FINISHING KICK: Princeton High girls’ lacrosse player Taylor Lis races upfield in recent action. Last Thursday, senior midfielder and Cornell-bound Lis scored four goals to help PHS defeat Allentown 11-8 on the program’s annual Senior Day. On Monday, Lis had a goal and two assists in a losing cause as the Little Tigers fell 13-8 to undefeated Lawrenceville. PHS, who moved to 5-5 with the loss to the Big Red, will start play in the Mercer County Tournament this week where the Little Tigers are seeded fourth and will host No. 13 WW/P-S in a first round contest. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Taylor Lis and her classmates on the Princeton High girls’ lacrosse team viewed their Senior Day last Thursday as an opportunity to display their growth on the field.

“It was really exciting, we had so many fans here cheering for us and all of our families; everyone that has supported us over the last four years,” said Lis, whose fellow seniors on the squad are Julia Ryan, Gabrielle Deitch, and Kylie Sekelsky.

“It was a great culmination of the past four years and we just wanted to come out and show how far we have come since we were all freshmen in this great program.”

Facing formidable Allentown gave Lis and her classmates a special platform to display their skills.

“It was great to have such competition as Allentown, traditionally you might think of a Senior Day to be one where you go out and show your strength but we thought we thought we could do that best against a competitive team,” said Lis. “Allentown has always been a big rival for us.”

The Little Tigers certainly got some stiff competition from the Redbirds. PHS jumped out to a 5-3 halftime lead only to find itself down 8-7 with 17:06 left in the second half, prompting head coach David Schlesinger to call a timeout in an attempt to stem the tide.

“It was getting in our heads a little bit, especially with our defense,” recalled Lis.

“I think that timeout was really crucial to getting our heads back in the game and say look, they are only ahead by one goal right now. We might have let a few in but we can do what we did in the beginning of the game and get some back, it is not out of reach. That would be our biggest problem when we think the game is out of reach and it is not.”

Lis took matters into her hands, scoring two straight goals as PHS pulled away to a 11-8 victory.

“I am a leader, finishing is one of my roles and making sure the energy is up,” said Lis, who ended up with four goals in the victory.

“I make sure everyone sees that I think I can do it and if they see that I think we can do it then everyone else believes we can do it as well. That is the biggest thing for us, we have such great talent but we let it get away from us sometimes. I was hoping to show that I had that mentality that we are still in this and this was still winnable and that we can come out and do really good things.”

Next year, Lis is heading to a really good situation as she has committed to Cornell, where she will play for its nationally-ranked women’s lacrosse program.

“The coaches have such a great mentality  and I like the mentality of the whole team,” said Lis, reflecting on her decision to attend Cornell.

“They weren’t ranked as high as they are performing right now but they had a kind of drive. I could sense that these girls have something special and they can do great things and they have shown that. I think that is kind of what we are hoping to do this year at PHS.”

PHS head coach Schlesinger likes the drive Lis shows all over the field.

“Taylor is a do-everything player so even when she is not scoring for us, she is our top draw specialist and she was guarding Kalli Hartshorn the whole game,” said Schlesinger.

“She has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders beyond just scoring so when she can chip in some goals, that is icing on the cake.”

Schlesinger is proud of the way his seniors have handled their responsibilities.

“They have meant the world to the program,” said Schlesinger. “Those are four girls who have worked incredibly hard for four years and they are seeing the culmination of their hard work and especially to win a game like this against a tough opponent with two absolutely phenomenal players is a big day.”

Senior stalwarts Deitch and Ryan had big days in the win over the Redbirds as the former scooped up two ground balls and the latter chipped in two assists.

“Gabrielle Deitch as low defense played a phenomenal game,” asserted Schlesinger.

“She plays with confidence and younger defenders feed off of that. Our whole offense runs through Julia Ryan and she continues to play at a high level. She is a point guard and that is why I moved her from midfield to attack so that we could have a really steadying and very talented lead attacker.”

The Little Tigers showed some high level lacrosse in surviving the Allentown rally.

“We had a little bit of a defensive lapse in the second half but we cleaned that up,” said Schlesinger.

“So other than that, I really liked the way we played the whole game. Our competitiveness was at a very high level and we were communicating much better than we had. Our transition was better than it has been and we minimized our turnovers so I thought this was as strong a game we have played.”

PHS is getting some strong play from junior neophyte goalie Zoe Tesone.

“Zoe’s play has improved so much in the last few games, even though she hasn’t been able to get a victory,” said Schlesinger of Tesone, who made 10 saves against Allentown.

“It is her first year playing lacrosse, she is making some huge strides so she was the difference in the game.”

In Schlesinger’s view, the win over Allentown could make a big difference for his club.

“We had lost three in a row and four out of five so to get a win against a real quality opponent was very important,” said Schlesinger, whose team fell 13-8 to undefeated Lawrenceville on Monday to move to 5-5 and will start play in the Mercer County Tournament where the Little Tigers are seeded fourth and will host No. 13 WW/P-S in a first round contest. “This was a big win for us.”

Lis, for her part, believes that PHS can keep coming up with big wins as the spring unfolds.

“It is so important, especially with the streak that we have had, we have had a lot of tough games in a row,” said Lis.

“We have a lot of tough games coming up and we have to make sure that we get this one under our belts and show that we can compete with the higher level teams.”