HIGH FIVE: Princeton University women’s lacrosse player Erin Slifer prepares to unload the ball last Saturday in Princeton’s 10-8 win over Loyola in the season opener. Senior midfielder Slifer scored a career-high five goals in the victory. The 11th-ranked Tigers host Drexel on February 25 before playing at Georgetown on February 28. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Erin Slifer didn’t find an offensive rhythm right away when the Princeton University women’s lacrosse team opened its season by hosting Loyola last Saturday.

“I think it took a couple of shots to get into it, there were a couple of high ones I missed,” said senior midfielder Slifer.

Slifer didn’t miss much the rest of the afternoon, scoring a career-five goals as No. 14 Princeton overcame a snowstorm and a second-half rally by No. 12 Loyola to pull out a 10-8 victory.

In the first half, Slifer notched three goals and an assist as Princeton built a 6-3 lead by intermission.

“We really wanted to come out as hard as we could,” said Slifer. “We weren’t going to let Loyola set the pace, we wanted to set the tone from the first draw.”

As the storm intensified in the second half with a layer of snow covering the field, the Tigers had to modify their offensive approach a bit.

“We have practiced a few times in snow but not this accumulation at all where it was affecting our footing,” said Slifer. “We just made sure that we had our feet under us and we were not taking too hard cuts.”

Loyola made things hard on the Tigers, taking leads of 7-6 and 8-7 but Princeton took control down the stretch, employing a deliberate offensive style in reeling off three unanswered goals over the last 13 minutes of the contest.

“We didn’t get those first couple of draws and they came down, capitalized, and scored,” said Slifer.

“The draw controls are the focus of our entire season so once we got back on that, we were able to control the ball for the rest of the game which was awesome.”

Slifer, a first-team All-Ivy league selection last year, is looking to produce an awesome senior campaign.

“This is it, this is the last year so I am giving it all I have got,” said Slifer, a 5’10 native of Mt. Airy, Md. who now has 114 points in her Tiger career on 62 goals and 52 assists.

“There is no time to hold back. I think this whole team knows that we can go really far this year and we have to push hard through every game.”

Princeton head coach Chris Sailer liked the way her team pushed hard throughout the contest.

“I think the game came down to draw controls and we were dominating those in the first half, which allowed our offense to really work and I thought we did a really nice job offensively being patient and looking for opportunities,” said Sailer.

“We don’t have a stat of possession time but we totally had possession time in that game, which was key to the win. I thought we did a really nice job offensively being patient and looking for opportunities, winning ground balls in our attack end, and getting second chance opportunities.”

A goalie switch midway through the second half from senior starter Annie Woehling to sophomore Ellie DeGarmo proved to be a key for the Tigers. “We made a decision to throw Ellie in the cage and it gave us a spark, which we hoped it would do,” said Sailer of DeGarmo, who had three saves and gave up just one goal in 18 minutes of action.

Slifer gave Princeton a spark all afternoon, taking draws as well as triggering the Tiger offense.

“Erin was just incredible today, the woman is just so powerful,” said Sailer. “She is really tough to stop. With her strength, her game sense, her shooting, and the draw control, she is a force.”

The Tigers got strong contributions from several players with junior Stephanie Paloscio and senior Erin McMunn both scoring two goals, sophomore Olivia Hompe chipping in two assists, sophomore Anna Doherty getting an assist, and freshmen Camille Sullivan tallying a goal and classmate Hayley Giraldi getting an assist. Junior defender Liz Bannantine spearheaded a unit that yielded just one goal over the last 17:39 of the contest.

“Paloscio was huge, she is a crafty little player and we have been able to find a role for her in the attack this year and she has done a lot of nice things for us,” said Sailer.

“Defensively, Liz Ballantine had a good game. Two of our freshmen, Camille Sullivan and Haley Giraldi, really played well. They played really poised as freshmen. Doherty did a nice job working really hard. Hompe and McMunn also did well. It is hard to pick people out because I thought it was really a full team effort.”

In Sailer’s view, the gritty win portends good things to come for her team. “We had the three-goal lead heading into halftime and we saw that evaporate and we really fought to get that back,” said Sailer, whose squad hosts Drexel on February 25 before playing at Georgetown on February 28.

“I think the conditions, when we got the lead and the draws, ended up working up being in our favor, no question. We had to play smart in that situation and we executed.”

Slifer, for her part, believes the Tigers are poised to build on the victory over Loyola.

“I think this is our first season opening win in the past three years so it is really awesome to start the season on a high note,” said Slifer.

“It gives us some positivity to build off of and we want to keep rolling through the year.”