Sears breaks Princeton women’s lax record in Ivy triumph
PRINCETON » Kyla Sears and the Princeton women’s lacrosse team sent their Hall of Fame coach out with one more Ivy League championship.
Sears scored four times to become the program’s all-time leading scorer and the Tigers cruised to a sixth Ivy Tournament championship under retiring coach Chris Sailer with a 19-9 victory over Yale on Sunday afternoon at Sherred Field at Class of 1952 Stadium.
A senior from Skaneateles, N.Y., Sears equaled Olivia Hompe’s goals record of 198 when she scored six in the semifinal victory over Harvard and then upped her career total to 202 by caging for in the final. Sears has 63 goals on the season and has 11 games of at least three tallies, including four or more in five straight contests.
“Very excited,” Sears said. “A little tired, but excited.”
Sailer, in her 36th and final season at the helm on Old Nassau, has guided Princeton to incredible success. Under her stewardship, the Tigers have won three national championships, reached 11 Final Fours, captured 16 Ivy titles and will make a 27th NCAA Tournament appearance.
Sailer’s 432 victories rank fifth all-time among women’s lacrosse coaches and second in Division I.
“It’s an awesome way to go out,” Sailer said. “I love these guys. We’re super excited we get to play some more games. That’s what it’s all about.”
After spotting Yale (116) the opening goal on Sunday, the Tigers (14-3) left little doubt about the outcome when they ripped off four in a row and eight of the next nine scores. Sears caged the record-breaker with 3:24 remaining in the first half and gave the home side a 7-2 lead. She dodged from the left side into the middle and fired the ball past the goalie as she was falling to the turf.
Grace Tauckus and McKenzie Blake also finished with four goals each for Princeton.
“It was just such a great game,” Sailer said. “I’m so happy for my team and this 10 person senior class we have. We worked so hard for this. It was a tight game last weekend and we knew we could play better and we came out here and we did just that.”
MARYLAND 18, RUTGERS 8 PISCATAWAY » The Scarlet Knights (15-4) came up short in their bid for the Big Ten’s automatic berth as they were overpowered by the No. 3-ranked Terrapins (18-1) for the second time this season.
After a tight two quarters in which the score was tied at 7-all at halftime, Maryland broke the game open with eight unanswered goals in the third quarter.
Libby May scored a gamehigh five goals and Hannah Leubecker added four for the Terrapins. The duo combined for four of Maryland’s eight goals in the third quarter.
Taralyn Naslonski led Rutgers with three goals, while former Allentown High standout Marin Hartshorn had two goals and an assists.
TCNJ 18, ROWAN 3 EWING » Ally Tobler caged six goals, Jennifer LaRocca added five and the Lions (15-2) rolled past the Profs (10-8) for their 11th straight NJAC Tournament championship.
TCNJ won both of its tournament games by identical 18-3 scores. It scored the first 10 goals on Sunday and never looked back.
Anna Devlin chipped in four goals for the Lions.
Baseball
MARIST 13, RIDER 1 LAWRENCEVILLE » Frank Doelling only lasted 3.1 innings as the slumping Broncs (22-21, 9-7) lost four the fourth time in five MAAC games as the Red Foxes (26-24, 14-5) pounded out 18 hits in the lone game of a series impacted by
weather.
MARYLAND 16, RUTGERS 8 PISCATAWAY » The 21stranked Scarlet Knights dropped a game in the race for the Big Ten regular season title when the 22ndranked Terrapins (37-9, 124) hit five home runs and chased starter Jared Koller after two innings.
Chris Brito homered twice for Rutgers as the teams combined for nine longballs in the first of a twinbill.
TCNJ 9, ROWAN 0 UNION » Ryan Goodall hit a
grand slam and three-run homer to power the Lions (20-17) over the Profs (309) in an NJAC Tournament elimination game.
A sophomore out of Toms River East, Goodall belted his three-run shot in the fifth and then smacked the grand slam in the seventh to give him a 7-RBI afternoon.
Princeton High grad Ben Amon worked seven innings in which he limited Rowan to three hits, struck four and walked three.
Softball ROWAN 4, TCNJ 3 UNION »
Korie Hague singled home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh and the Profs (33-8) walked off with a win over the Lions (27-9) to capture the NJAC Tournament championship.
TCNJ twice had the lead, with former Northern Burlington High standout Julia Mayernik staking the locals to a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the first inning. Lauren Conroy and Jaclyn Carifi had RBIs in the thrid as the LIons took a 3-1 lead before Rowan rallied.