No. 21 Women's Lacrosse Hosts Monmouth Wedneaday

Wednesday, March 6

7:00 PM

Princeton University

Monmouth

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

March 05, 2024 | Women's Lacrosse

Game 5 – No. 21 Princeton (2-2, 0-1 Ivy) vs. Monmouth (4-2, 1-0 CAA)
March 6 | 7 p.m. | Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium
ESPN+ | International Feed | Live Stats

THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH MONMOUTH
This marks the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

TIGERS IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
Princeton sits at No. 21 in the ILWomen/IWLCA national poll and rank in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll at No. 18. The matchup with Monmouth is the first game this season not against a team ranked in the ILWomen/IWLCA rankings for the Tigers. To date, Princeton has played teams ranked at the time No. 16 (Virginia, 14-12 loss), No. 21 (Yale, 11-9 loss), No. 22 (Penn State; 18-13 win) and No. 22 (Rutgers; 13-10 win).

SHAKE AND BLAKE!
Junior McKenzie Blake has put together two pretty consistent seasons over her first two collegiate campaigns, following up a 46-point rookie season with a 47-point sophomore season in 2023. She scored five times at Penn State to reach 100 career points and she enters this weekend with 106 career points on 87 goals and 19 assists to average 2.79 points-per-game over her 38 career games. After playing a true two-way game as a first-year with 12 caused turnovers and 34 grounds balls, she focused more on attack and the draw circle last year where she contributed 21 draw controls. She already has set her single-game career high in draws twice this season with seven at Virginia and then eight at Penn State. She is averaging 5.25 draws per game entering this weekend, but is coming off a game against Yale where she won just one draw control.

SAY GRACE!
Grace Tauckus reached the 100-point mark at Penn on April 19 of 2023 and enters this week as the active leading scorer among Princeton players with 123 points. Last time out against Yale, she scored her 100th career goal. Tauckus averages 2.80 points-per-game over her 44 career games, scoring her 100 goals on 144 shots on goal – scoring on 69% of her shots which reach goal.

Tauckus now has scored at least one goal in 43 of her 44 career games and scored 2+ in 29 of her 44 appearances. In 2023, she had eight multi-goal games, and she already has one in 2024 after scoring four times as part of a six-point afternoon at Virginia. That effort was one off her career high of seven points (4g, 3a) in the 2022 Ivy League Tournament final against Yale.

KEEPING TRACK OF KARI
Kari Buonanno is another Tiger with more than 100 career points, entering this weekend with 113 points over her career on 73 goals and 40 assists. With 39 career games played, she is averaging 2.88 points-per-game for her Princeton career. She has scored at least one goal in 34 of her 39 games she has played as a Tiger, and set a new career highs with 29 goals and 19 assists for 48 points over her 16 games last season. She also set a new single-season best with 44 draw controls. She has 24 points over her last nine games entering this weekend, including a five-point (1g, 4a) game against Rutgers.

MACDONALD'S SERVING UP POINTS
Sophomore attacker Jami MacDonald posted a 42-point first year in 2023, scoring 24 goals and adding 18 assists. Her opening games for 2024 have continued that pace as she leads the Tigers in points through two games with 15 (8 goals, 7 assists) and has twice matched her career high with three assists in each of Princeton's first two games. Last week against Rutgers, she had three goals and three ground balls and on Saturday against Yale she had a goal, an assist, a draw control and a ground ball. She is following the lead of her older brother Mike, a 2015 Princeton graduate and a Roper Trophy winner as the top senior male athlete in his class who ranks fifth all-time with the Princeton men in career points with 208.

COMING UP HUGHES
Sophomore goalkeeper Amelia Hughes has acclimated herself well to college lacrosse, drawing the start in each game to commence her career. She has registered 10+ saves in 12 of her 19 games, and has seven games with a save percentage north of .500. Her high-water mark in saves in a game came in a 19-save performance at Temple in 2023 which earned IWLCA National Defensive Player of the Week honors. Last week against No. 22 Rutgers, she made 16 saves while allowing 10 goals in the win.

On Monday, she was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after totaling 23 saves and a .523 save percentage over Princeton's two games.

SOPHIE IS SO GOOD!
Junior Sophie Whiteway is a key cog on the defensive side of the midfield with 111 career draw controls, 24 caused turnovers and 31 ground balls in 38 career games played. She is also capable when called upon in the attacking third with 33 career goals and 40 total points. She was involved as usual in the opener with a goal, an assist, three caused turnovers, three ground balls and a draw control at Virginia. At Penn State, she scored twice and added two ground balls.

MUELLER TIME!
Ellie Mueller is second on the team with 20 draw controls wins this season, and takes most draws for the Tigers. She now has 51 career draw controls, each coming over he last 14 games -- averaging 3.6 per game. In 2023, she had tallied 16 points (11g. 5a) in 10 games before suffering a season-ending injury against Columbia. So far this season, she has five points (3g, 2a) in four games to go with her 20 draws. Over her 32 career games, she has 45 points (28g, 17) and 31 ground balls to go with her 51 draw controls.

ON THE DRAW
So far through two games, Princeton is outpacing opponents on the draw, 59-54. McKenzie Blake (21 draw controls) and Ellie Mueller (20 draw controls) have had the lion's share of the work on the circle. Princeton has had the better of the draw control stats in three of its first four games, but is coming off a game against Yale where the Bulldogs won 16 to just eight for the Tigers.

DEVITO FILLS THE STAT SHEET
Samantha DeVito does a little bit of everything for the Tigers. Last year she tallied 12 points (9g, 3a), 23 draw controls, 15 ground balls and 8 caused turnovers. She has eight points (5g, 3a) and seven draw controls so far this season.

HAVEN SENT!
Starting with the stretch run in 2023, Haven Dora has become a key part of Princeton's attack. Dating back to last season, she has 23 points (13g, 10a) over her last nine games with 3+ points in five of those games. She had two goals and an assist in the win at Penn State.

KNOW THE NAME NINA
Junior Nina Montes has 49 points in 33 career games, scoring 39 times and adding 10 assists. She can score in bunches, last season she had four games with 3+ goals, but totaled just four over her other 11 appearances. She has missed the last two games with injury.

FRESH FACES
The rookie class has made some immediate impacts over their first collegiate games. Ella Sloan came off the bench with two goals at Penn State in the fourth quarter before adding a goal and an assist against Rutgers, while Meg Morrisroe has appeared in three games and scored two goals. Collette Quinn has played in all four games so far off the bench in the midfield.

LET'S COOK!
Jenn Cook is in her second season as head coach of the Tigers and 12th overall on staff at Princeton. The 2007 North Carolina grad took over for Hall of Famer Chris Sailer after serving 10 seasons as an assistant and associate head coach. During her 10 previous years with the Tigers, Cook has been part of seven Ivy League championships during the eight seasons contest around COVID-19 pauses. She has helped guide the Tigers to eight NCAA appearances in those eight full seasons, reaching the NCAA Quarterfinals three times. A three-time All-American and two-time Tewaaraton Award nominee as a player, Cook was the 2007 Inside Lacrosse Defender of the Year and graduated as the Tar Heel's all-time leader in ground balls (200) and games played (76). Cook's first career win came on February 25 at Temple via a 17-9 victory, and her first career win over a Top-25 opponent was an 18-12 win at No. 14 Rutgers on March 1. She now has three wins over ranked opponents in her career.