Tigers Extend Streak Against W. Lax

The two-time defending national champion proved too much for the women's lacrosse team, which dropped its fourth consecutive game Saturday, falling to No. 1 Princeton, 16-10. Cornell (1-7, 0-2 Ivy) held its own against the Tigers (9-0, 2-0) for most of the first half, but Princeton pulled away in the second half to seal its 18th straight victory. 

This year's game against the Tigers was a stark contrast to the last meeting between the two squads, which saw Princeton jump out to a 6-1 lead to go on to win, 9-2. While it took the Red nearly 20 minutes to score its first goal against the Tigers in 2003, junior Kristen Smith put Cornell on the board six minutes into this game with her 16th goal of the season.

"I think we caught them off guard in the beginning of the game, and it seemed to rattle their defense especially. The Princeton coach called a timeout five minutes into the game, probably because she didn't like what she saw from her defense," said head coach Jenny Graap '86.

After the Cornell goal, Princeton found its stride, going on a 4-0 run over the next seven minutes. Sophomore Lyndsay Robinson cut the lead to two with her seventh goal of the season about 15 minutes in. After Princeton scored its fifth goal with 10 minutes left in the half, senior co-captain Jaime Quinn took over on the offensive end. Quinn scored three of Cornell's four goals in the final 6:24 of the first half, and the Red went into the locker room down 7-6. 

The Tigers wasted no time getting on the board after the break, however, as freshman Kathleen Miller scored her second goal of the game just 1:40 into the half. Smith answered for Cornell 40 seconds later, but Miller added another tally after the successive draw control.

"In the second half, a lot of [Princeton's] goals were fast break, transition goals, where they took advantage of our mistakes in transition, our turnovers, and they just ran end to end," Graap said. "In the second half, we sort of got a little bit away from our game plan, and in the first half we had done a good job of possessing the ball. That was our strategy, to possess the ball and look for the best opportunity, not just run and shoot." 

Lindsay Biles scored three consecutive goals in a span of five minutes to give the Tigers a 12-7 lead with 18 minutes left to play. After Robinson scored her second of the game, Miller found the back of the net twice for her fourth and fifth scores, extending the Princeton lead to 14-8.

"We knew about Kathleen Miller, for sure. She got a couple of free position goals, which were just really nice shots. We were definitely focusing on their leading scorers, Lindsey Biles and Theresa Sherry, and I think we did a nice job on them. They have so many threats out there that you can't contain all of them, and I think that's what eventually happened," Graap said.

Quinn finished the game with four goals on five shots, and, in goal, sophomore Maggie Fava recorded eight saves. The Tigers outshot Cornell, 34-24, and also held a 28-22 advantage in ground balls.

"For a team with a record like we have, we've had a lot of frustration so far this season. We played a great game against Vanderbilt who is ranked in the top 10, and we played a really solid game against the two-time defending national champ and undefeated Princeton, so we do seem to rise to the challenge," Graap said.