Princeton Hosts Wagner in NCAA First Round

Wagner at Princeton l Friday, May 10 l 7:02 PM I Sherrerd Field
WatchESPN l Live Stats l Tickets l Game Notes (Princeton) l Game Notes (Wagner)

Princeton and Wagner are two teams who have never met in women's lacrosse and who have exactly zero common opponents this year. They do share one thing though – the knowledge that if they want their season to continue Sunday, they need to win on Friday.

This is the NCAA tournament, after all, and it doesn't matter if you're the seventh seed playing at home, as Princeton is, or a team that had to play an opening round game Tuesday on the road and now is playing again on the road, as Wagner is. Win and advance. That's all that matters at this point.

Princeton and Wagner will meet in the second game on Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium Friday, after Loyola and Richmond play at 4. The winners of the two games Friday will meet Sunday at 1, with a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals the prize in that one.

Before anyone can worry about Sunday, though, there is the matter of Friday's games.

Princeton vs. Wagner: Five Storylines

NCAA history
Princeton is making its 27th NCAA tournament appearance, of which 26 have come with Chris Sailer as the team's head coach. Princeton is 36-23 all-time in NCAA tournament games, and Sailer is 35-22, after Betty Logan went 1-1 in 1983.

Princeton has reached the NCAA tournament seven straight years. The Tigers have won three NCAA championships (1994, 2002, 2003) and reached 11 Final Fours, including seven championship games.

A year ago Princeton reached the quarterfinals after getting a first-round bye and then defeating Syracuse 12-11 in overtime before falling in the quarterfinals to Boston College 16-10.

NCAA scoring
Princeton has six players with at least one career NCAA tournament goal, and of those six, five have at least one NCAA tournament assist.

Elizabeth George, not shockingly, leads Princeton with 12 career NCAA goal, twice as much as the next-best total (Tess D'Orsi with six). George also has at least one goal in all five of her career NCAA games.

D'Orsi's four assists in the tournament lead all Princeton scorers, giving her 10 career NCAA tournament points. Here is the list:

Elizabeth George 12-0-12
Tess D'Orsi 6-4-10
Kathryn Hallet 4-3-7
Kyla Sears 4-1-5
Allie Rogers 2-3-5
Nonie Andersen 1-1-2

At home
Princeton is 15-2 all-time in NCAA tournament games at Princeton. The two losses were to Penn State in the 1999 quarterfinals and Virginia in the 2004 championship game.

Princeton has won its last four NCAA games in Princeton. The Tigers have played only one NCAA game at home since 2009, and that was an 11-9 win over Cornell in 2017.

Surging
Princeton was 5-3 on the year after eight games, including back-to-back losses to Brown and Maryland. Princeton has won nine straight since.

Princeton went 2-1 in February 3-2 in March. The Tigers then went 7-0 in April and are now 2-0 in May.

Princeton's current nine-game winning streak is its longest since the Tigers won their first 10 of the 2008 season.

Wagner enters the game on a seven-game winning streak.

Offense/Defense
Princeton averages 14.24 goals per game, second in the Ivy League and 20th in Division I. Wagner allows 8.11 goals per game, which is seventh in Division I.

Wagner also averages 13.72 goals per game, which is 32nd in the country. The Seahawks' 5.61 scoring margin is 13th in Division I.

Wagner also ranks in the top 10 in Division I in ground balls per game (third), caused turnovers per game (ninth), winning percentage (eighth) and shots per game (fifth).

Other notes

* Elizabeth George leads Princeton with 54 goals, and Tess D'Orsi is next with 53. Kyla Sears is one goal away from joining them, as she has 49 for the season. Only one team in the country has three players with at least 50 goals on the year, and that's Richmond, who will play Loyola in the opener on Sherrerd Field Friday.

* Prior to this season, Princeton had four players who had ever reached 50 goals in a season – Crista Samaras (twice), Olivia Hompe (twice), Lindsey Biles (twice), Katie Lewis-Lamonica and Kyla Sears (64 a year ago). The Tigers already have two more this year (Elizabeth George, Tess D'Orsi) and a third (Sears) who is a goal away).

* Elizabeth George is tied with Olivia Hompe for sixth place on Princeton's single-season goals list with 54, while Tess D'Orsi is one spot back with 53. Next up would be Lindsey Biles, who twice had 55 (2004, 2005) and Crista Samaras (56 in 1998). Sears is in second with 64 last year, and the record is of 75 was set two years ago by Olivia Hompe.

* Princeton and Wagner are used to winning – they are a combined 30-6 on the year.

* Princeton is fourth in the country in team shooting percentage at .495. The Tigers have three players in double figures in goals who have shot at least 50 percent for the year – Kathryn Hallett (.675), Kyla Sears (.521), Julia Haney (.500). Hallett would be leading Division I if she had taken the minimum 3.0 shots per game to be ranked (she has taken 2.4); the Division I leader is Loyola's Sam Fiedler (.653), who will also be playing on Sherrerd Field this weekend.

* Princeton has the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by virtue of winning last weekend's league tournament. Princeton has won five of the 10 Ivy tournaments contested. Wagner won the Northeast Conference with a pair of one-goal wins and then defeated Fairfield 15-13 in the opening round in Connecticut Tuesday.

* Sam Fish leads the Ivy League in save percentage, goals-against average ad saves per game. Fish was a first-team All-Ivy League selection this year.

* Princeton had five ILT all-tournament selections – Kyla Sears (MOP), Elizabeth George, Mary Murphy, Nonie Andersen and Sam Fish.

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