Courtesy: Princeton Athletic CommunicationsPRINCETON, N.J. (5/10/09) – Senior Kristin Schwab and junior Kristin Morrison each had five-point games to give the Princeton women’s lacrosse team a 15-9 win over Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA Championship on Sunday, May 10.
The win advances Princeton to the quarterfinal round, where it will face No. 1 Northwestern on Saturday, May 16 in Evanston, Ill. Game time has not yet been determined.
Princeton jumped out to a 6-2 lead before Georgetown rallied and nearly tied the game tied at halftime but a goal in the final minutes was called off due to an illegal stick. The Tigers opened the second on a five-goal run and scored seven of the half’s nine goals.
McGarvie scored three goals and added an assist, while senior Christine Casaceli had a goal and an assist each. Sophomore Erin Tochihara made eight saves.
Molly Ford led the Hoyas with three goals and one assist, and Ashby Kaestner also had three goals. Jordy Kirr had two assists, while goalie Caitlin Formby made eight saves.
Kaestner scored on the Hoyas first opportunity of the game at 28:16 and the squad nearly took a 2-0 lead when Ford hit the post one minute later.
Princeton went on a four-goal run over a span on three minutes to take a 4-1 lead. Morrison set a high shot in on Formby after getting a feed from freshman Cassie Pyle and spun her defender. Schwab slipped the ball up under the cross bar and coming from around the back of the net with help from Casaceli. Morrison sprinted down the field and sent a pass to Casaceli who was coming on. Casaceli dropped the ball for a second, and as her defender along with Formby going for the ball, Casaceli got it back and fired a low shot to make it 3-1. McGarvie scored again at 23:07 for the 4-1 lead.
Georgetown called a timeout and was able to get its second goal of the game at 18:13 after a yellow card was assessed to Princeton senior defender Marie McKenna. Erin Lovett scored from the eight-meter, but Morrison scored an eight-meter goal of her own less than a minute later to make it 6-2. Schwab picked up a great pass from Morrison to make it 6-2.
The Hoyas started to make a comeback, scoring three goals in three minutes to cut the deficit to 7-5.
A Princeton timeout resulted in a minor stoppage in Georgetown’s run, as Schwab had an indirect chance and ran around the back of the cage and deked her defender and fired a shot to make it 8-5.
A goal by Kirr was called off due to an illegal stick with two minutes to play, but the team added two tallies afterwards. Ford spun her defender for a goal with 26 seconds remaining, and Megan Bloomer won the following draw control and ran down the field and scored with 18 seconds left to end the half, 8-7.
Princeton came out of the locker room on fire, scoring the first five goals of the second half, and seven of the half’s nine goals.
Schwab got things started picking up a loose ball just outside the 12-meter fan and sent the ball in on the left side of Formby. Morrison hit the crossbar over a minute later and but McGarvie made up for it with a free-position goal at 23:29 when she faked out the goalie with a side shot and went high over her shoulder.
Morrison added back-to-back goals, the first off a quick transition off a Tochihara save, and the second from the eight-meter at 17:46 and 16:09, respectively.
McKenna added a goal at 13:38 to make it 13-7.
Ford and Kelly Barnes scored in succession in the final three minutes before Princeton scored two empty-net goals.
Georgetown pulled Formby with 1:25 to play and Schwab and McGarvie both scored and did not allow the Hoyas to get possession.
Princeton improves to 14-3 overall while Georgetown ends its season 13-6.
