It was as if the same game had been played before. Princeton jumped on top early and maintained the pressure for most of the opening half. Behind stellar goaltending and an efficient offense, however, Virginia took a lead into the break and refused to give it up.
Following suit with last year's national championship game, No. 4 Virginia (6-1) handily defeated No. 3 Princeton (4-2) 8-4 Saturday in Charlottesville.
From the get-go, the Tigers seemed anxious to put all memories of last season behind them. Fifty seconds into the game, off a deft pass from sophomore Kathleen Miller, who chose Princeton over Virginia in a fierce recruiting battle, senior attacker Lindsay Biles put the Tigers ahead. This would be Princeton's only lead of the game.
Pressure mounted on the Virginia goal, but junior goalkeeper Ginger Miles kept the vaunted Tiger attack at bay for the rest of the half. The Tigers entered the contest averaging 11.4 goals per game on the season but could not get on track on a soggy Klöckner field.
With Miles and the Virginia defense holding Princeton in check, senior attacker Amy Appelt led the Cavalier offense to a lead that would not be relinquished. Appelt scored two unassisted goals in a 71-second span to establish a 2-1 Virginia lead.
Appelt's first goal of the game, the 218th of her career, put her in sole possession of the all-time goal-scoring record at Virginia, passing Lauren Aumiller. Appelt is also only 10 points behind Aumiller on the career points list.
Virginia's one-goal lead held up until nearly halftime, though both squads had numerous opportunities to score. After Princeton's Elizabeth Pillion had a goal nullified that would have knotted the score at two, Virginia's Cary Chasney scored on an eight-meter shot to give the Cavaliers a two-goal halftime cushion.
Virginia kept the momentum to start the second half and extended its lead on a great individual effort from attacker Kate Breslin. Borrowing a move from Appelt, Breslin spun between three defenders and beat Princeton goalie Sarah Kolodner to make the score 4-1.
With a three-goal lead and only 20 minutes remaining in a defensive struggle, Virginia coach Julie Myers had her team concentrate on making the correct reads in running the offense.
"I think our attackers really did a nice job of being able to switch the pace of the game," Myers said. "They were able to take some time off, just get some good looks, and when we said it was time to go, they were ready and in the right spots."
Chasney scored again from eight meters out to make it 5-1, but Princeton's Ashley Amo cut the deficit to three with 13 minutes left, ending the Tigers scoring drought at 43:05. Virginia goals by Tyler Leachman, the 100th of her career, and midfielder Nikki Lieb, however, put the Cavaliers in cruise control.
A pair of tallies by Pillion gave the Tigers some late hope, but Breslin scored her second of the game into a vacant net for the 8-4 final margin.
For the game, Virginia was soundly beaten on draw controls 9-5, but made up for that discrepancy by winning seven more ground balls. In an otherwise statistically even game, Miles' nine saves behind a veteran defense proved to be the difference.
"It always feels good to beat them [Princeton]," Miles said. "They're one of our biggest rivals. We knew we had to take them seriously going into this game. It feels good that we pulled it off in all aspects of the field."
The Cavaliers will feed off this victory and hope that history can repeat itself once more come May at the Final Four in Annapolis.
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