Princeton Women's Lacrosse - 2019 Season Outlook - Princeton University Athletics

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Princeton Women's Lacrosse - 2019 Season Outlook

February 01, 2019 | Women's Lacrosse

So far this century, the Princeton women's lacrosse team has reached the NCAA tournament 17 times in 19 tries. The Tigers have also won five straight Ivy League championships and, as the Ivy League tournament turns 10 this year, are the only team with four championships.

That sort of sustained success is not cultivated by focusing on the past. Instead, it's about building off that tradition while always looking ahead to the next year and the next challenge.

For the 2019 Tigers, that challenge includes adding to the above accolades. The team enters the coming season ranked anywhere from seventh to ninth in the major national polls, and the collective goal is another run into May.

"We're really excited for the 2019 season," said Princeton head coach Chris Sailer, who starts her 33^rd season with the program one win shy of becoming the second coach in women's Division I history to reach 400 victories. "We return a wealth of experienced and proven players and have added some talented freshman to the mix. The players have come a long way over the off-season, growing their skillsets and finding their identity as a team, and we're heading into pre-season practice ready to go. As coaches, we love the energy of this group, and we're looking forward to getting into the routine of daily practice with them. If we can keep our focus on the process of competing and striving to be a little better each day than we were the day before, it could be an exciting spring for Tiger fans."

Princeton should have great balance in 2019, with established scorers on one end of the field and veteran defenders on the other. The schedule will be incredibly challenging once again, with the usual Ivy League rivalries supplemented by traditional rivals like Maryland, Virginia, Penn State and Loyola and new additions in Top 10 foes Stony Brook and Florida.

Here is a position-by-position look at the 2019 Tigers:

Attack
Starters returning – Elizabeth George (43-6-49, 57DC), Tess D'Orsi (42-14-56), Kyla Sears (64-19-83)
Starters lost – Colby Chanenchuk (7-19-26)
Other letterwinners returning – Julia Haney (10-7-17), Laura Pansini (0-1-1), Katie Reilly, Allie Rogers (18-9-27)
Other letterwinners lost – Abby Finkelston (1-0-1), Haley Giraldi (2-3-5)
Newcomers – Gaby Hamburger, Kate Mulham, Tara Shecter

Princeton scored 276 goals in the 2017 season and then graduated its all-time leading scorer Olivia Hompe, a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist. So what happened in 2018? Princeton scored 278 goals. Where does that leave the Tigers in 2019? Princeton's offense last year was built around a nice combination of youth and experience, and now for 2019 it's a mix of experience and more experience. Elizabeth George is a preseason All-America, a first-team All-Ivy League selection and a two-time Ivy all-tournament selection, and she enters her senior year four points shy of 100 for her career (80G, 16A) after a 43-goal junior year. George is a proven scorer, and she is also invaluable on the circle, with 57 draw controls a year ago. Junior Tess D'Orsi is already past the 100-point mark, and her 42 goals last year were one shy of George's. Also like George, she was on the Ivy all-tournament team last year and is a preseason All-America. Those two team with sophomore Kyla Sears, whose career started off with honors that included second-team All-America, first-team All-Ivy League and Ivy all-tournament team after her 64-goal, 19-assist season. She set program and league records for points and goals by a freshman, and she set the Princeton record with 20 free-position goals while finishing second in goals in a season and third in points in a season. She has scored at least three goals in 13 of 19 games. The competition to join those three and replace graduated Colby Chanenchuk, who had the overtime goal in the opening round NCAA win over Syracuse, is fierce, with returnees like Allie Rogers and Julia Haney, who had 44 points between them last year, as well as upperclassmen who have been waiting for their turn and highly regarded freshmen.

Midfield
Starters returning – Kathryn Hallett (29-4-33)
Starters lost – Ellie McNulty (30-8-38, 59DC), Camille Sullivan (15-5-20, 41DC)
Other letterwinners returning – Annie Cory (12-0-12), Izzy Mangan (2-1-3), Jordan Marcus
Other letterwinners lost – none
Newcomers – Shannon Berry, Lucie Gildehaus, Maria Pansini, Shea Smith, Lillian Stout

Princeton was hurt in the midfield with the graduation of Ellie McNulty and Camille Sullivan, leaving the realiable Kathryn Hallett, who had 29 goals last year and who has 61 for her career, as the only returning starter. Annie Cory had a very good fall after a 12-goal season last year, and Izzy Mangan and Jordan Marcus will also push for playing time. Princeton will also get immediate reinforcements from a dynamic group of five freshmen, any of whom could play from Day 1. Shannon Berry, the No. 17 incoming freshman in the Inside Lacrosse Power 100, has also made first round of cuts for the United States U19 team, while Maria Pansini was No. 23 on the Power 100 list. Lucie Gildehaus, Shea Smith and Lillian Stout all played considerably in the fall scrimmages.

Defense
Starters returning – Alex Argo (24CT, 31GB), Olivia Pugh (10CT, 20GB), Mary Murphy (5CT, 19GB), Nonie Andersen (3-1-4, 10CT, 23GB), Marge Donovan (16CT, 37GB, 70DC)
Starters lost – none
Other letterwinners returning – Maddie Staczek (3CT, 8GB), Morgan Mills (1CT)
Other letterwinners lost – none
Newcomer – Annie Price

Princeton has a lot of depth on the defensive end, including a group of sophomores who were thrown in to the fire a year ago. Princeton would end up allowing 10.3 goals per game in its final nine games (and that includes a 16-goal day by Columbia in a 22-16 Tiger win) after allowing nearly 13 per game in the prior nine, a sign of how much the defense tightened up as the young players gained experience. Senior Alex Argo is a returning first-team All-Ivy League selection who led the team in caused turnovers and was second in ground balls a year ago, while fellow senior Nonie Anderson, arguably the fastest Tiger, has shown that she can turn defense into offense, as she did with three goals and an assist last year, when she earned honorable mention All-Ivy honors. There are also three sophomores – Marge Donovan, Olivia Pugh and Mary Murphy – who combined for 54 starts a year ago, not to mention 31 caused turnovers. Maddie Staczek, another sophomore, started four games last year.

Goalie
Starters returning – Sam Fish (822:33 min played, 10.58 GAA, .495 S%)
Starters lost – none
Other letterwinners returning – none
Other letterwinners lost – Mary Kate McDonough (311:38 min played, 11.74 GAA, .440 S%)
Newcomer – Lucy Norton

Princeton needed to replace first-team All-America goalie Ellie DeGarmo after her graduation in 2017, and Sam Fish emerged as a freshman last year to do just that. In fact, Fish had a 10.58 goals-against average, which was just a half-goal off of what DeGarmo had done the year before. Fish went from competing for the starting job the first half of the year to a second-team All-Ivy League selection at season's end, and she is entrenched this year as the starter and one of the team's cornerstones.