(Penn - 7, Princeton - 14)
The Penn women's lacrosse team traveled to Princeton with high hopes of knocking off the top-in-the-nation Tigers.
And when the Quakers, who have had problems with sluggish starts throughout the season, jumped out to an early 2-1 lead, it looked like they had a chance to pull off the upset.
But their strong play would not continue.
After calling a timeout, a revived Princeton squad took the field and proceeded to outscore the Quakers, 9-1, en route to a 14-7 triumph.
It was the fifth consecutive Ivy League win for the Tigers and their 11th-straight victory overall.
"After the timeout, they came out and pounded us," junior attacker Kate Murray, who scored twice for the Quakers, said.
The pounding amounted to a 10-3 deficit for the Red and Blue at halftime.
There was only one explanation for Penn's lackluster performance after the Princeton timeout.
"We started to play more timidly [after the timeout] than we had at the beginning," Penn junior defender Christy Bennett said. "After the timeout we started to play scared."
Penn played in fear of the Tigers last year, as well.
The Quakers stunned Princeton in the first half of last year's game, going into the half leading 3-2. Penn could not maintain its lead, losing 10-5.
"Last year, we freaked out when we were beating the No. 1 team in the country," Bennett said. "Then we started to beat ourselves."
This year it was more of the same, and although the Quakers played an aggressive second half, they could not pull any closer to the Tigers.
In the first half, Princeton spread out the attack, as four different players scored en route to the seven-goal halftime lead.
Lindsey Biles had four goals, Lauren Simone and Theresa Sherry had three and Mimi Hammerberg had two goals and two assists for the Tigers.
The Quakers pinpointed a more passive effort as their downfall in the second half.
"We couldn't move the ball through the midfield, and we turned back when we should have attacked," Bennett said. "We were scared of their double teams and started playing more defensively."
Despite the Quakers defensive attitude, they still managed to net seven goals, an increased output compared to their last two games, where they scored only five goals in each contest.
Junior midfielder Crissy Book led the Quakers in scoring against Princeton, scoring four times.
Besides Book's four goals and Murray's two, sophomore Lindsey Cassidy also scored twice for the Quakers.
But, despite grabbing a lead on the top team in the nation early, it was a disappointing night for the Red and Blue.
"We came out pretty hard," Murray said. "But they ended up outplaying us."
The loss drops Penn to 5-7 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League. The Quakers have lost three straight, including two against nationally-ranked teams. Penn lost to No. 18 Dartmouth, 6-5, in overtime last Saturday.
The Quakers will look to rebound on Saturday when they welcome Brown to Franklin Field at 12:00p.m.
The Bears, who dropped a high-scoring 22-10 decision to Yale yesterday, are 1-3 in the Ivies and 4-6 overall.
