LEWISBURG, Pa. — No. 14-ranked Princeton University built leads of 4-2 and 7-2 by the conclusion of the first and second quarters, respectively, prior to outscoring Mount St. Mary’s University 5-0 and 6-1 in the third and fourth quarters in coasing to an 18-3 victory over the Mountaineers on the final day of the 2023 Bucknell University Invitational.
Princeton went ahead 35 seconds into the game as Jovana Sekulic (So., Belgrade, Serbia/Episcopal Academy) converted a man-up opportunity to stake the Tigers to an early 1-0 lead. Following an equalizer by Mount St. Mary’s 23 seconds later to square the squads at one-all with 7:02 left in the first quarter, Princeton went ahead to stay with back-to-back penalty shots as Kayla Yelensky (So., Stamford, Conn./Greenwich Academy) drove home five-meter shots at 6:49 and 5:47 to stake the Tigers to a 3-1 lead.
The Mountaineers again answered at 5:15, but Annie Robinson (Sr., Riverside, Conn./Greenwich) tossed in the quarter’s concluding strike with 24 seconds remaining for a 4-2 Princeton lead after eight minutes of competition.
Robinson’s goals ignited an 12-0 surge by the Tigers lasting until the 4:49 mark of the fourth quarter.
In the second quarter, Mindy Pang (Sr., Greenwich, Conn./Rye Country Day), Yelensky and Sekulic dented the twine at 5:33 (man-up), 3:21 and 2:36, respectively, to widen Princeton’s lead to 7-2 heading into halftime.
Following the break, Kaila Carroll (Jr., Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) put away a five-meter penalty shot with 5:35 remaining in the third quarter to commence the second half scoring. Laura Larkin (Sr., Solana Beach, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) and Robinson connected for natural goals at 5:13 and 4:03, respectively, before Meera Burghardt (Jr., Manhattan Beach, Calif./Harvard Westlake) concluded the third quarter with back-to-back tallies at 3:12 and 2:31 for a 12-2 Tigers’ lead heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.
The fourth quarter belonged to Shanna Davidson (Fr., Huntington Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) who swished shots at 7:44, 6:52, 4:30 and 4:05 to join with Robinson (5:26) and Alyssa Woolley (Fr., Aldgate, South Australia/Seymour College) (2:10) in accounting for a 6-1 Princeton surge to the final horn and the finishing touches on an 18-3 victory.
