FISH STORY: Princeton University women’s lacrosse goalie Sam Fish guards the crease in recent action. Last Saturday, senior star Fish make eight saves, including a stop with six seconds left in regulation, to help Princeton edge Cornell 13-12 in the Ivy League opener for both teams. The Tigers, now 3-0 and ranked 10th nationally, were slated to play at No. 17 USC on March 8 and at San Diego State on March 12. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Justin Feil

Sam Fish was an eighth grader watching wide-eyed the last time the Princeton University women’s lacrosse team made a West Coast trip. She was in the stands as the Tigers won back-to-back games over USC and San Diego State in 2014. Playing for Princeton wasn’t a thought.

“I was hoping that I could play at any school at any level,” said Fish. “I was really thinking I was going to play club in college.”

Fast forward eight years, and Fish was scheduled to start as the Tigers’ senior goalie, with 3-0 Princeton trying to remain perfect while duplicating the West Coast trip with games Tuesday at USC and Saturday at her hometown San Diego State, which has some of her friends on its roster.

“It means everything to me,” said Fish. “I remember this summer Coach (Chris) Sailer had given me a call and told me about the schedule. She said, ‘We’re going back to your home, we’re going back for you.’ That just meant everything to me. It was so great hearing that the coaches wanted to do that for me.”

Fish knows firsthand that the trip is also important to other budding lacrosse players out west. Princeton’s trip is a big deal to young impressionable players still in middle and high school.

“I remember watching them play as an eighth grader, and thinking, oh my gosh, this big East Coast team is coming out here, this is so cool,” recalled Fish.

“And all my teammates at the time, it made them so excited about lacrosse. I’m so excited to be able to come back west and spread the game more. I think not enough East Coast teams do come out west. I think if they did, it would spread the game of lacrosse. I love seeing more and more West Coast players playing.”

Fish and sophomore defender Taylor DeGroff are the lone players on Princeton’s roster from California. The squad doesn’t have any other players on the roster from west of Texas. In Fish, the Tigers found a great one. She took over the starting job early in her freshman year in 2018 and earned second-team All-Ivy honors. A year later, Fish was named the Ivy Goalie of the Year and a first-team All-Ivy performer. She is part of the backbone of experience that Princeton returned for this season along with fellow four-year starters on defense Marge Donovan, Olivia Pugh, and Mary Murphy. They have tried to pick up where they left off in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic ended their season.

“The first three games, we had really great plays and we’ll have some plays when we’re playing off,” said Fish.

“So just trying to maintain that consistency, and on defense, we say attack is doing their job, we have to do ours. Especially for us, having an older defense or having more experience on defense or playing time, it’s being that rock there for attack. It’s being solid so attack can try new things out, try new plays and have that room to make mistakes. That’s a goal for us on
defense, just to hold it down so they can build off what they’re going for. I know our attack is going to great by the end of the season.”

Last Saturday, Princeton pulled out a tight 13-12 win over Cornell. Kyla Sears and Ellie Mueller each had three goals and an assist in the victory and Sophie Whiteway and Grace Tauckus had two goals apiece to pace the offense. Fish made eight saves, none bigger than her stop of Cornell’s Alexa Donahoe with six seconds left in regulation.

“There were 2 minutes left and the shot clock was shorter than the time left in the game so I knew they were going to get another possession,” said Fish. “I knew I’d probably have to make another save. When she was coming down the field, I can’t remember who it was on defense, but they did a good job of keeping her out, and I had a feeling — they had been shooting the last couple shots low — so I thought ‘I just have to come up with this save.’ I kind of owe it to them to be there for them in the end of the game even if I hadn’t been there for them the whole game.”

Fish didn’t count the Cornell win as one of her best games in cage overall, but the defense stepped up when they needed to make plays and the attack generated enough offense to get by a pesky Cornell team.

“Honestly, I was so happy our team pulled it out,” said Fish. “Our attackers and defenders in the fourth quarter played their hearts out. In scout we reviewed the film and we saw the amazing plays our defenders made, from Mary Murphy locking down one of Cornell’s best players to Pugh running and getting every ground ball it seems like, Marge Donovan just coming up with big plays always. Some of the other defenders, like Maria Pancini, just crushing the top dodges. I think they really were who made the game and who made that turnaround in the game.”

Princeton trailed 12-10 entering the fourth quarter. The defense pitched a shutout over the last 15 minutes of the contest and Tauckus, Mueller and Kate Mulham scored for the Tigers in their Ivy League opener.

“Everyone is really focused on this season,” said Fish. “And everyone knows what this season can be for us. Especially with Cornell this past weekend, we took the other two games as those were great wins over great opponents, but the Ivy season is what we’re here for. Coming out to play Cornell, we need to pull out the Ivy wins no matter what. Even if it’s not our best game ever, we have to grit those out.”

Princeton will not face another Ivy team until March 25 when it plays at Columbia. Before then, they will make their West Coast swing and then play challenging road games at Penn State and Loyola. The Tigers are gaining much needed experience each game as they learn what to expect of this year’s young and inexperienced players.

“Just settling into our style of play is going to be huge,” said Fish, who has an 11.00 goals against average and .492 save percentage so far this season and was named the IWLCA National Defensive Player of the Week and Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after making 15 saves in a 17-11 opening day win at Virginia on February 20.

“That’s been a big focus for us — not letting other teams control the pace of the game because some teams play fast. Some teams like to play a little slower. Us having control of the game will be huge. That comes with having a young team and a team that hasn’t played in two years.”

Princeton has the added bonus this week during their academic spring break of spending time bonding together in Fish’s neck of the woods. The team planned to see the observatory in Los Angeles among some popular tourist sites. In San Diego, the players will visit the famous zoo, spend time at La Jolla Shores, and Fish’s parents will host a bonfire on the beach.

“Coach Sailer really wanted to do something special in the way that we could with all the COVID restrictions,” said Fish. “She came up with this last summer. That was really cool that she was able to do this.”