For the first time since 2002, the proud old Princeton Tiger was at a loss.
On Wednesday afternoon, No. 4 Georgetown (5-1) took to the ulti-Sport Facility looking to defeat No. 6 Princeton (2-3) for the first time in four years. Thanks to some stellar offense from senior midfielder Lucy Poole and junior attacker Coco Stanwick, the Hoyas did just that, coming away with a 9-7 victory.
“We showed a lot of character today,” Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried said following the game. “It’s a big win because it’s the first time in four years that we’ve beaten Princeton.”
On the other end of the final score, Princeton Head Coach Chris Sailer was not happy with her team’s performance, “We didn’t do a whole lot of things well,” she said. “Unfortunately, we just did not execute very well at all in the transition game.”
The Tigers did not make it easy on the Hoyas, however. The first 10 minutes were – as many of Georgetown’s opening minutes have been – a defensive battle, thanks in part to a tough Princeton press that made it difficult for the Hoyas to get the ball across midfield.
“It really had a lot more to do with us than them,” Fried said of the early struggles. “We made some adjustments, but we still need to do a little bit better at putting ourselves in the position to clear the ball.”
After the Hoyas finally managed to move the ball into Princeton territory, Poole showed some fancy footwork and made her way to the goal before firing a shot past the Tigers’ sophomore goalie eg Murray. For Poole, the unassisted score 9:59 into the game was a sign of things to come.
Georgetown only held the lead for four minutes. After a Hoya defender tripped and fell in front of the goal, Princeton’s freshman midfielder Kristin Schwab was afforded a clear line to the net, and capitalized, scoring her 11th goal of the season.
The Tigers needed just 41 seconds to turn the tie into a lead. Junior attacker Kathleen Miller fired a shot past Georgetown’s junior goalie Maggie Koch to give Princeton the 2-1 advantage. Fried was visibly upset after the second goal in under a minute, and at least for an instant, it looked like recent history was repeating itself.
Princeton controlled the ensuing draw, and nearly missed a third straight goal shortly thereafter, pushing Hoya faithful even further towards the edges of their seats. Georgetown had a number of near misses over the next few minutes, but a swarming Tigers’ defense was able to hold the Hoyas in check. Each time Stanwick, Georgetown’s leading scorer, touched the ball, three to four Princeton defenders made sure that she had no room to operate.
A television timeout with 12:47 remaining gave both teams a chance to catch their breath, and shortly following the respite, Poole was ready to work yet some more magic. She scored an unassisted goal with 12:00 to go in the half, bringing the game to a 2-2 tie, and nearly missed another goal 50 seconds later. Ever the persistent one, however, Poole gave the Hoyas the lead with 10:07 remaining on yet another unassisted try.
For the rest of the half, Georgetown played staunch defense, confining the game to Tigers’ end of the field for much of the half, and coming up with key saves when the ball did make its way into the Hoyas’ zone. Koch made four first-half saves, and junior defender Laura Cipro recovered three ground balls for Georgetown.
Senior midfielder Paige Andrews capped the first half scoring with 5:37 to go in the period on a goal assisted by junior attacker Sara Zorzi. For the last five minutes of the half, both teams put on a defensive clinic, and the game headed into the intermission with Georgetown in control of a 4-2 lead.
Princeton came out swinging in the second half. The Tigers took control of the opening draw, took their first shot just 45 seconds into the half, and pulled to within one goal a minute later, on Schwab’s second score of the afternoon.
Once again, though, Poole was not to be outdone. After Georgetown forced a turnover roughly eight minutes into the half, Poole, seemingly effortlessly, glided towards the goal and let fly her fourth goal, another of the unassisted variety. With 21:14 to play, Poole already had a career high.
“[My teammates were all] occupying their players so when I beat my girl there wasn’t a double coming to me, and for some reason [Princeton] thought I was left-handed, so they were pushing me towards my strong hand and I just took advantage of the opportunities,” she said of her offensive outburst.
Fried was also quick to laud Poole’s efforts. “Lucy has clearly been progressing this season to one of our top go-to players and today when she had the opportunity to go, for whatever reason they thought she was a lefty, so we were able to get her some right handed shots early, so she had a great game,” he said.
The Hoyas pushed the lead to three just two minutes later when Zorzi took a pass from junior attacker Schuyler Sutton and put the ball between the pipes for her seventh goal of the season.
Though Georgetown seemed the more cohesive team offensively for much of the afternoon, Princeton simply would not quit. Freshman midfielder Holly McGarvie converted a free position goal with 17:28 to play, and sophomore Katie Lewis-Lamonica scored on a feed from junior attacker Kathleen Miller to bring the Tigers to within a single goal.
That, however, is when the Coco show began. With 14:19 left, Stanwick took a pass in front of the goal from Zorzi and put her 22nd goal of the season past Princeton’s Murray. Georgetown led 7-5, and from there on out, Stanwick was a force.
After a couple near misses by both teams, Princeton’s junior midfielder Alex Gangler pulled the Tigers to within one on an assist from McGarvie. Each time the Hoyas seemed to put the game out of reach, Princeton had an answer.
Still, the Tigers were not the only ones with the answers. With 6:43 to go, Stanwick scored yet again, this time on a pass from Sutton, and the Hoyas extended their lead to 8-6. A mere 47 seconds later, Zorzi hit Stanwick in front of the net and the Big East’s preseason offensive player of the year put the ball past the goalie, giving Georgetown a three goal lead and Stanwick her fifth hat trick in six games.
For the last six minutes, Princeton seemed overly rushed, trying to tie the score on each possession. They had a number of errant shots sail far beyond the goal, and even had a goal wiped off the scoreboard because of a push simultaneous to the shot. Schwab did tally her third goal of the day with 1:45 to go, but at that point the outcome was essentially sealed. Georgetown was going to end Princeton’s recent streak of dominance.
The Hoyas’ attack, which was thought to be the weak link of the 2005-06 squad, was firing on all cylinders on Wednesday.
“Clearly what we did well was offensively,” Fried said. “We did a great job of making plays. We were smart with the ball, we were patient, and when we got opportunities, we finished, especially in the second half.”
“They [Georgetown] have a lot of kids that can hurt you. We didn’t get the matchup on Poole that we wanted to in the first half. She’s a great player, has a lot of speed, great compliment,” Sailer said of the Hoyas’s non-stop offensive attack.
Once again, the Georgetown defense may have been overshadowed by the offensive onslaught, but, also once again, the defensive ranks served as the glue that held the team together.
“When we were able to play settled and were under control,” Fried said, “I thought we did a great job, and of course Maggie Koch did a great job in the goal saving some opportunities that we gave up.”
Koch finished the afternoon with 8 saves to go with the seven goals allowed. Those eight saves, apparently, were more than enough to earn the respect of her defense.
“Maggie is amazing,” junior defender Chloe Asselin said. “She is probably the best goalie in lacrosse right now; she had an amazing game.” Asselin was no slouch herself, checking a number of Princeton’s best attackers.
For Georgetown, the win was easily the biggest of their young season. And, as they were coming off of a close defeat at No. 2 Duke, it showed Fried and the Hoyas that they can be successful in a close game against one of the nation’s best.
“Today I feel great,” he said about his team. “I want to enjoy the victory, but we have a big game on Saturday against Rutgers because it’s a Big East game, so we need to make sure we don’t look past that. We’re progressing, our offense is coming along, our defense is solid, and if we do a better job between the 30s taking care of the ball, then I’ll be really happy.”
Poole felt the same way. “I feel very good about where we are, obviously we have things to work on and we’re not going to play our best till the end of the season, but when we play together, we have something that not a lot of teams have.”
Against Princeton, though maybe not for the entire 60 minutes, Georgetown did, in fact, show how dominant they could be when they played together.
They will try to put that “something that not a lot of teams have” on display again Saturday, when they oppose Rutgers at 1 p.m. on the MultiSport Facility.
