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Princeton University Athletics
Tigers Face Top-Seeded Loyola In NCAA Semifinal
May 13, 2003 | Women's Lacrosse
May 13, 2003
Syracuse, N.Y. - Winners of 13 of their last 14 games, the Princeton women's lacrosse team is two wins away from repeating as national champion. The field is down to four and the Tigers face top-seeded Loyola on Friday night in an NCAA Semifinal showdown.
Princeton, Loyola, Maryland and Virginia comprise this year's Final Four. The Tigers and Greyhounds meet in a re-match of an early season double-overtime thriller at Princeton's Class of '52 Stadium. Loyola won that game 9-8 behind three goals from freshman Sydney Greene. Rachael Becker had a season-high six caused turnovers for Princeton, which dropped its first game of the season.
"I think we've really grown as a team since that loss to Loyola," says Princeton Head Coach Chris Sailer. "We graduated so many players from last season's team and it took a while for everyone to step into their roles. We are much more balanced, more threatening now." The Tigers enter the Final Four as the hottest team in the nation. They have won seven straight and are the only team from the 2002 Final Four to be back in the Semifinals. With a 14-4 overall record, Princeton has the longest current NCAA tournament win streak at six games.
Loyola is 17-1 overall. Its only loss came to Virginia in the final week of the regular season. The Cavaliers defeated the Greyhounds 10-9 in Baltimore. Suzanne Eyler leads the 'hounds with 56 goals and 63 points this season. She also has 52 ground balls and 34 caused turnovers entering the Final Four. Loyola has advanced in the tournament with wins over UMBC and Yale.
"Team chemistry, heart and soul has gotten us where we are," says Loyola Coach Diana Geppi-Aikens. "The excitement of this season has been overwhelming. This team deserves to be in the Final Four."
Princeton's path to Syracuse, the home of the 2003 Women's Lacrosse Final Four, has been through LeMoyne and Ohio State. The Tigers have won their two tournament games by an average of 13.5 goals, defeating LeMoyne 19-1 and Ohio State 17-8.
The women from Old Nassau are back in the Final Four for the fourth straight year and for the 10th time in program history. The Tigers are second in total NCAA tournament games played (31), NCAA tournament games won (21) and in championship round appearances (9). Princeton has advanced to the title game in two of the last three years and looks to become only the second program to ever successfully defend its national crown.
"I feel that all the pressure was off of us to defend after we lost three straight early in the season," says Sailer. "Those losses changed our mentality and all of the sudden, we weren't defending something, we were reaching. Those games helped put 2002 behind us and we are playing our best lacrosse right now."
The 2003 Final Four will have a familiar feel to it with the field identical to those of 1994 and 1996. The same four teams advanced to the Semifinals in those tournaments and Princeton won the 1994 title to claim its first national championship. The Tigers defeated Virginia in the Semifinals and then beat Maryland in the title game that year.
The Tigers have 36 goals in two tournament games this year after setting an NCAA record for most goals in a tournament with 64 last season. Junior Theresa Sherry, who leads the Tigers in scoring this year, has eight goals in the tournament's first two rounds.
Princeton and Loyola play at 6:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. Maryland and Virginia play in the game following with an approximate start time of 8:30 p.m. The Princeton game can be head live on www.GoPrincetonTigers.com
Final Four Game Notes in PDF Format
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