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Princeton University Athletics
Women's Lacrosse Shuts Down No. 4 Loyola in Second Half, Wins 9-5
March 07, 2004 | Women's Lacrosse
March 7, 2004
Box Score
BALTIMORE - Top-ranked Princeton dominated the beginning and the end of its women's lacrosse game against No. 4 Loyola Sunday at the newly-christened Diane Geppi-Aikens Field. And when it was over, the Tigers had their 11th straight win dating back to last season.
Freshman Kathleen Miller scored three goals and added two assists, junior Lindsey Biles had three goals and the Tigers scored the game's final four goals after Loyola tied the game early in the second half on the way to a 9-5 victory over the Greyhounds in a game that was closer than the score appeared.
The Tigers (2-0), who haven't lost since last April 16, went ahead 6-5 on Miller's goal with 19 minutes left and then took a 7-5 lead when Elizabeth Pillion scored an unassisted goal three minutes later. Miller's third goal of the game came just 45 seconds after Pillion's goal, and Biles ended the scoring for Princeton with 8:15 left, taking a nice feed from Miller in front. "We have a lot of weapons on attack," said Miller, who has five goals and three assists in the first two games of her college career. "Loyola was really concentrating on Theresa (Sherry) and our more experienced players, and I was lucky to convert the opportunities I got."
Princeton also did it on the defensive end, holding the Greyhounds (3-1) without a goal in the first 16 minutes of the game and for the final 27 minutes of the second half. The Tiger defense held Loyola's leading scorer, Rachel Shuck, to just one goal, and Tiger goalie Sarah Kolodner had a career-high 14 saves, including eight in the first half.
"We've kind of jokingly told Sarah that her first two years she could depend on experience in front of her on defense but now the defense is depending on her," said Princeton head coach Chris Sailer. "She had a lot of great saves in the first half when we needed them."
The Tigers scored the first four goals of the game, getting scores from Biles and Miller in a 32-second span early in the game and goals from Sherry and Biles midway through the half to take a 4-0 lead. Loyola trailed 5-1 after Sherry's second goal with 11 minutes left in the half, but the Greyhounds then scored three straight to end the half, including Shuck's goal with 10 seconds left that pulled her team within 5-4 at half.
Jackie Borrone then scored for Loyola three minutes into the second half to tie the game, but the Greyhounds wouldn't score again."
"They did some things in transition to score goals but we were able to adjust in the second half," said Sailer. "I thought Lauren Vance did an excellent job in helping shut their attack down."
The teams had the same amount of shots (23) and groundballs (29), while Princeton won nine of the game's 16 draws.
A ceremony before the game honored long-time Loyola head coach Diane Geppi-Aikens, who died of brain cancer last June at the age of 40. The astroturf field at Loyola was named Curley Field from 1979 until today, when the College renamed the field after Geppi-Aikens.
Princeton hosts ninth-ranked Virginia at Class of 1952 Stadium next Sunday. The game will be televised live by CSTV at 2 p.m. and can be heard on the internet at goprincetontigers.com.