No. 15 women’s lacrosse topples No. 10 Loyola

Last night at home, No. 15 women’s lacrosse (8–3 overall, 2–1 Ivy League) sent No. 10 Loyola University (9–4, 5–0 Patriot League) packing with a 14–10 upset victory.

Senior attacker Elizabeth George logged a whopping five goals. Senior midfielder Kathryn Hallett trailed her with a personal record of four; sophomore attacker Kyla Sears and junior attacker Tess D’Orsi recorded two and one, respectively.

Strong throughout the course of the matchup, the Tigers’ offense was on particular display for the game’s first sixth. Within the first 12 minutes of the game, the Tigers dominated the Greyhounds’ defense. Two from George kicked off a jaw-dropping Tiger run, with a series of quick shots propelling the Tigers to a 6–0 early lead.

“Offense looked really good tonight,” said head coach Chris Sailer. “We were finding openings and getting great shots. Loyola plays a really good defense, so I thought we did a really good job to put points on the board tonight.”

Those opening minutes dug Loyola’s grave. The Greyhounds would mount a ferocious fight, but they would never manage to recover.

The second period opened with a 10–3 Princeton lead. The Greyhounds stepped up their game. They outshot the Tigers 18–10 and outscored them 7–4. With 2:32 to play, it seemed the crowd might be in for a comeback. Loyola had clawed its way to a mere 13–10 deficit, but George’s fifth goal of the night — and 34th of the season — put an end to the Greyhounds’ dreams.

Offense had stolen the show at the game’s beginning, but the rest of it was a defensive battle. Sophomore Sam Fish racked up 11 Tiger saves. Sophomore defender Marge Donovan logged two caused turnovers and four ground balls; senior defender Nonie Andersen had six draw controls and a caused turnover. Sailer also noted senior defender Alex Argo’s effective one-on-one defense against Loyola’s standout Livy Rosenzweig.

“I thought defense did a really great job. The first half was a really incredible defensive effort,” Sailer praised. “Ten minutes left in the second half, they got a string of goals on us and we were fouling too much, but the whole unit did a great job.”

All in all, the team was thrilled with the upset.

“We knew this would be an opportunity for us to compete and hopefully win against a team that’s ranked higher than us and potentially move up in the ranks,” Sailer said.

But the Tigers can’t rest on their laurels for long. They’ll head back into Ivy play this weekend, beginning a four-game stretch with a matchup against Harvard this Saturday at 1 p.m. on Sherrerd Field. When the teams met last year, Princeton walked away with a cool 20–15 victory.