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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Spring Has Sprung as Women's Lacrosse Opens Season This Saturday
February 24, 2012 | Women's Lacrosse
Game 1: No. 8 Princeton at Villanova
Gametime: Saturday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m.
2012 Records: Princeton (0-0), Villanova (1-1)
Series Began: First Meeting
Links: Live Video $9.95 l Live Stats
PRINCETON, N.J. (2/23/12) – The reigning Ivy League Tournament Champion Princeton opens the 2012 women's lacrosse season on Saturday, Feb. 25 at Villanova in the first meeting between the two squads. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
Princeton head coach Chris Sailer will go toe-to-toe with one of her former players, Julie (Shaner '01) Young who became the Villanova head coach this past summer.Young was a finalist for the 2001 Tewaaraton Trophy, was a three-time All-America and earned All-Ivy League honors all four years. During her tenure Princeton posted a 53-19 overall record, was 24-4 in the Ivy League and reached at least the NCAA Quarterfinal round all four years. The team was the national runner-up during her junior year and a semifinalist her senior year. Young is Princeton's all-time ground ball leader and is second all-time in caused turnovers.
"Princeton graduates have so many professional directions they can take, so it's always special when one of the players I've coached decides to make a career of college coaching," Sailer said. "I watched Julie help build the Penn program into a national contender and instill in her players the same fire and competitiveness she had as a Tiger, and I fully expect she'll do the same as the head coach at Villanova. In many ways coaching against one of your former players makes you feel like a proud parent, but at the same time you know you've got to be at your best, because that kid you once trained is now focusing all of her energies on preparing her team to beat your team. It will be fun when we first see each other on the field. Come the first draw, we'll both be all business, and then after the game, regardless of the result, we'll greet each other warmly and wish each other the best."
Villanova is 1-1 on the season after opening with a 16-7 win at Wagner one week ago, and followed with an 11-7 loss at Delaware on Wednesday. The Cats are coming off of a 5-11 season from 2011 and return their top two scorers, Justine Donodeo and Maria Bowman, and goaltenders, Amanda Hirschfeld and Julia Todd. Donodeo is after another scoring crown as she has eight goals and one assist for nine points. Bowman has eight points on four goals and assists apiece. Rookie Jackie Froccaro (sister of Jeff Froccaro '13) adds four goals. Hirschfeld and Todd split time between the pipes last year. Hirschfeld has gotten the starting nod in both games this year and has made five saves on 10 shots.
Princeton returns 18 of 23 letterwinners from a team that won the 2011 Ivy League Tournament and made a run to the NCAA quarterfinals. The Tigers, ranked No. 8 in the national poll, will be bolstered by the addition of six freshmen.
The Tigers return a solid corps in the midfield led by Tewaaraton Trophy Watch candidate Cassie Pyle. Pyle led the Tigers in scoring last year with 38 goals and 19 assists for 57 points. Twenty-eight of those points game in the last six games of the season. Junior Charlotte Davis and sophomore Sarah Lloyd return to the midfield as well. Davis has four points in the first round game against James Madison, scoring on all three of her shots, and finished fourth on the team in scoring with 36 points off of 27 goals and nine helpers. Lloyd was the top freshman scorer for the Tigers least year with 15 goals and 12 assists and took a substantial number of draws.
Leading the way on attack is junior Jaci Gassaway. Gassaway is the team's second returning point scorer after earning 33 goals and 13 assists last year. Senior Barb Previ, who had 25 points last year, should once again be a starter on attack for the Tigers.
The defense will have to make some adjustments without All-America and three-year starter Erin Tochihara '11 in goal. There will be game time inexperience in goal as the starting job will go to either freshman Annie Woehling or sophomore Caroline Franke. The opponent will have to go through a tough experienced defense, led by All-America Lindsey deButts, to get to the goal. deButts led the team and was third in the league in ground balls with 41, led the team and was second in the league in caused turnovers with 31 and was second on the team in draw controls. Senior Cathy Bachur and Caroline Rehfuss both had big seasons last year. Both had 18 caused turnovers apiece and they combined for 57 ground balls. Rehfuss was also third on the team in draw controls 19.
Princeton finished 2011 with a 12-7 overall record and won the Ivy League Tournament as the No. 4 seed upsetting No. 1 Penn twice on its home field in two weeks and following up with a victory over Harvard in the title tilt. Princeton traveled to No. 8-seeded James Madison for the first round of the NCAA Tournament and posting an 11-10 win. The Tigers would fall in the quarterfinals to the defending national champion Maryland in College Park. Three players earned All-America honors, six captured all-region honors and five were named All-Ivy League.