Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/10/15
From Press Release
The Princeton women’s lacrosse team is advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals after an 8-4 win over No. 6 Stony Brook this afternoon.
This marks Princeton’s first time reaching the quarterfinals since 2011, two years before the NCAA expanded the tournament to 26. It is also the first time Princeton (16-3) has won two NCAA games since the 2004 season when the Tigers were the national runners-up.
Princeton now faces Duke in the quarterfinals after the Blue Devils eliminated USC.
Princeton used a 3-0 run to start the second to regain a lead over Stony Brook, 6-3. The Tigers held the Seawolves to just one goal in the second half, as they added two more to ice the victory in the final 22 seconds.
Stony Brook (18-2) had a seven-game win streak coming into today’s game, and earned a first-round bye as the No. 6 seed. The Seawolves had lost just once prior to today.
Princeton took a 2-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game.
Senior Erin McMunn put the Tigers on the board at 28:12 on feed from Erin Slifer from behind the cage. McMunn’s shot sailed over the left shoulder of goalie Kaitlyn Leahy. A free-position goal by Olivia Hompe at 22:38 made it 2-0 Tigers.
Sophomore Ellie DeGarmo made all three of her first half saves in the first five minutes. She denied Kylie Ohlmiller on a feed off of Michelle Rubino’s eight-meter attempt, stuffed Dorrien Van Dykes and Amber Kupres.
Caused turnovers came fast and furious in the game, with nine for Princeton and eight for Stony Brook as the players put on a defensive show for the fans at LaValle Stadium. Junior Liz Bannantine forced three turnovers, while sophomore Amanda Leavell had two.
Both teams had chances to score as Kupres hit the pipe while McMunn got denied on a free-position shot.
A 3-0 Seawolves run followed as Van Dyke scored an unassisted goal at 16:16. Rubino set up the next goal as she ran around the back of the cage and found a cutting Courtney Murphy to tie it at 2-2 and Stony Brook gained the lead Ohlmiller faked on DeGarmo on a feed from Alyssa Guido at 8:37.
Freshman Abby Finkelston knotted the game at 3-3 at 3:10 on a great offensive play as Stephanie Paloscio made a quick pass to Slifer behind the cage and Finkelston swatted in the pass.
Hompe received a yellow card with 1:14 remaining, but a caused turnover created b by Bannantine behind the crease gave the Tigers the ball. Time in the half ran out before Princeton could attempt a shot – ending the half at 3-3.
Both goalies stuffed shots to start the second but Princeton’s run – and Finkelston’s continued. She converted two free-position opportunities to put together a natural hat trick and a career high. Finkelston entered the game with 11 goals but had one scored once in a game.
Two minutes later Stony Brook’s Taylor Ranftle earned a free position but she left the fan too earlier and hit Madeline Rodriguez and was carded. A Princeton foul occurred on the play as well and the officials called for a throw-in.
Murphy won the throw but Bannantine came up with another caused turnover to get possession back to the Orange & Black. As the Tigers tried to clear the ball, Stony Brook head coach Joe Spallina asked for a stick check on Anna Doherty and it was ruled perfectly legal and play resumed. The only shot of the two-minute player advantage was Hompe ricocheting the ball off of Leahy’s toe.
DeGarmo came up with her biggest stop of the game, on a free-position attempt by Van Dyke and Rodriguez caught the ground ball. Minutes later Van Dyke was denied again – but this time DeGarmo saw it the whole way.
Paloscio expanded Princeton’s lead at 13:20 as she cut from the top of the arc and grabbed a McMunn feed for the goal to make it 6-3.
Kristi Yevoli ended the Tigers’ run, and scored the Seawolves lone goal of the second half as she made a quick change of directions at the top of the arc and ran in for the tally at 12:33.
Stony Brook called a timeout with 10:35 to play after picking off a Princeton pass and knew that its next possession would be a big one, as it trailed 6-4.
After the restart it was DeGarmo picking off a pass that would give Princeton the ball with 6:40 remaining. DeGarmo finished the game with six saves.
Stony Brook was desperate to get the ball back and Leahy, who made four saves in the game, came out to play defense. After more than three minutes had run off the clock, Princeton called a timeout. On the restart the Tigers remained content to kill the clock rather than shoot as the Seawolves chased the Tigers around its offensive third.
Finally with 22 seconds left, Finkelston couldn’t resist going for one more and she buried she fourth of the game with freshman Camille Sullivan assisting. Junior Anya Gersoff finished off the game with another empty-net goal with nine ticks on the clock.
Princeton outshot Stony Brook 15-12 and won the draw battle, 8-5.
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