Princeton University
Virginia
Turnovers Doom No. 3 Tigers in 8-4 Loss at No. 4 Virginia in Women's Lacrosse
March 26, 2005 | Women's Lacrosse
March 26, 2005
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Princeton won plenty of draw controls. The Tigers had a season-high 16 caused turnovers and held the best offensive player in the game, Virginia's Amy Appelt, to just two goals overall and none in the final 55 minutes of the game. But none of those things made up for Princeton's own inability to keep possession itself.
When it was over, fourth-ranked Virginia had a hard-fought 8-4 victory over third-ranked Princeton in women's lacrosse on a soggy, chilly day at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville. And Princeton head coach Chris Sailer was left wondering if the result could have been completely different.
"We grew up on defense today," said Sailer, "competed for groundballs and did a terrific job on a great player in Appelt. But we just had way too many turnovers in the midfield that kept us from being able to establish anything offensively."
The Tigers (4-2) had 22 turnovers in all, which actually might have made for a lopsided score if not for their ability to create turnovers themselves. Princeton helped create 21 Virginia turnovers, including five individual caused turnovers by Lauren Vance.
Truth be told, the game didn't start poorly at all for Princeton. Lindsey Biles took a feed from Kathleen Miller just 50 seconds into the game to give the Tigers the lead, and Virginia (6-1) would go on to lead 2-1 five minutes into the game thanks only to the individual efforts of Appelt, who scored twice in a 1:09 span, including one scored while sitting on the ground 4:10 into the game. Princeton then unleashed a fury of shots midway through the first half on Virginia goalie Ginger Miles, but Miles made six first-half saves, including several on point-blank opportunities. Cary Chasney's free-position goal with 6:21 left in the half gave the Cavaliers a 3-1 halftime lead.
"We might have been able to change the momentum of the game if we were able to stick some of those shots," said Sailer. "Their goalie did a nice job of turning that momentum back to them."
When Kate Breslin and Chasney scored goals early in the second half, Virginia had a 5-1 lead. The Cavaliers never led by fewer than three goals in the final 19 minutes.
"We didn't feel like we could be comfortable at all until we got it to 5-1," said Virginia head coach Julie Myers. "When we got to that point, our attackers did a nice job of being patient and taking advantage of our lead."
Elizabeth Pillion scored twice in a two-minute span for Princeton, including a free-position shot with 7:50 left that pulled the Tigers within 7-4, but Virginia forced Princeton turnovers on three different possessions after that.
The Tigers won nine of the game's 14 draw controls but had just 16 shots for the game compared to Virginia's 22. Biles had a goal and an assist for Princeton, which was playing its third game out of six this season against a team ranked in the top six of the IWLCA poll.
Appelt, Chasney and Breslin each scored three goals for Virginia, which scored on three free-position opportunities. The Cavaliers defeated Princeton for the second straight time after losing to the Tigers in the regular season last year.
Sarah Kolodner had five of her seven saves in the second half for the Tigers, who host Georgetown Wednesday night.
No. 3 Virginia 8, No. 4 Princeton 4
March 26, 2005
PU (4-2) 1 3 4
VA (6-1) 3 5 8
Scoring
Princeton--Elizabeth Pillion 2-0, Lindsey Biles 1-1, Ashley Amo 1-0, Kathleen Miller 0-1
Virginia--Amy Appelt 2-0, Cary Chasney 2-0, Kate Breslin 2-0, Nikki Lieb 1-1, Tyler Leachman 1-0
Saves
Princeton--Sarah Kolodner 7 (60:00)
Virginia--Ginger Miles 8 (60:00)
Shots: Princeton 16, Virginia 22
Groundballs: Princeton 25, Virginia 29
Caused Turnovers: Princeton 16, Virginia 11
Turnovers; Princeton 22, Virginia 21
Draw Controls: Princeton 9, Virginia 5
Fouls: Princeton 17, Virginia 11