After Princeton women’s lacrosse (9–1 overall, 3–0 Ivy League) dropped the opener to now No. 10 Virginia (9–4, 4–3 ACC), the No. 7 Tigers have not revisited the loss column.
The Tigers have hit full stride, winning nine straight games heading into their Saturday matchup in Ithaca. In less-than-ideal weather and against a Cornell team (8–4, 2–2) hungry for their third conference victory, Princeton passed yet another test with a 12–11 win over the Big Red.
The Tigers have now fully grown into Ivy League play, beginning their conference slate undefeated with wins over Harvard (7–4, 2–2), No. 13 Yale (9–3, 2–2), and now Cornell. After the win on Saturday in Ithaca, Princeton not only reasserted itself as a team to watch on the national stage, but also notched its 10th straight victory over the Big Red with a 23–3 all-time record.
Princeton’s first half performance was near flawless. The Tigers got off to a blistering start in Ithaca, outplaying the Big Red in almost every facet of the game. It was this initial surge in the first two frames that gave Princeton enough breathing room to pull out the one goal win despite a near disastrous collapse in the fourth quarter.
The scoring opened under three minutes into the first quarter, with senior midfielder Sophie Whiteway putting the Tigers on the board. And Princeton wasn’t done yet. Through a pair of goals by star senior attacker and former Ivy League Player of the Week McKenzie Blake, as well as a solo effort by junior midfielder Maggie Molnar, the Orange and Black piled on three more goals before the end of the quarter.
The 4–0 lead after 15 minutes was marked by Princeton dominance that saw the Tigers outshoot the Big Red 14–5 and win four times as many draws.
Although Cornell scored the first goal in the second frame, cutting the score to 4–1, Princeton was able to grab momentum right back and silence the fans at Schoellkopf Field. At the seven minute mark, junior attacker Jami McDonald scored her 26th goal of the season to put the Tigers back up four and kickstart a Princeton flurry.
“We know how important it is to start the game well and continue that performance throughout,” junior goalkeeper Amelia Hughes told The Daily Princetonian.
The Tigers scored four more goals in the last five minutes of the first half, taking a 9–1 lead that proved insurmountable for Cornell. Two of these four goals came, once again, from Blake. The senior capped off a four goal first half performance, and both McDonald and Whiteway notched their second goals of the game as the Tigers went into the locker room holding an eight goal advantage.
Although Princeton’s first half success came in large part from its offensive prowess, Hughes’ work did not go unnoticed. The former Ivy League Goalie of the Year saved six of Cornell’s seven shots on goal in the first two quarters and held the Big Red to their lowest scoring first half all season.
Princeton also dominated the turnover battle, outshooting Cornell 15–3 and controlling all but one draw in the second quarter. The second half, however, proved to be a much different story.
Six minutes into the second half, Cornell scored a much needed goal to cut Princeton’s lead to 9–2. Although the Orange and Black answered back with yet another goal from Blake, it was nearly all Big Red from there on out. Cornell found the back of the net once more in a low scoring third quarter that resulted in a 10–3 Tiger advantage heading into the final 15 minutes.
Just under 20 seconds into the fourth quarter, Cornell scored a goal to cut the Princeton lead once more and ignited a furious comeback by the Big Red. Although Blake capped off a whopping six goal performance to bring the Tiger lead back to 11–4, Cornell’s Cailtlin Slaminko scored twice to slim the Princeton advantage to five goals.
Despite this, as they’ve been known to do all season, the Orange and Black found a response through sophomore midfielder Colette Quinn, taking a 12–6 advantage heading into the final four minutes of play.
With a six goal lead and under three and a half minutes to go, it was fair to say that many Princeton faithful had a win in their books for the Tigers, but the Big Red did not go down without a fight.
Cornell went on to score five goals in the final 3:15 of play, cutting Princeton’s lead down to just one goal by the end of regulation. Thanks to a brilliant first half of play, however, Princeton built enough of a lead to hang on and achieve a massive 12–11 win on the road in Ithaca.
“Late in the game, it was important to keep a positive mindset, work hard, and play together on every single play,” Amelia Hughes told the ‘Prince’.
Ivy League play will now take a pause for the Tigers as they return home for a midweek matchup with Stony Brook University (9–3, 4–0 Colonial) on Wednesday, April 9 at Sherrerd Field.
“I think we learned a lot from this game that we can bring with us to Stony Brook next week,” Hughes said. “We have great team energy that we can continue to bring every day.”
In a few days, we’ll see the Tigers have an opportunity to put that mindset into action.
Lucas Nor is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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