Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/5/19
From Press Release
The game and the Ivy League Tournament championship had been salted away, and the Princeton women’s lacrosse defense didn’t care. They were here to play hard all the way to the end.
And so it was that Princeton got one more stop, one more lock-up of arch-rival Penn, this time a stand that led to a fast-break goal on the other end for the exclamation point to what had been a great second half for the Tigers. A game that had been tied at halftime turned into a 13-9 Princeton win over Penn at Columbia, giving the Tigers their second-straight ILT title and fifth in the 10 years of the tournament.
Princeton, who had already won a sixth-straight Ivy League championship during the regular season, earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, whose field would be announced Sunday at 8. The Tigers were already a lock for an NCAA bid win or lose in the final, but the victory means that a home game and first-round bye are likely.
“When there’s a championship to play for, you want to win it,” said Princeton head coach Chris Sailer (Haverford High). “This win belongs to the entire team. I thought we were very strong all over the field, and we got contributions from everyone in the lineup. Our defense and goalie were great in the second half, and our offense was patient and yet explosive.”
Princeton and Penn were tied 6-6 at the half before the Tigers played their best 30 minutes of the season, outscoring the Quakers 7-3 and looking great all over the field.
Kyla Sears had two goals and a career-high-tying five assists to earn tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. Sears had a highlight-reel day, including one goal where she split two defenders and another where she had the entire Penn defense facing one way before feeding an open Julia Haney on the other side for a layup.
Elizabeth George had five goals and an assist for Princeton, while Tess D’Orsi had three goals of her. This game, though, was about way more than just the Tigers’ offensive stars.
Gabby Rosenzweig had two goals and four assists for Penn. Katy Junior (Radnor) led the defense with three caused turnovers and a draw control.
The Tigers defense threw a blanket over Penn in the second half, shutting out the Quakers for the first 10 minutes after intermission and never allowing Penn to get any real momentum going. Even when the Quakers made it a 9-8 game with 16:10 left, Princeton would allow just one more the rest of the way.
One key change for the Tigers was to have freshman Lillian Stout take the draws after Penn won 10 of 13 in the first half. The result was a 7-4 edge for the Tigers in the second half, including three draw controls by Stout.
Sears and George were on the All-Tournament team, and they were joined by defenders Mary Murphy and Nonie Andersen, as well as goalie Sam Fish, who followed up 16 saves in the semifinal win over Cornell with nine more against Penn.
Princeton trailed 4-2 with 13 minutes left in the first half and then went on a 4-0 run to go up 6-4, only to have Penn tie it at the break. D’Orsi scored the first goal of the second half 3:17 in, and Princeton would never trail again.
George now has 54 goals on the season, one better than D’Orsi’s 53, as they are now the first Princeton teammates to reach at least 50 goals in the same season. Sears will take 49 goals into the NCAA tournament.
The game ended with one more Penn possession that ended in a turnover, which was followed by a ground ball by Kathryn Hallett, who threw it about 50 yards down the field to an open George, who scored the final one of the day with seven seconds left as the celebration kicked into high gear.
For the Tigers, it was as fitting an end as there could be – defensive dominance leading to a goal, and together it added up in a championship.
