Mulham Leads Princeton Past Penn, Into Ivy Tournament

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Kate Mulham went left, then right, then left again. Suddenly she was clear of the defense. In a blink, the ball was in the back of the net.

It must have been a Wednesday.

Mulham continued her trend of having great Wednesday performances by scoring five goals, this time leading Princeton to a tough 15-13 win over Penn in front of 725 at Sherrerd Field. Mulham was so unstoppable that Penn decided to lock her off in the fourth quarter.

The win improved Princeton to 9-3 overall and 4-0 in the Ivy League and clinched a spot in the upcoming Ivy League tournament. The Tigers would win the outright Ivy League title and host the league tournament with wins in their final three games.

As for Mulham, her five goals against Penn matched the five she had last Wednesday against Maryland. Add in the two she had on a Wednesday at Loyola, and she now has half of her 24 goals in Princeton's three Wednesday games.

2nd (6:30) ?????? for Kate Mulham! Tigers up 7-5. pic.twitter.com/k00AFYJbUV
— Princeton Women's Lax (@princetonwlax) April 20, 2022

Princeton needed all of them and more from her teammates to hold off the Quakers, who knew they would be eliminated with a loss. Throw in the fact that this is always a huge rivalry game and that it was nationally televised on ESPNU, and there was no doubt that it was going to be a tough one.

Princeton head coach Chris Sailer was all smiles before the game, at least on the buttons with her face on them that were distributed beforehand. It wouldn't be the scoreboard went to all zeroes that she could smile again for good. Princeton would lead for the final 46 minutes, but the Quakers would never go away.

Penn actually jumped out quickly, scoring twice before Princeton touched the ball. The Tigers took the lead with just over a minute left in the first quarter after goals from Mulham, Nina Montes and Kyla Sears made it 4-3 and would take second quarter leads of 6-3 and 8-5, but Penn came back both times, making it 8-7 at the break. Even when it got to be 11-7 in the third, the Quakers fought back, making it an 11-10 game before Sophie Whiteway scored from Sam DeVito to make it 12-10 at the end of the third (and to give Princeton its first assisted goal of the game).

The biggest sequence of the game came early in the fourth quarter, when it was a 12-11 game. On one end, Princeton goalie Sam Fish made a huge save off a free position rip from Penn's Chloe Hunter to keep Princeton ahead. On the other, after Princeton cleared and Penn locked off Mulham, Sears swatted in a loose ball just ahead of the shot clock, and instead of a tie game, it was 13-11 Princeton with 10:01 left. With Mulham still locked off, Sears fed Sophie Whiteway less than a minute later, building the lead back to three at 14-11.

Again, though, Penn fought back, cutting it to 14-13 with 5:02 to go. It stayed that way through three long Princeton possessions and one Penn turnover, all while the teams played six-on-six on the Tiger end with Mulham still locked off, until Grace Taukus sealed it with a goal with 47.4 seconds to play. Penn won the draw and had two shots but couldn't score.

Sears finished with three goals and one assist, while Montes, Taukus and McKenzie Blake had two each.

Princeton plays at Harvard Saturday at 4 (the Princeton men play Harvard at 1) and then is at Columbia next Wednesday. After that will be Senior Day at home against Yale, who is currently 5-0 prior to its game with Columbia Saturday.

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