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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Northwestern (NCAA Quarterfinal)
Tigers Drop 8-6 Decision to Top-Seeded Northwestern in NCAA Quarterfinal
May 15, 2005 | Women's Lacrosse
May 15, 2005
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill. - Even though it was less than 72 hours later, Princeton just wasn't the same team Sunday afternoon on the shores of Lake Michigan as it was Thursday afternoon on the turf at Class of 1952 Stadium. The Tigers' effort, though never-wavering, didn't have the same result either.
Top-seeded, top-ranked and undefeated Northwestern held on for an 8-6 victory over the No. 8 seed Tigers in the NCAA quarterfinals on a chilly day at the Thomas Sports Complex, improving to 19-0 and reaching the final four in the just the fourth season of the rebirth of the school's varsity program. Princeton (13-5), which was playing its first NCAA tournament game on the road since 2001, saw its own final four streak end at five years.
"Obviously Northwestern is a great team," said Sailer, "but I felt like we did a lot of things to hurt ourselves as well. We felt like we knew what they would do defensively, but we still couldn't execute, and you have to give them credit for that."
Northwestern forced 12 of Princeton's 19 turnovers, often with double teams in the Princeton offensive zone. More importantly, the Wildcats also held the Tigers to just 13 shot attempts for the game. Princeton entered the game averaging nearly 28 shots for the season.
Much of the credit for that goes to Northwestern's control of possession, which they did for much of the first half on the way to a 4-2 halftime lead and then again in a stretch midway through the second half after taking a 7-3 advantage on a Sarah Albrecht goal six minutes into the half.
Albrecht was the offensive story for Northwestern Sunday, scoring a team-high four goals, including one with 1:18 left in the first half that gave her team the 4-2 halftime lead and two more in the first six minutes of the second half. "We wanted to control the ball and get the best possible opportunity as opposed to taking the first one," said Northwestern coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, whose team came into the game averaging a nation's-best 16 goals per game. "Princeton has great players all over the field, so we felt like we needed to be a little more patient than usual."
That ball control kept the Northwestern lead at 7-3 for more than 10 minutes midway through the second half, but Princeton's Lindsey Biles took a nice feed from Jamie Sundheim and scored with 11:10 left to pull the Tigers within 7-4.
The Wildcats would immediately get back that four-goal advantage when Lindsey Munday scored on a free-position shot with 9:16 left, but Princeton didn't quit. Ingrid Goldberg's goal with 6:36 left made it 8-5, and Ashley Amo made it 8-6 with 1:52 left when all-out pressure defense forced a Northwestern turnover.
Princeton then called timeout and controlled the draw, but Elizabeth Pillion's pass was intercepted and the Wildcats ran out the remainder of the clock.
"We probably had our best effort of the year Thursday (against Maryland), but we could not duplicate that today," said Sailer. "We needed that kind of game to beat a team like this on its home field."
Biles had two goals and an assist for Princeton, finishing the season with 55 goals and 71 points, while Goldberg also had two goals in her final collegiate game. Kathleen Miller added a goal and an assist for Princeton, which lost in the quarterfinals for the first time since an overtime defeat against Penn State in 1999.
"They did a good job defensively on me and other players," said Biles, who finished her Princeton career second all-time in both goals (175) and points (221) in program history. "But I feel like we didn't really have enough possession of the ball throughout the game."
The teams traded goals in the game's first 16 minutes before Northwestern's two-goal run that ended the half. Albrecht scored 1:34 in, but Miller's goal at the 18:11 mark tied it at 1-1. Kristen Kjellman scored off a nice feed from Munday three minutes later to give Northwestern the lead, but Biles then scored her first goal, taking a feed from Miller, to tie the game with 13:43 on the clock.
Aly Josephs' one-on-one move and goal with 6:12 left made it 3-2 Northwestern before Albrecht's big goal near the end of the half.
Albrecht and Princeton's Goldberg traded goals in the first two minutes of the second half, but reserve Donna McCann's goal with 26 minutes left made it 6-3 before Albrecht scored to give the Wildcats their biggest lead three minutes later.
Northwestern's eight goals were its fewest since a season-opening 6-5 win over North Carolina and marked just the second time this year the Wildcats had scored in single digits. Princeton's six goals were its fewest since an 8-4 loss at Virginia March 26. The teams came into the game averaging nearly 28 goals per game combined.
"There are a lot of good teams everywhere now, not just the traditional powers," said Sailer. "I guess it's good for the game that Northwestern gets to the final four, but right now I sure wish it was Princeton."
"There was just an awesome show of support by the campus and the community for this game," said Amonte Hiller, the former Maryland star who led the Terps to two national championships as a player. "I know what it's like to get to the final four, and I'm so happy that our players will get to experience that."