EVANSTON, Ill.
(5/16/09) – The No. 7-ranked Princeton
women’s lacrosse team couldn’t come up with an answer to No. 1 Northwestern, as
the undefeated Wildcats posted a 16-9 win in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
Northwestern had a 39-16 advantage in shots, and a resounding
20-7 edge in draw controls. In addition, the Wildcats had 24 ground balls to
the Tigers’ 18. Both teams accounted for 18 turnovers apiece.
Northwestern moved the ball around a lot and used heavy
defensive pressure on Princeton which forced
the Tigers to play the ball around as well. However, the quick passes led to
some dropped balls and the Wildcats pounced on those minor mistakes, using
their speed to get to those loose balls.
Sophomore Lizzy Drumm scored five goals, netting three in a
four-minute span which helped the Tigers catch up on the scoreboard, making it
5-4 with 11:24 to play in the first half.
A 6-2 midfielder Danielle Spencer gave Northwestern a height
advantage at the center circle, as the Wildcats finished the first half with an
11-3 edge in draw controls which helped them take an 8-5 lead at halftime.
Spencer finished the game with three goals and a game-high
nine draw controls. Katrina Dowd led the team with seven goals, and Hannah
Nielsen collected six assists. Meredith Frank and Brooke Matthews each had
three points and Shannon Smith had two.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead with back-to-back
goals by Dowd. Dowd got her first goal 29 seconds into the game in an odd
fashion. Princeton goalie Erin Tochihara turned
to corral the ball on the ground, but the official on the near side signaled
that it had already gone across the goal line. A turnover near the Princeton bench led to Dowd’s second goal at 29:09.
Tochihara made two saves in the next minute, including a
stop on Northwestern’s first free position opportunity.
The Tigers cut the lead to 2-1 at 22:53 when senior Holly
McGarvie fed the ball to sophomore Lizzy Drumm. McGarvie picked up a caused
turnover just outside the far restraining line and ran down almost the entire
length of the field. She passed the ball off to senior Christine Casaceli, who
sent the ball back to McGarvie, and then to Drumm on the right side.
Northwestern grabbed a 5-1 lead with 17 minutes to play in
the first half, getting a goal from Spencer, Dowd and Hilary Bowen off the
eight meter. Bowen was playing in her first game since early April after an ACL
injury.
Drumm sent Princeton on a
three-goal run to cut the deficit to one, 5-4 with 11:25 to play in the first
half.
Freshman Cassie Pyle got her own rebound and gave the ball
to Drumm who blasted a high shot into the net at 15:04. Drumm added another one
minute later with help from Murray
and scored an eight-meter goal at 11:27.
During that time, Princeton
gained some confidence and started to settle into the game and pressure the
Northwestern ball carriers.
Northwestern went up 7-4 scoring two goals in less than two
minutes, the first from Smith and the second from Spencer that came off a pass
on a free position opportunity.
McGarvie added a tally at 3:25, to make it 7-5, as she got
by three defenders and fired a low shot that went five-hole on goalie Morgan
Lathrop.
Dowd added one more for the Wildcats before the break as she
faked out her defender, spinning fro outside to inside and buried a low shot at
2:21.
Northwestern won the next draw control and worked the ball
around and finally made its move with 10 seconds to play, but the final drive
was thwarted by Tochihara, as she picked up her ninth save.
Dowd and Meredith Frank combined for the first four
Northwestern goals to start the second, putting their team ahead 12-5.
On the other end of the field, Princeton’s
best chance came when sophomore Kristin Morrison had an indirect shot hit the
post but a Wildcat defender was able to slide the ball into the Lathrop’s stick
to send the ball back down the other end of the field.
Smith added a free-position goal at 17:39 to make it 13-5 at
17:39
Schwab scored on an eight-meter opportunity of her own at
12:48 and Casaceli scored on a pass delivered by McGarvie from behind the cage
to make it 13-7.
The Wildcats added another two goals to put the game out of
reach, 15-7 with less than four minutes to play.
Morrison and Drumm both scored for Princeton
in the final minutes and Dowd dropped in her seventh of the game to settle the
score, 16-9.
Tochihara finished the game with 14 saves while Lathrop made
five.
Princeton finishes its
season 14-4, while Northwestern continues on with a 21-0 mark.
Courtesy: Princeton Athletic Communications
