Women's Lacrosse: Terps end Tigers' run

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For 20 minutes on Saturday, the women’s lacrosse team gave No. 1 Maryland all it could handle, jumping out to an early 3-1 lead and keeping the hosts’ potent offense at bay. But the Terrapins broke through for seven goals in six minutes late in the half and cruised to a 15-6 victory, ending Princeton’s season in the NCAA quarterfinals.

The season goes down as a success for Princeton, which went 6-10 a year ago and was a borderline candidate for the NCAA Tournament before winning the Ivy League Tournament two weeks ago as the fourth seed. Maryland advances to play the winner of No. 4 Florida and No. 5 Duke.

The Tigers improbably took a two-goal lead on the top seed and defending champion in the first 15 minutes of play. Junior attack Cassie Pyle found the cage off the opening draw and Maryland attack Kristy Black equalized moments later, but the visitors strung together consecutive scores to hold a 3-1 advantage. Pyle found sophomore attack Jaci Gassaway for a free-position score and then scored a second unassisted goal, forcing the Terrapins to call timeout.

The physical game soon turned in the hosts’ direction. Senior goalie Erin Tochihara saved four of the Terrapins’ first five attempts, but was helpless against the barrage of shots that the nation’s fifth-ranked offense unleashed. Maryland took its first lead of the game with three goals in a 75-second span after the timeout, and Black completed a hat trick to extend the advantage minutes later.

Maryland attack Sarah Mollison then scored three goals in 30 seconds, giving her team a nearly insurmountable 8-3 lead. Sophomore midfielder Charlotte Davis found the net before halftime to stop the Terrapins’ 7-0 run, but that was as close as the Tigers would get.

Neither team scored for the first six minutes of the second half. After the Terrapins killed a three-minute man advantage, leading scorer Katie Schwarzmann dove to the middle and found the cage for her first goal of the game. She found the cage three more times in the second half as the hosts scored the first six goals of the period to take a double-digit lead.

Freshman midfielder Sarah Lloyd scored on a free-position opportunity to put the Tigers on the board in the second half, and sophomore midfielder Sam Ellis added another score to provide the final margin.

Tochihara played well in the final game of her career, making 14 saves despite facing many uncontested shots from Maryland’s prolific attackers. Brittany Dipper made a career-high 15 saves for the Terrapins.

Mollison finished with four goals, primarily on tight-angle shots from the goal line extended. Schwarzmann, Black and midfielder Laura Merrifield each finished with a hat trick.

Princeton was one of the final eight teams standing for the 17th time in the last 20 years.