Princeton Meets Penn In Ivy Tournament Final

No. 9 Princeton vs. No. 12 Penn l Sunday, May 5 l 1:30 PM I New York, N.Y.
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If it seems like every time Princeton and Penn play in women's lacrosse that there's a championship on the line, that's because there usually is.

When Princeton and Penn get together at Columbia Sunday afternoon (1:30 opening draw), it'll mark the second straight time and fourth time in six years that this is the matchup in the Ivy League tournament championship game. The teams are also the dominant programs in the Ivy League for the past 20 years or so, which means every game between them is essentially huge.

The winner of this game will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, whose field will be announced Sunday at 8.

Princeton vs. Penn
Five Storylines

The last time
Princeton defeated Penn 13-11 on April 17 at Franklin Field, getting the game-winning goal from Elizabeth George while shorthanded with 3:50 to go and then sealing it on a goal from Tess D'Orsi into an empty net with 39 seconds left.

Princeton had to navigate through three non-releasable yellow cards in the final nine minutes, including two that overlapped. The Tigers still outscored Penn 2-1 during that stretch, including George's game-winner.

George tied her career high with six goals in the game. Penn outshot Princeton 33-29 and turned it over only 10 times compared to 17 for the Tigers.

Series history
Princeton and Penn meet for the 53^rd time, and Princeton has a 27-22-3 lead in the series. Princeton has played Penn more than any other opponent.

Princeton or Penn (or both) has won the Ivy League championship every year since 2001 except for 2005.

Ivy tournament history
Penn is the only team to have appeared in all 10 Ivy League tournaments. Princeton is second, with its ninth appearance in the 10 years of the event. The only year that Princeton did not make the Ivy tournament was 2012.

Princeton and Penn have played each other six previous times in the Ivy tournament, and the Tigers have won four of those meetings, including twice in their three previous meetings in the final.

Princeton (four) and Penn (three) are the only teams to have won more than one ILT championship.

The 50 club
Tess D'Orsi has reached 50 goals for the season, which leaves her tied with Lauren Simone for ninth on the program's single-season list. She also trails Katie Lewis-Lamonica and Crista Samaras (the color commentator for the broadcast for the ILT games).

Only D'Orsi, Lewis-Lamonica, Samaras (twice), Olivia Hompe (twice), Lindsey Biles (twice) and current Tiger Kyla Sears have ever reached the 50-goal mark for a season, and Princeton has never had more than one 50-goal scorer in a season.

Elizabeth George enters the ILT final with 49 goals on the year, and Sears enters with 47.

Fish tails
Sam Fish made 15 saves, one off her career high, in the 11-6 win over Cornell in Friday's Ivy League semifinals. Fish made 12 saves in the win over Penn in the regular season.

Fish was a first-team All-Ivy League selection this year as a sophomore after being a second-team selection a year ago. She leads the Ivy League in goals-against average, save percentage and total saves.

Other notes

* All four major Ivy League individual award winners will be in the championship game. Princeton has the Attacker of the Year (Elizabeth George), Defender of the Year (Nonie Andersen) and Goalie of the Year (Sam Fish). Penn has the league's Midfielder of the Year (Erin Barry). The Quakers defeated Dartmouth 14-13 in the semifinals Friday as Barry tied her career high with five goals.

* Princeton shot 11 for 29 against Cornell in the semifinal. Princeton is still second in Division I in team shooting percentage, but the Tigers dropped one shot below .500 for the season. Princeton is now 229 for 459, or .499.

* Teams that have won their semifinal game by one goal are 3-4 in the final (including one year when both teams won their semifinal by one goal). Teams that have won their semifinal game by five or more are 4-2 in the final (including one year when both teams won their semifinal by five or more).

* Princeton is virtually assured of an NCAA tournament spot should it not win the championship game. The Tigers had an RPI of seven in the last rankings (April 28) and six top 20 teams.

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Players Mentioned

Nonie Andersen

Tess D'Orsi

Sam Fish

Elizabeth George

Olivia Hompe

Kyla Sears

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