.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Tigers Hang On For Thrilling 8-7 Win Over Penn in Women's Lacrosse
April 19, 2006 | Women's Lacrosse
April 19, 2006
Box Score
The Princeton women's lacrosse team sure knows how to make it interesting. The Tigers have also shown they know how to make the plays that win games.
The Tigers held Penn without a goal for more than 30 minutes, got a key goal themselves on a fantastic move from freshman Christine Casaceli and then hung on in the final minute, defeating Penn 8-7 in an Ivy League thriller Wednesday night at Class of 1952 Stadium.
No. 10 Princeton (8-4, 5-0 Ivy) moved within one Ivy League win of clinching the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth and won its sixth straight game since a 2-4 start. No. 20 Penn (8-5, 3-3 Ivy) saw its chance at a league title slip away.
"These games have all been tight," said Princeton head coach Chris Sailer. "Penn has a lot of terrific players and played well tonight. We made some plays in the second half that turned the game in our favor."
Maybe the biggest plays came from the Princeton defense, which forced several turnovers and held the Quakers without a shot for more than 16 minutes in the second half. Princeton took the first 19 shots of the half after taking just eight shots in the first half.
Still, Penn was within one at 8-7 in the final minute and had two chances to tie the game. The first came from Melissa Lehman with 35 seconds left, but Princeton goalie Colleen O'Boyle got enough of the shot to push it wide. Penn then got the ball back in the final seconds, but a Princeton defender blocked Tarah Kirnan's shot and the Tigers were able to run out the clock.
Trailing 6-5 at half, the Tigers tied it 3:30 into the second half thanks to a free-position goal by Kathleen Miller. Princeton then took a lead it wouldn't relinquish 2:30 later when Jamie Sundheim collected a ground ball after a Penn turnover and found Katie Lewis-Lamonica, who scored in front to make it 7-6. Perhaps the most spectacular goal of the game would come from Casaceli, however, one that gave the Tigers an 8-6 lead with 10 minutes left. She spun past a defender on the left side and scored past Penn goalie Karrie Moore to make it 8-6.
Holly McGarvie and Lewis-Lamonica each had three goals for Princeton, which outshot Penn 20-6 in the decisive second half. McGarvie scored three straight Princeton goals in the first half.
"The double team came out pretty hard, so when I saw it I took the ball to the goal, said McGarvie of her three-goal performance. "Overall, I think we're used to playing in games like these now, so we feel like we can handle pressure situations."
Allison Ambrozy had two goals and an assist for Penn, which took a 6-4 lead with 6:44 left in the first half after a Lehman goal. But Lewis-Lamonica's unassisted goal for Princeton two minutes later made it 6-5 at halftime.
Princeton won a fifth straight game in which it was either tied or trailed at halftime. The Tigers have now outscored their last five opponents 25-10 in the second half.
The Tigers also won their 13th straight game against Penn dating back to 1994.