Feb. 26, 2011

Box Score

PRINCETON, NJ - The Princeton Tigers scored five unanswered goals to start the second half to rally from a 5-3 halftime deficit and held on to win 9-8 over visiting Johns Hopkins in women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays suffer their first loss of the season and drop to 2-1, while the Tigers open their season with a win.

Princeton cut the deficit to one just 1:09 into the second stanza on a Jaci Gassaway goal then tied it up as Cassie Pyle netted an unassisted goal with 26:10 to play in the half. Charlotte Davis continued the Tiger run, scoring just over two minutes later to give Princeton its first lead since there was 3:07 remaining in the first half. Sam Ellis then took a feed from Caroline Rehfuss and scored her first of the season before Barb Previ found the back of the net to put Princeton on top 8-5 with 8:31 to play in the game.

Hopkins stopped the bleeding and came back to tie the game at 8-8 with 5:51 remaining to make the closing minutes interesting. Junior Alyssa Kildare ended a scoring drought of more than 22 minutes, scoring in transition off a Tigers' turnover in the Blue Jays' end. Less than a minute later, junior Colleen McCaffrey scored an unassisted tally to cut the deficit to one. Freshman Taylor D'Amore capped the run with an unassisted goal at 5:51 to tie the game for just the third time. Gassaway would score what proved to be the game-winner off a Davis pass with 3:40 on the clock to give Princeton the 9-8 win.

Princeton eased out to a 2-0 lead in the game's opening 10 minutes off goals from Previ and Pyle before Hopkins scored four unanswered to take a 4-2 lead. Sophomore Katie Duffey got the Blue Jays on the board at 15:29 with an unassisted goal. Just 37 seconds later the game was knotted at 2-2 on a Candace Rossi strike. Freshman Sarah Taylor followed Rossi's goal with a pair of her own to stake Hopkins to a 4-2 lead with 4:35 to play in the half. Davis cut the deficit to one with her first of the season, but senior Brianna Cronin scored with just five seconds on the clock to send Hopkins into the break with a 5-3 lead.

Taylor led the Blue Jays with her first career multi-goal game, as she was the only Blue Jay to have a multi-point day. Sophomore Cosette Larash finished with six saves for Hopkins. For the Tigers, Previ and Ellis each finished with two goals and an assist, while Erin Tochihara posted 12 saves in the win. The game is the fourth in the series that was decided by just one goal as Princeton has won five straight and six overall against Hopkins.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, March 5 as the Blue Jays travel to Stony Brook. Opening draw at LaValle Stadium is slated for 1:00 pm.