Women's Lacrosse: Princeton prepares to play defending champs

In 2010, the women’s lacrosse team entered the season ranked in the top 10 nationally. One of the nation’s powerhouses, the Tigers had posted a record of .500 or better for 22 consecutive seasons and claimed two national championships in the previous decade. But Princeton went just 6-10 that season, the worst mark since legendary head coach Chris Sailer’s debut season.

The team entered 2011 with lower expectations, ranked No. 19 and hoping to get back to its winning ways. Three months later, the 12-6 Tigers are three victories away from the national championship entering Saturday’s contest against No. 1 Maryland (19-1).

“This year’s team grew from the hard learning experiences of last year,” Sailer said. “Last year it was a lot of kids first time playing. This year we have chemistry and a really great mentality. We are playing with a lot of confidence and we really believe in ourselves. I couldn’t be happier with our team.”

It is easy to understand why Sailer is so proud of this team. Among the major accomplishments of the Orange and Black this season are: amassing nine wins against top-20 teams, snapping Penn’s 34-game conference win streak, winning the four-team Ivy League Tournament as the lowest seed and advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

“We didn't really know what to expect at the beginning of the season, but we knew we had a ton of potential,” sophomore attack Jaci Gassaway said. “We took our season one game at a time and even though there were some ups and downs we ended up where we wanted to be.”

The Tigers have had a well-balanced attack that has netted 11.44 goals per game, including 70 scores during their current five-game win streak. Three of the most powerful offensive weapons for Princeton are junior midfielder Cassie Pyle (36 goals, 18 assists), senior co-captain and attacker Lizzy Drumm (45 goals) and Gassaway (32 goals, 13 assists).

Sailer is in familiar territory, as her team has reached the national quarterfinals in all but three of the past 20 years. Princeton defeated No. 8 James Madison – which bested Princeton in March – in the opening round, as senior goalie Erin Tochihara made two saves in the final three minutes to preserve an 11-10 road victory. The Tigers were the only unseeded team to advance to the quarterfinals.

Princeton now has a chance to avenge another regular-season loss, though they will face a tougher opponent. Maryland, the defending national champion, has lost only one of its 20 games this season, a double-overtime defeat at Dartmouth three weeks ago.

The Terrapins, who defeated Navy 19-6 in the first round, have been ranked first in the nation for the entire season. They boast the best scoring margin the country, averaging 15.05 goals scored and only 6.7 against, and defeated Princeton 17-10 in Maryland on April 13.

“Maryland is a talented and athletic team,” Sailer said. “They have lots of offensive weapons and skilled players all over the field. We know we have to handle their cutters better than last time and send our double teams. Statistically we were pretty even last time, but they have more goals. We have to look for our shots and have a big day from Toch in goal and our defense on the field.”

“This game is going to be a battle,” Drumm said. “Earlier this season we lost to a talented Maryland team but beat them in almost every stat category. Hopefully this time around we will be able to clean up a few things to come out with the win.”

The game begins at noon in College Park, Md. The winner will face No. 5 Duke or No. 4 Florida in the semifinals.