Women's Lacrosse: Poor 1st half dooms Tigers at Dartmouth

“Losing to Dartmouth was tough. They came out ready to play and caught us on our heels from the very beginning,” senior goalie Erin Tochihara said. “We never really found our footing and we were not really able to gain momentum throughout the game.”

Freshman midfielder Sarah Lloyd led Princeton with four points, notching two goals and two assists. Senior attacker Lizzy Drumm and junior midfielder Cassie Pyle both had hat tricks, while Tochihara made seven saves.

The Big Green took the lead just moments after the opening whistle, as they took possession of the first draw and scored 22 seconds into the game. The Tigers played from behind for the rest of the afternoon.

Although Drumm took control of the second draw, Dartmouth regained possession and scored again just 80 seconds later. Senior attack Kaitlyn Mauritz won the ensuing draw and took the first shot of the game for the Tigers, which bounced off of the post and was controlled again by the Big Green. The hosts carried the ball down the field, earned a free position shot and scored again.

After another free-position shot extended the Dartmouth lead to 4-0, the Tigers finally regained some momentum. The Big Green put more pressure on Tochihara after the next draw but missed the cage with three shots, allowing the Tigers to regain possession and score their first goal of the game. Drumm got the point off of a free-position shot caused by a foul from Dartmouth midfielder Kirsten Goldberg.

The Big Green answered quickly, as Goldberg found the net in the 17th minute of play. Dartmouth continued to score the next three goals of the game, bringing the score to 8-1 before the Tigers finally broke through again. Lloyd found the back of the net for the ninth time this season with three minutes remaining in the period.

Those three minutes were action-packed, however, as Dartmouth answered with a pair of goals. The final draw came with just 21 seconds on the clock, but Princeton went into the locker room with some momentum after Drumm came through with her 30th goal of the season.

Still, Princeton trailed 10-3 at halftime.

“It took us too long to adjust on the defensive end to their sets and motions, so they were easily able to score,” Tochihara said.

The Tigers started the second half with power, as Lloyd scored her second goal of the game within 30 seconds. Two minutes later, Dartmouth extended its lead to 11-4, but Drumm gained control of the next draw, allowing Lloyd to assist sophomore midfielder Jaci Gassaway for her 20th goal of the season.

The teams traded scores over the next 10 minutes. Pyle scored on a free-position shot and Drumm completed her hat trick, but the Big Green answered with goals each time.

Another goal from the hosts brought the score to 15-8, but Pyle scored twice more in the final five minutes of play, providing the final margin.

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Dartmouth outshot the Tigers 30-19 and won three more draw controls than the visitors.

With this loss, the Tigers are guaranteed the fourth seed in the upcoming Ivy League tournament. Penn clinched the top seed and home-field advantage with its win over Brown this weekend; the Quakers will face Princeton in the first round. The Tigers won the regular-season match 11-7 on the road last week, snapping Penn’s 34-game conference win streak.

Princeton will face Columbia at home this Wednesday at 7 p.m. The teams were originally scheduled to play on March 23, but the game was postponed due to rain and lightning.

“Our team will come out with vengeance to take down our last Ivy foe,” Tochihara said. “There is some unfinished business from the game that was cancelled earlier this season, and we are going to be ready to compete.”