Women’s lacrosse falls to Syracuse in tightly contested game

The women’s lacrosse team looked to redeem a 12–15 loss against Dartmouth (6–1, 2–0 Ivy League) last Saturday as it faced No. 11 Syracuse on Thursday night. The home game, however, concluded with a tough 16–17 defeat for the Tigers. Halfway through regular season play, the team is now 4–4 in the season and 1–1 in the Ivy League.

The game against Syracuse (7–4) was a tightly contested one, with tension intensifying all the way through to the final seconds of regulation.

Syracuse came out on top after the first half, leading 9–5. Senior midfielder Ellie McNulty, junior midfielder Julia Haney, first-year midfielder Kyla Sears, and junior midfielder Kathryn Hallett each contributed to Princeton’s five goals before halftime.

Trailing the Orange after the first half, the Tigers rebounded strongly in the second period, scoring eleven goals. Syracuse, however, buried eight goals, bringing the final tally to a 17–16 for a win.

Sophomore midfielder Tess D’Orsi dominated the opening minutes of the second half, scoring three goals to equalize the game at 9–9 in under 10 minutes. The fourth goal came from junior midfielder Elizabeth George three minutes earlier, bringing her to eight goals for the season.

Syracuse responded with two goals from Emily Hawryschuk and Vanessa Costantino, pulling ahead to 11–9 with less than 19 minutes to go in the half.

Senior Tiger midfielder Camille Sullivan and McNulty quickly closed the lead with goals in the 14th minute of the second half. D’Orsi followed two minutes later with her fourth goal of the game, giving Princeton a 12–11 lead.

Riley Donahue put two quick points on the scoreboard for Syracuse to put the Orange back in the lead, but Hallett scored her second goal of the game to tie the score at 13–13.

Syracuse tallied another two goals to take the lead with less than ten minutes to go, but D’Orsi scored a game-high fifth goal less than a minute later. The Orange knocked two more shots into the goal to bring their total to 17 with four minutes remaining.

The Tigers responded with a late two-goal surge from senior attack Colby Chanenchuk and Sears, but they were not able to capitalize in their final possession. Colby’s goal was her second of the season. Sears now has 26 goals for the spring.

Syracuse led in draw controls at 18–16, but Princeton took more shots on goal at 32–30.

Though Princeton was able to clinch an exciting victory against Penn State (7–4) and a close win over Brown (6–4, 0–3) in its Ivy League season opener, the team has now lost each of its three home matches.