Chris Sailer’s 36th, and final, season as Princeton’s women’s lacrosse coach has been an appropriate sendoff. The Tigers beat Yale 19-9 on Sunday to secure her 15th Ivy League championship and off to the NCAA tournament for the 27th time.
But the Hall of Fame coach has never made it about herself and this year’s Tiger team has plenty of talent looking to make a run in Sailer’s final NCAA tournament.
Senior Kyla Sears headlines that list and become Princeton’s career goals leader with a diving effort in the first half.
Sears finished the day with four goals to run her career record to 202 goals in just three and a half season. Sophomore Grace Tauckus also scored four times for Princeton and added three assists for a game-high seven points. A third four-goal scorer was freshman McKenzie Blake.
Defensive star Marge Donovan had 12 draw control as the Tigers won the category 21-10 and controlled possession in a game they trailed in only the opening minutes.
Drexel Wins First CAA Title
Led by first-year head coach Kim Hillier, Drexel withstood a late Towson rally and beat the Tigers 11-10 in overtime to claim its first Colonial Athletic Association championship. Allison Drake scored the game-winning goal.
Lucy Schneidereith, the CAA Tournament MVP, scored four goals, including a goal in the closing seconds of the third quarter that gave the Dragons a 10-8 lead.
Towson scored the only two goals of the fourth quarter, including Kerri Thornton’s goal with 2:31 remaining that sent the game to overtime.
Drexel’s Karson Harris won the draw to begin overtime and Drake cashed home the game-winner 47 seconds into the period.
Maryland Rolls After Early Scare
Cassidy Spilis’ goal late in the second quarter gave Rutgers a 7-5 lead over Maryland in the Big Ten championship game, but the Terps took over from there in an 18-8 victory.
Aurora Cordingly and Libby May scored the final two goals of the half to tie the game at 7 at the break and Maryland then blitzed Rutgers in the third quarter, outscoring the Scarlet Knights 8-0. Maryland then scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to stretch its scoring run to 12 straight goals.
May had a game-high five goals to go along with two assists for the Terps while Cordingley had a game-high nine points (4g, 5a). Hannah Leubecker scored four times.
The win was the 300th for Maryland head coach Cathy Reese since becoming the head coach of her alma mater.
Taralyn Naslonski scored three times for Rutgers, all of them coming in the first quarter to help the Scarlet Knights to the strong start.