 minutes remaining, assisted by Lloyd. After Cornell answered a minute later, Lloyd found the net unassisted for her fourth and final goal of the game.

Princeton and Cornell scored once more in the final three minutes, as Pyle fed junior attacker Barb Previ for the visitors’ last goal. Senior goalkeeper Erin Tochihara tallied 10 saves for Princeton in the team’s second Ivy League victory of the season.

“It feels great to be able to play on such a great team as a freshman, and I think all of us freshmen are starting to become a little more comfortable on the field as the season goes on,” Lloyd said. “I think in this game I was pretty much just in the right spot at the right times. Our offense worked really well together as a unit.”

Next Saturday, the Tigers will travel to New Haven, Conn., to take on another Ivy League opponent, Yale. Last season, the Tigers beat the Bulldogs handily 11-2, scoring 10 consecutive goals as Ellis, then a freshman, notched the first hat trick of her career.