LETTING IT FLY: Princeton University women’s lacrosse player Kathryn Hallett sends the ball up the field in a game earlier this spring. Last Saturday, freshman midfielder Hallett chipped in two goals and an assist as Princeton defeated Columbia 14-9 to bounce back from a 12-7 loss to Penn three days earlier. The No. 12 Tigers, now 10-4 overall and 5-1 Ivy League, are locked in a three-way tie atop the league with No. 10 Penn (11-3 overall, 5-1 Ivy) and No. 16 Cornell (11-3 overall, 5-1 Ivy). The Tigers end regular season play with a game at Brown (6-8 overall, 1-5 Ivy) on April 30. Princeton has already clinched a spot in the upcoming Ivy postseason tournament and will host the competition if it beats the Bears and Cornell defeats Penn in their clash this Saturday. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Hosting No. 15 Penn in a critical Ivy League clash last Wednesday evening, the 11th-ranked Princeton University women’s lacrosse team dug an early hole.

Getting caught on its heels from the opening draw, Princeton found itself down 4-0 just 5:39 into the contest.

“Penn came out on fire and we were a step slow and got beaten right out of the gate on the draw controls,” said Princeton head coach Chris Sailer.

“They went 100 mph and we weren’t ready for the pace physically and mentally that they came out with; that is on us.”

The Tigers got up to speed, narrowing the gap to 5-3. After giving up two unanswered goals to trail 7-3 at halftime, Princeton got the first tally of the second half to make it 7-4. Penn, though, held off the Tigers, pulling away to a 12-7 victory, sparked by former Princeton High star Emilia Lopez-Ona, who helped the Quakers come up with nine draw controls to the delight of her PHS friends in attendance at Class of 1952 Stadium to cheer on the sophomore midfielder.

“We came out and got the goal in the second half but then we had a series of turnovers and could never really close the gap,” said Sailer.

“It is tough when you don’t have the lead and you are down three or four goals down the stretch.”

Hurt by sloppy offensive play with 15 turnovers on the game, Princeton’s defense got worn down.

“We did have a couple of nice goals but we were playing a lot of defense in this game,” said Sailer.

“We didn’t win a lot of the draws and they had long sets. We didn’t get great shots off. We had good looks at times but we didn’t finish.”

In reflecting on the loss, Sailer said her players need to be giving greater effort at all times.

“I think you have got to go after everything that you want,” said Sailer. “You have to be ready to play from the opening whistle and we have to go harder in practice and we have to go harder in games, offensively and defensively. I give a lot of credit to Penn because they came out and really took it to us and they outplayed us. You have got to learn from it and every kid has to continue to work to improve for us to move forward.”

Three days later at Columbia, Princeton was ready to play from the opening whistle, jumping out to a 5-0 lead on the way to a 14-9 victory and improving to 10-4 overall and 5-1 Ivy League. Junior star Olivia Hompe scored four goals to lead the Tigers in the win over the Lions with sophomore Colby Chanenchuk chipping in three goals and an assist.

That win combined with victories by Penn and Cornell left the trio tied atop the Ivies with the 5-1 league marks. The Tigers end regular season play with a game at Brown (6-8 overall, 1-5 Ivy) on April 30 while Penn plays at Cornell. Princeton has already clinched a spot in the upcoming Ivy postseason tournament and will host the competition if it beats the Bears and the Big Red defeat the Quakers in their clash this Saturday.

“We got a lot to play for,” said Sailer. “We have got to go out there and earn it on the field.”