No. 16 Women's Lacrosse Clips No. 10 Virginia, 17-11

Sunday, February 20

Charlottesville, Va.

12:00 PM

Princeton University

1-0

Virginia

2-2

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Princeton	4	5	3	5	17
Virginia	2	3	2	4	11

2022 Women's Lacrosse Celebration at Virginia

Photo by: Brian McWalters

No. 16 Women's Lacrosse Clips No. 10 Virginia, 17-11

February 20, 2022 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Worth the wait.

No. 16 Princeton took the field for the first time in 2022, and made quite an impact with a 17-11 win at No. 10 Virginia.

Tiger Notes

It had been 715 days since the Tigers had last played a game, and 722 days between wins.
10 different players had at least one point for Princeton, including six who found the scoresheet for the first time in their careers.
17 goals ties the most by a Princeton team against Virginia. Princeton also had 17 in a 17-10 win in Charlottesville on Feb. 25, 2017.
Head coach Chris Sailer is now 30-5 all-time in season openers.
Senior goalkeeper Sam Fish made 15 saves, one off her career high.
Kari Buonanno tied her career high with four goals.
McKenzie Blake had a hat trick in her first career game.
Sophie Whiteway, Nina Montes and Ellie Mueller each had one goal in their first career games.
Senior defender Marge Donovan scored her first career goal in her 45th career game, adding 5 draw controls, 2 caused turnovers and 2 ground balls.
Donovan now ranks No. 8 all-time in draw controls by a Tiger with 107.
Kyla Sears had two goals, moving into sole possession of the No. 6 spot on Princeton's all-time scoring list with 209 points.

How It Happened
The Tigers built a 4-2 lead after the first quarter, never trailing in the opening period.

Kyla Sears struck first, getting to the eight-meter spot as she is accustomed to, netting Princeton's first goal of the season just 0:21 into the game. The Cavaliers tied the game 43 seconds later, but Kari Buonanno answered 0:49 later to regain the lead for Princeton.

Sears would add her second of the game off a dodge from the top of the arc to make it 3-1 3:34 into the game.

After a Virginia goal to make it 3-2, the teams played 7:27 of scoreless lacrosse before Maria Pansini finished Tiger transition with her first goal of the season with only 0:04 left in the opening quarter.

Kari Buonanno scored on a free position 1:41 into the second quarter to give the Tigers a 5-2 lead, but the Cavaliers scored two in a span of 0:47 to cut the Princeton lead to 5-4.

The Tigers would then go on a 4-1 run over the final 8:13 of the first half. A pair of Tigers scored their first career goals 0:12 apart to give Princeton a 7-4 lead. First, it was a more traditional first career goal as freshman Nina Montes fired home the first score of her Tiger tenure.

Then, it was a more unique first career snipe as senior defender Marge Donovan won a draw in the air then took the ball to goal herself with a powerful swim dodge and shot to set off a wild celebration.

The 'Hoos answered to make the score 7-5, but Grace Tauckus and Kari Buonanno countered with Princeton goals – Buonanno's coming on a free position at the buzzer to complete a first-half hat trick.

In the third, Princeton conceded an early goal, but rattled off the next three en route to a 12-6 lead. Included in that run were the first career goals from freshmen McKenzie Blake and Sophie Whiteway.

Virginia scored twice in a span of 1:56, netting goals at the end of the third quarter and in the first minute of the fourth to claw within four goals.

The Tigers would slam the door, however, scoring the next three goals to build a 15-8 lead and deny any chance of a Cavalier comeback. McKenzie Blake had two of those goals, scoring twice in 0:41.

Up Next
Princeton returns to Class of 1952 Stadium for the first time since February 22, 2020 to host Temple on February 26 at 12 p.m.