On the opening day of the women’s lacrosse season, No. 15 Princeton came away with the upset 10-8 win over No. 9 Loyola Saturday afternoon.
The Greyhounds scored four straight goals to erase a halftime deficit and take a 7-6 lead midway through the second half, but the Tigers responded with four of the game’s final five goals for the victory.
Senior Annie Thomas led Loyola (0-1) with four points on two goals and two assists. With the two assists, Thomas is now one assist away from becoming the first player in program history with 100 goals and 100 assists.
Redshirt senior Taryn VanThof notched her eighth career hat trick with three goals while seniors Kara Burke, Molly Mulseman and Hannah Schmitt also added goals for the Greyhounds.
For Princeton, senior Erin Slifer led the way with a career-high five goals. Junior Stephanie Paloscio and senior Erin McMunn both scored twice and sophomore Olivia Hompe tallied two assists. Sophomore Ellie DeGarmo earned the win in goal making three stops in the final 18 minutes, coming in on relief for senior Annie Woehling, who made three saves in the first 42.
Loyola’s Burke scored the first goal of the season for either team, netting a free-position shot at 27:35. The Tigers would then go on a 4-0 scoring run with four different players all scoring, to take the 4-1 lead at the 9:08 mark.
VanThof scored twice within 1:06, ending her team’s drought at 5:09 and after Slifer made it 5-2 on the opposite end, VanThof answered for the 5-3 score.
After a Princeton timeout, Slifer had the final say with her third goal at 2:29 with Doherty assisting.
Going into the half, Princeton held onto the 6-3 advantage.
The Greyhounds used three goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half to erase their halftime deficit by the 21:32 mark. Hulseman scored the first at 29:12, before a goal from Thomas pulled Loyola within one. VanThof then netted her third goal to tie the game at 6-6. A goal from Schmitt at 17:39 gave the Greyhounds their first lead, 7-6, since the first goal of the game.
Princeton’s Slifer tied the game up, for a third time, at 15:36, before Thomas put Loyola back on top, 8-7, at 13:23.
That would be the final tally of the afternoon for the Greyhounds.
Princeton would go on to score three straight goals to end the game with a 10-8 victory.
VanThof led the way for Loyola with two ground balls and two draw controls. Although overall, Princeton had the 16-4 draw control edge and outshot Loyola 25-21, including 17-8 in the first half.
The Greyhounds will return to action on Wednesday when they host local rival No. 17 Johns Hopkins in their home opener. Game time is slated for 6 p.m. at Ridley Athletic Complex.
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