Ivy League women's lacrosse tournament preview

An overtime goal by freshman Caroline Rehfuss pushed Princeton women's lacrosse to an 11-10 win over Dartmouth April 25. The victory clinched Princeton's spot in the first Ivy League women's lacrosse tournament, April 30 and May 2. The fourth-seeded Tigers will play Penn, the No. 1 seed and tournament host, at 7 p.m. April 30 at Franklin Field. Below, PAW provides brief sketches of the four tournament teams.

4. Princeton (6-9, 4-3 Ivy)

National rank: not ranked

Top scorers: Lizzy Drumm ’11 (30 goals, nine assists), Kristin Morrison ’10 (23 goals, 13 assists), Barb Previ ’12 (14 goals, 12 assists), Cassie Pyle ’12 (16 goals, eight assists)

In net: Erin Tochihara ’11 (10.5 goals-against average, 127 saves)

Latest news: Tochihara had one of the best games of her career in Princeton's season-ending win over Dartmouth, saving 14 shots against the high-scoring Big Green.

This year's Tigers have been plagued by turnovers (a league-worst 18.7 per game) and sub-par shooting (37.9 percent of shots found the back of the net). But in the comeback win over Dartmouth, Princeton showed progress on the latter problem area, netting seven of 14 second-half shots.

1. Penn (12-3, 7-0 Ivy)

National rank: No. 5 (Inside Lacrosse), No. 6 (IWLCA)

Top scorers: Ali DeLuca (36 goals, 19 assists), Erin Brennan (24 goals, 17 assists), Giulia Giordano (23 goals, 17 assists), Courtney Lubbe (18 goals, 16 assists)

In net: Emily Szelest (6.7 goals-against average, 72 saves)

Latest news: The Quakers have won 29 straight in Ivy play -- a streak that dates back to the final game of the 2006 season. Their only three losses this season came against top-five opponents: Maryland, Northwestern, and North Carolina. On offense, Penn has been particularly potent in the last week, scoring the last five goals in a 12-5 win over Princeton and then exploding for 19 goals in an April 25 rout of Brown.

2. Dartmouth (10-3, 5-2 Ivy)

National rank: No. 10 (Inside Lacrosse), No. 11 (IWLCA)

Top scorers: Greta Meyer (30 goals, 22 assists), Sarah Parks (29 goals, 9 assists), Sarah Plumb (19 goals, 12 assists), Kirsten Goldberg (23 goals, three assists)

In net: Julie Wadland (7.2 goals-against average, 80 saves)

Latest news: Dartmouth had the top-scoring team in the Ivies (12.6 goals per game), thanks in large part to Meyer, who led the team in goals and led the league in assists. But the final weeks of the year were not kind to the Big Green: After opening 4-0 in Ivy games, they dropped two of their last three, losing to Penn and Princeton and edging Harvard.

3. Cornell (5-8, 4-3 Ivy)

National rank: not ranked

Top scorers: Jessi Steinberg (38 goals, two assists), Libby Johnson (17 goals, 12 assists), Katie Kirk (15 goals, one assist), Shannon McHugh (12 goals, two assists)

In net: Kyla Dambach (9.0 goals-against average, 67 saves) or Kristen Reese (8.8 goals-against average, 16 saves)

Latest news: Like Princeton, the Big Red locked up a postseason spot by winning its Ivy finale -- an impressive 12-5 victory against Yale (3-4 Ivy). Steinberg had six goals in the game and scored a remarkable 28 goals against Ivy opponents. Cornell won three of its last four league games, but the lone loss in that stretch came against Dartmouth, the Big Red's round-one opponent.