NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 10 and third-seeded University of Pennsylvania women's lacrosse team will play in its league-record tenth Ivy League Tournament final on Sunday after defeating second-seeded Princeton in Friday's first semifinal, 18-14.
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This game was a classic well into the third quarter, the teams tying for the tenth time when a Princeton goal made the score 11-11 with 5:30 left. However, the Quakers scored the last three goals of the period—the last two of those coming in the final 39 seconds—and then after the Tigers opened the fourth-quarter scoring Penn went for four more in a row. In all, it was a 9-2 run that allowed Penn to turn a 10-9 deficit into an 18-12 advantage that the Red and Blue wouldn't relinquish.
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Penn avenged a regular-season loss to the Tigers and improved to 13-3 on the season. The Quakers move on to face top-seeded and tourney host Yale, which defeated fourth-seeded Harvard in Friday's second semi, 14-10; first draw between the Red and Blue and Bulldogs will be noon at Reese Stadium. Princeton fell to 10-6 on the season.
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Quaker Notemeal
*Penn outshot Princeton on Friday, 43-27, and won the draw control battle, 21-14.
*Penn's 18 goals not only were a program record in the Ivy League Tournament, they were the most the Quakers have scored in a game with Princeton since the first meeting between these programs on April 3, 1974 (a 19-4 Penn win).
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*Junior
Anna Brandt set an Ivy League Tournament record with eight goals, a career high and one shy of the program record set three times previously (most recently by Alison Irving in 1997).
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*Junior
Erika Chung dished out six assists, tying an ILT record that was originally set by Princeton's Olivia Hompe (against Penn) in a 2017 semifinal and matched by Yale's Olivia's Penoyer (against Penn) in last year's final.
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*Senior
Niki Miles had an historic night herself; in addition to recording four points (3g/1a), she picked up a school-record 14 draw controls. The previous record was 13, set by Zoe Belodeau against Georgetown in 2018.
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*After being held scoreless in the regular-season finale—ending a four-game multi-goal streak—freshman
Catherine Berkery was back to her scoring ways with her fifth hat trick of the season.
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*Junior
Keeley Block added two goals on Friday night, her fourth straight game with multiple goals, and senior
Maria Themelis and junior
Bella Kehoe were the Quakers' other goal scorers.
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*Defensively, two-time Ivy League Defender of the Year
Izzy Rohr and senior
Kaitlyn Cumiskey led the way with three caused turnovers each as Penn turned Princeton over 12 times.
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*Brandt and senior
Aly Feeley both had three draw controls in the game.
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How It Happened
Princeton needed just 48 seconds to open the scoring, but Brandt served notice early when she caused a turnover on defense, scooped up the ground ball and barreled all the way down the field for her first goal of the game.
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Block gave Penn its first lead of the day just 40 seconds after Brandt's opener, only for Princeton to tie it up and then take the lead again on a second-chance goal after
Kelly Van Hoesen stopped the Tigers' first chance. Brandt netted an unassisted goal in the final minute of the period, and it was 3-3 after one.
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Princeton went back in front to start the second, but a slick move by Brandt led to a beautiful low-angle shot into the upper corner which tied things at 4-4. The Tigers again went in front, but Chung found Block for a quick stick goal and it was 5-5. Princeton scored the next two goals, taking the only two-goal lead in the half at 7-5, but Brandt got both of them back with an unassisted goal and a free position tally 1:35 apart. However, the Tigers scored in the final minute and only a great save by Van Hoesen kept this thing 8-7 Princeton at the break.
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Miles got on the board just 1:18 into the third on a free position goal, and then in a crazy sequence Chung found Berkery as the shot clock was dying for a goal that put Penn in front 9-8, its first lead since 2-1. The lead lasted exactly eight seconds, Princeton winning the draw and finding a player behind the Quakers defense for a fast-break goal, and then a little more than a minute later the Tigers went back in front on a free-position goal.
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Themelis made this a 10-10 game with a superb effort out top, beating her defender and then rifling a shot into the upper left corner. Miles then put Penn back in front with a free position goal, only for the Tigers to match and make it 11-11.
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That's when Penn took over. The first goal in the run came with 4:02 left, Kehoe getting the ball from Miles as she ran in from the left side, spun and put home a shot for her first of the day. Brandt took it from there, scoring twice in the final minute to give this game its first three-goal margin as the quarter ended.
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This high-scoring affair went quiet through the first four minutes of the fourth, before the Tigers scored to get within two at 14-12. However, just 1:09 later Block fed Chung who fed Berkery for a tic-tac-goal to preserve the three-goal margin.
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A key sequence in this game came a little more than two minutes later, when a Princeton player pushed Rohr in the back and knocked her over after she had cleared the ball into Penn's offensive end. After an on-field conversation, the referees turned the initial yellow card into a red card, a five-minute non-releasable penalty, and just 35 seconds later a second Tigers player was called for another yellow, putting Princeton down two players on defense.
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Penn took advantage. Miles scored on a free position, and then 28 seconds later Berkery finished yet another Chung feed. Less than a minute later Brandt put home another Chung pass for her record eighth goal, and that essentially rendered this one academic. Princeton scored twice in the final minutes, the last coming with just 1.2 seconds left, but it was not nearly enough as Penn cruised home comfortably.
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For the latest on Penn women's lacrosse, follow @PennWomensLax on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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#EarnEverything | #FightOnPenn
