The Princeton Tigers proved too much for the women’s lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon in New Jersey.
Despite playing strong defense for the first half, 10 unanswered Tiger goals propelled Princeton (5–6, 3–1 Ivy) to an 11–2 win over the Bulldogs (5–7, 2–3) at Princeton Stadium.
“We were pretty disappointed about how we played on Saturday,” Kaitlyn Flatley ’11, who scored the Elis’ only two goals on the day, said. “We’re a better team than that and we just ended up beating ourselves.”
It was 10 minutes into the first half before either team scored. Though the Bulldogs spent most of this time on defense, three saves from goaltender Whitney Quackenbush ’12 prevented Princeton from taking an early lead.
At 20:46, a goal from Kaitlyn Flately ’11 put the Elis on the board. But less than two minutes later, Princeton midfielder Jenna Davis evened the score, capitalizing on a pass from Lizzy Drum.
Another goal from Flatley at 17:10 put the Bulldogs back on top, but it was the last lead the team would enjoy during the game. The Tigers, despite being shut out for nearly 30 minutes in the first half, proceeded to score ten unanswered goals.
The streak began with a Kristin Morrison shot from eight meters with 1:30 left in the first half, which gave the home team a 3–2 lead at the break. Freshman Sam Ellis led the Tigers in the second half, scoring three of the team’s eight goals.
Goaltender Quackenbush explained that problems with transitions prevented the team from shutting down Princeton as they had done in the first half.
“In the first half the defense was able to hold a very powerful offense to only three goals,” Quakenbush said. “Our transitioning from the defense to the attack seemed to be the deal breaker.”
But the team also had issues creating scoring opportunities. The Tigers outshot the Bulldogs by nearly a three-to-one margin, putting the ball on net 34 times compared to the Elis’ 11.
“We had few shot opportunities,” Flatley said. “The amount of turnovers by us and Princeton were pretty equal, but they took advantage of ours and we failed to create opportunities from theirs.”
Though disappointed by the loss, the Bulldogs had anticipated a tough game from the Tigers, currently ranked third in the Ivy Leauge behind Dartmouth and Penn.
“Princeton was just as we expected,” attacker Jenna Block ’10 said. “We didn’t play our best game but I am confident we will pick it up next week.”
Despite the loss, the Elis’ payoff hopes are still alive. The team is tied for fourth in the Ivy League with Brown, Harvard and Cornell, who each have three losses on the season. There is room for only one of the four teams in the Ivy playoffs if the top three teams remain ahead.
“Overall I don’t feel great about the game, but I feel like as with every game, there are things we can take away from this one,” Quackenbush said.
Next week the team returns home to take on Columbia (4–7, 0–5), currently in last place in the Ivy League.
Betsey DiBonaventura contributed reporting.