George's Five Goals Lead No. 20 Princeton to Victory at Harvard

Saturday, April 7

Cambridge, Mass.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

6-4 (2-1Ivy)

Harvard

3-8 (0-4Ivy)

Princeton

Harvard

Photo by: Patrick Tewey

George's Five Goals Lead No. 20 Princeton to Victory at Harvard

April 07, 2018 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

Four Tigers had three or more goals led by junior Elizabeth George and her career-high five goals as No. 20 Princeton defeated Harvard, 20-15 at Harvard Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Princeton (6-4, 2-1 Ivy) jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first 12:08, and kept things rolling to take an 11-7 lead at halftime. Seven of those 11 goals game on free-position conversions, as the Tigers went 7 for 12.

"We have been very focused on 8M execution in practice as they are so vital to a team's result," head coach Chris Sailer said. "We did anticipate that we'd get to the line often against Harvard and we wanted to be ready to execute.

The hefty hand of Princeton in draw controls, winning 13 of 19, helped the Tigers to create those offensive opportunities. Freshman Marge Donovan and Ellie McNulty won seven apiece.

Princeton's also changed up its defense

"Our associate head coach Jenn Cook put in a different defensive look late in the first half today in an attempt to neutralize Harvard's top threats who were finding success against us early," Sailer said. "It definitely helped get them out of their attack rhythm. We've been working on some different zone looks in practice to diversify our defenses and today it proved helpful. Despite some back and forth scoring over the first 12 minutes of the second half, Princeton maintained its five-goal lead, 15-10."

The Crimson's leading scorer Julia Glynn sparked her offense on a five-goal run over the five-minute stretch to knot the game at 15-15 15 10:56. Glynn scored three of those goals and assisted on one other.

The Tigers wouldn't let a six-game win streak in the series stop, as they tallied the next five goals for the victory.

Kyla Sears's 32nd goal of the season put the Tigers back on top 16-15 at 7:34 and George added a free-position goal at 3:28.

Donovan won the next draw which led to a Tess D'Orsi free-position goal and Donovan was a factor again with 1:39 to play blocking a Crimson shot and coming up with a ground ball for the Tigers. The ensuing possession saw the final strike from George off a feed from Sears. George won the next draw with 22 seconds left and Sears finished off the game with a goal from junior Allie Rogers with one second left on the clock.

George's five goals included a natural hat trick in the first half as well as three draw controls. Sears had a seven-point affair with four goals and three assists and Rogers had three goals on three shots and added one helper. Junior Kathryn Hallett recorded a hat trick, D'Orsi had two goals and one assist. Freshman Sam Fish, who has emerged as the starting netminder after a career-high 16 save performance at Delaware, continued to stay in true form - making 13 saves this afternoon.

Princeton begins a four-game homestand on Tuesday, hosting No. 2 Maryland at 6 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.