Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Maryland (NCAA First Round)
Tigers Run By Maryland, 16-8, in NCAA Women's Lacrosse First Round
May 12, 2005 | Women's Lacrosse
May 12, 2005
Box Score
Kathleen Miller looked just about 100% after a bad back had limited her for much of the season. Lindsey Biles looked like the Ivy League Player of the Year that she is. Elizabeth Pillion looked like herself despite not playing for three weeks. Not surprisingly, the result was the Princeton women's lacrosse team's best effort of the 2005 season.
The Tigers saved that effort for the most important time, the NCAA tournament. And after a dominating 16-8 victory over Maryland at Class of 1952 Stadium in a first-round game Thursday afternoon, head coach Chris Sailer knew her team had risen to the challenge.
"I'm just so proud of the team and the way they performed today," said Sailer. "It's the NCAA tournament, it's Maryland, and we were ready to play right from the opening whistle."
Maryland (12-7) was ready to play from the opening whistle as well, taking a 3-2 lead with 14 minutes left in the first half on a Katie Doolittle goal, but it was simply all Tigers after that. Biles shot off a nice feed from Ingrid Goldberg tied it at 3-3 with 6:10 left, and Katie Lewis-Lamonica's goal 26 seconds later gave Princeton (13-4) the lead for good.
Biles then made a huge play in the final seconds of the first half, scoring on an unassisted rocket past Maryland goalie Kirah Miles with one second showing on the clock to give the Tigers a 7-4 halftime lead. The senior scored three first-half goals, four goals in all and added two assists, creeping within three goals of Cristi Samaras's team record of 56 goals in a season. "I just worked a lot on my individual things in the last week or so," said Biles, who was held to a goal and an assist in last Wednesday's four-overtime loss to the Terrapin. "When everybody is playing well and our movement is good, it opens up opportunities for everyone."
Miller then began what became a Princeton rout, scoring three times in the first 12 minutes of the second half to give the Tigers a 10-4 lead. Princeton would put the game away for good in a three-minute stretch with just under 10 minutes left, getting Biles' fourth goal and others from Lewis-Lamonica, Goldberg and Miller to take an insurmountable 16-6 lead.
"I feel like I've been getting my timing back in the last few weeks with being able to practice every day," said Miller, who missed time earlier in the year with a back injury. "Just playing with other people more and figuring out where people are going to be is a huge thing."
And then there was Pillion, who started and played the game's first 45 minutes despite a huge wrap on her right leg due to a hamstring injury suffered at Dartmouth April 23. The wrap didn't do much to stop Princeton's senior captain, however, as she scored three times, including a right-handed rocket with 16:27 left that gave the Tigers a 12-5 lead.
"Pills is the heart and soul of our team," said Sailer. "She made a huge difference in the game, right from the beginning where she made a strip after the first draw control."
"There wasn't any doubt I was going to play today," said Pillion, who had missed Princeton's games against Delaware, Brown and Maryland. "The trainers did a great job of getting me ready to play today as opposed to the regular season."
Doolittle and Kelly Kasper scored twice for Maryland, which had its earliest ever exit from the NCAA tournament in 21 appearances. Princeton's win was its first against Maryland in the NCAA tournament since a 10-7 victory in the national championship game 11 seasons ago.
"A lot of the things we did well last week we didn't do well today," said Maryland head coach Cindy Timchal. "Draw controls were one of those things (Princeton had 16 to Maryland's 10). We were concerned because we had only seven shots at halftime, and we weren't able to possess the ball as much as we wanted."
Princeton outshot the Terrapins 31-17, including 14-7 in the first half.
The Tigers improved to 14-1 in their first game in 15 NCAA tournament appearances and won their ninth straight NCAA tournament game at Class of 1952 Stadium.