PRINCETON, N.J. – After starting the season slowly, No. 12 Princeton will enter the NCAA tournament playing as well as anyone in the country.

The Tigers stayed hot with a 13-10 win over No. 10 Penn to repeat as Ivy League women’s lacrosse tournament champions at home Sunday.

Princeton’s third tournament title in four years came with a late run over a Quakers team that they had manhandled 21-8 only 11 days earlier on the same Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium. The Tigers’ Ivy repeat earned them the conference’s automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament.

“This one is even more special,” said junior Elizabeth George, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. “The Ivy League is just getting more and more competitive. We knew that from our Dartmouth game earlier this year (a 15-12 loss March 24). It’s tough competition all around. We were fortunate enough to host, fortunate enough to work hard all season to get to host and to be able to have our seniors play their last home game on this field against Penn is amazing. And to win that is a great way to end it and go to the postseason.”

It’s the eighth win in the last nine games for Princeton (12-5), with its only loss coming by a goal against Maryland on April 10. The Tigers started the season 4-4.

“I knew we were going to have to come together,” Princeton coach Chris Sailer said. “The kids were confident they were going to be fine. It took us a while for kids that were in support roles to step up and be the go-to kids and for kids who were new to our team to be able to learn the system and play at a high level. We took our lumps a little early, but we didn’t let that get us down. We were 4-4, but since then we’ve really taken off.”

Princeton’s Tess D’Orsi scored four goals, including three of the final four to help snap a 10-10 tie. George finished with a hat trick, five draw controls and two caused turnovers. She’s been on a tear since moving to attack midway through the season, with twice as many goals over the second half of the season.

PHOTO BY KEVIN P. TUCKER

“It’s made a huge difference,” Sailer said. “She’s able to be a part of every single offensive threat instead of every other one when she’s a middie and rotates off. The maturity and experience level of the team has improved as a whole.”

Princeton rookie goalie Sam Fish stopped 11 shots and repeatedly helped keep Penn at bay. There were seven ties in the final, but Princeton never trailed.

“Our team just played so hard,” said Fish, a freshman. “I could honestly not have done it without my defense. They were stopping everything. It was awesome to see our offense and defense come together.”

Penn (13-4) was led by Gabby Rosenzweig’s four goals. Erin Barry had two goals and two assists. Mikaila Cheeseman made eight saves. The Quakers played without Alex Condon, their All-American midfielder who also missed the Ivy tournament semifinal after injuring her back in practice Monday. Condon sat in a chair on the sidelines during the final.

“She’s one of our best players, and she’s a very good defender, and that’s really where we missed her this weekend,” Penn coach Karin Corbett said. “She’s in a lot of pain right now, and we’re not sure what the outcome is. I’m really proud of the freshmen that stepped up this weekend. I thought we played a really good team defense today and hope we can build on this for next week.”

Princeton scored the first two goals of the game. George scored a free-position goal and less than a minute later, D’Orsi’s perfect pass set up Kyla Sears for a close goal and a 2-0 lead.

Penn responded with back-to-back goals from Rosenzweig 37 seconds apart to tie it five minutes into the game.

Five minutes later, Colby Chanenchuk fed Allie Rogers for a 3-2 lead for Princeton, but Penn answered right back as Rosenzweig notched a hat trick to tie it with 19:33 left in the half.

The teams traded goals again in the next minute. George scored her second goal of the game off a feed from Camille Sullivan, and Penn got a goal from Zoe Belodeau.

Princeton built a three-goal lead over the next 10 minutes. D’Orsi deposited a free-position goal with 13:47 left, Sears scored a free-position goal during a man-up advantage for the Tigers, and Sears expanded the Princeton lead to 7-4 with 8:13 left after making a tough catch and scoring right in front of the goal off a feed from Chanenchuk from behind the cage.

Penn scored the final two goals of the half on free-position goals from Barry to pull within 7-6 at halftime. It was tight throughout the second half too, but Princeton remained in control.

“It was a close game all the way through,” George said. “That’s really fun for us. It was goal for goal. I think what was key was offense and defense, we knew to set the pace and on attack we kept our composure, and Sam came up with some huge saves when she needed to. We never doubted ourselves, even when it was tied. We kept our composure.”

Penn’s Elyse Decker burst down in transition and scored to tie the game 7-7 two minutes into the second half. Princeton regained the lead on a rocket from George for her third goal on the day.

Barry had a chance for her third free-position goal, but she flipped it to Natalie Stefan, and the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year scored a man-up goal – her first of the season – to tie it at 8.

Sullivan slipped her first goal of the game inside the left post from a narrow angle for a 9-8 Princeton lead with 20 minutes left in the game, but two minutes later, Rosenzweig’s fourth goal for Penn tied the game for the sixth time.

D’Orsi scored a free-position goal for a 10-9 Princeton lead midway through the second half.

Penn’s Barry sent a pass into the middle that Abby Bosco ran onto and flipped into the goal for a 10-10 tie two minutes later, but that was the final time it would be tied.

“We wanted to prove it wasn’t a fluke the first time and we truly were the better team,” Fish said. “I think we showed that today.”

D’Orsi scored back-to-back goals to give Princeton a gap late in the game. She deposited a goal from the right side for her 100th career point after taking a pass from Ellie McNulty in transition for the go-ahead goal with 8:23 left, then just over a minute later gave Princeton some breathing room on a free-position goal.

Kathryn Hallett nearly turned it over as the shot clock was winding down, but regrouped, split two Penn defenders and beat Cheeseman for a 13-10 Princeton lead with 3:42 left. Princeton’s defense did the rest.

“We’re a unit now,” Fish said. “We’re one beating heart, and we definitely know each other’s tendencies and we’re able to play off each other. We play really well together.”

.@princetonwlax takes the @IvyLeague title! Tigers score final three goals to get by @PennWomensLax 13-10. D’Orsi with 4G. pic.twitter.com/BJZoCt8qwG

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) May 6, 2018

The Tigers could be a tough matchup in the NCAA tournament. They have come on strong over the second half of the season and are playing with confidence coming off the Ivy regular-season and tournament titles. Their attitude has changed steadily since losing back-to-back games at home to Dartmouth and Syracuse.

“That Syracuse game (a 17-16 loss March 29), as tough as it was to lose, we finally felt we played a really great game,” Sailer said. “We had gotten in a habit of getting down early, and we did that in that game and we battled back. We started believing then, and definitely the Maryland game, that was a turning point. We just felt like we could play with anybody.”

A week later, they moved George up to attack, and since then they have been playing as well as anyone in the country.

“Our team is talented from freshmen to seniors,” George said. “In the beginning, we were finding our mojo and chemistry with each other. It took a couple games to figure each other out but we want to peak at the right time. It seems like we’re getting it together right now and riding a high wave and we’re ready to ride it through the postseason and carry it as far as we can. I’m really excited.”