HIGH FIVE: Princeton University women’s lacrosse player Meg Morrisroe, left, heads to goal in recent action. Junior attacker Morrisroe scored five goals in both of Princeton’s first two games as the Tigers fell 14-10 to Loyola in their season opener on February 21 before defeating Rutgers 15-9 last Wednesday. No. 20 Princeton, which lost 16-12 to No. 3 Maryland on Saturday to move to 1-2, plays at Harvard on March 7 in its Ivy League opener. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Justin Feil
Last month, Meg Morrisroe began her third season on the Princeton University women’s lacrosse team by producing back-to-back five-goal performances.
The junior attacker’s five spot wasn’t enough in a season-opening 14-10 loss to Loyola on February 21, but her five tallies in their home opener last Wednesday helped the Tigers rebound with a 15-9 win over Rutgers.
“Obviously a win always feels a bit better,” said Morrisroe, “but it was good to learn from Loyola and take what we learned into the next game. It felt great to win.”
Morrisroe, a 5’8 native of Huntington, N.Y., figures to be an important part of the Tigers’ success this season. She’s a proven commodity with 61 career goals coming into the season. She was third on the team in goals last year and remains a huge threat along with leading returning scorers Haven Dora and Jami MacDonald.
“Meg has always been an incredibly smart player,” said Princeton head coach Jenn Cook. “She’s so cerebral. She’s incredibly hard to mark on the cut. She just reads what the D is giving her so well and takes advantage. And then on the backside of that, I would say it’s her ability to catch a tough pass and sight the cage and finish. She is such a good finisher and she has such good hands, and so it’s really, really hard for the defense to constantly pay attention to a cutter when you’ve got threats like Haven and Jami and you’ve got midfield dodgers.”
Morrisroe scored career-high eight goals against Brown midway through her freshman season, accounting for nearly one-third of her goals in her first year and setting the tone that she was reliable on the attack. Morrisroe is part of the answer as to how the Tigers replace some of the scoring lost by McKenzie Blake’s graduation.
“First and foremost, McKenzie was great, obviously,” said Morrisroe. “She broke so many Princeton records, and it’s definitely hard to fill those shoes. But she was a great leader to me in my first two years. And not only was she so talented, but she saw the game so well. So I was very grateful to be able to learn under her for two years. And I’m just taking what she’s taught me and what I could watch from her and carrying it over into my junior season, hoping to take more of a leadership role now.”
Morrisroe’s experience is a plus. She has as much experience as almost anyone in the junior class, and she’s trying to show it more this year.
“We have such great leadership on our senior front,” said Morrisroe. “Our captains — Abby (Roberts), Jami, and Dylan (Allen) — they do such a good job leading the team. But it also feels like they need some of our junior support with them as they do it. It’s always nice to have extra hands on deck and everything. They lay out such a great foundation, so the least I can do is help them and try to take as much of a leadership role as I can following in their footsteps.”
Princeton has spent the first week and a half of games figuring out how they can be at their best this year. The Tigers fell to 1-2 with a 16-12 loss at No. 3 Maryland on Saturday. They struggled in their opener against a Loyola team that was playing its fourth game.
“The Ivy League has always started later, and we’re OK with that,” said Cook. “I think it’s great to have all of that scout film and they don’t have a ton on us, but I think it really comes down to us playing our game at a really, really high level, executing the details, having focus, playing in the moment, and competing at a really high level, and really playing that team style offense and defense. That’s the key for us, week in and week out, really.”
The Tigers were in good shape initially against the Greyhounds, but Loyola broke open a 2-2 tie after the first quarter with the only nine goals scored in the second quarter. Princeton held a 3-1 advantage in the third quarter but never came within five goals of the Greyhounds. MacDonald had a hat trick, but no other Princeton players besides Morrisroe and her had more than one goal. It wasn’t the way the Tigers wanted to start after waiting almost two weeks while watching others start their seasons ahead of them.
“I’d say the first game naturally has a lot of nerves that come with it,” said Morrisroe. “That first draw, it’s what you’ve been dreaming of since we came back to school in the fall. So there’s definitely nerves attached to the first game — good nerves and bad nerves. And so I think that maybe more frantic energy, we had to get out of the way on Saturday. And I think we were thinking, ‘have a short memory on that one.’ We know what we’re capable of.”
They showed it in their first win. The script was flipped in their second game with the Tigers breaking open a 2-1 game against Rutgers with six straight goals.
“What gave us a lot of momentum and confidence is Amelia Hughes,” said Morrisroe. “She made a bunch of amazing saves. My defender next to me even said to me that she’s really good. And I was like, ‘yeah, she’s great.’ So I think it started on the defensive half. The defense played their scout roles really well and they came up with good stops and great clears, and we were able to string it together and capitalize on the offensive end. So it was really a whole team effort in that first half. That’s why we were able to go on a run.”
Morrisroe tallied three of her goals in the Tigers’ first six of the game. The Princeton defense did the rest and they never allowed Rutgers within five goals the rest of the game to even their record going into their game at Maryland.
“It was awesome to get that first win,” said Morrisroe. “Obviously our Loyola game didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but it was nice to have a second opportunity so close to our first one and come out with that one.”
Morrisroe’s start was her most productive two-game stretch since scoring four against Hofstra and five goals against Penn State last year in a two-game stretch to start March. She’s been an established scorer that the Tigers feel confident in as a key piece of their offense.
“She is just a really, I would say, even player,” said Cook.
“She doesn’t get too high. She doesn’t get too low. And when she gets that opportunity, she’s going to bury it. And you’ve seen that in our first two games. And it’s awesome because it makes us really, really hard to play against offensively.”
Morrisroe has been looking to be an even bigger part of the Tigers’ success this season. She came back ready to be more of a leader, although that came more from the sidelines in the fall than she would have wanted.
“I was battling some injury in the fall, so that was a little bit of a setback, but I really focused on the mental game a lot,” said Morrisroe. “And again, trying to take a more upperclassman role in helping our first years and sophomores as well. But I think there’s a lot of value in getting mental reps. Coach Cook always says it can be just as valuable as physical reps, so just being able to maybe get a different perspective on the game. And then once I was able to get back out there, just going full steam ahead and just being really grateful to be out there.”
On the field, Morrisroe has been open to adjusting to helping the attack any way possible. Her scoring has always been the biggest plus, and she has helped the Tigers sort out what positioning is most effective for the offense. The Tigers can use her in a few ways.
“I try to be as flexible as possible for the team, so I’ve been playing more of a middle cutter role in my first two years and now maybe seeing more of a perspective from the outside or down low as I played (Wednesday),” said Morrisroe. “Mostly wherever the team needs, I try to adapt and figure it out from there.”
She feels grateful that wherever she’s attacking from, she has some great teammates with which to work. Maggie Bacigalupo scored a career-high four goals in the loss to Maryland while Morrisroe and Ella Sloan scored twice apiece. MacDonald, who had a goal and two assists against Maryland, and Dora, who scored once and had a team-high three assists, have been staples on the offense and they help set up Morrisroe and others with scoring chances. They gave her a lot to look forward to in their third season together.
“It’s honestly so much fun,” said Morrisroe. “They have great vision and apart from assisting, which the majority of my goals are assisted, and all credit to them as well as the other attackers and middies, it’s just really fun because they create plays. They’re not just the assisters, but they can also dodge and shoot and then also make highlight plays, which is just really fun. And off the field, we’re even better friends. And so it’s just a great time to have that connection off the field and then translate onto the field.”
Where the Tigers are looking to have an improved connection is on the draw control. Loyola held a 20-6 advantage which led to an 18-11 disparity in shots. Against Rutgers, Princeton overcame a 16-8 disadvantage in draw controls. The Tigers caused 11 turnovers to help sway some possession their way. Princeton could not overcome a 21-8 draw control advantage in the loss to Maryland.
“It’s making the most of your possessions,” said Cook. “Like when you get the ball back, whether it’s off of a great save or a defensive stop, it’s taking care of the ball in the clear. It’s making most of the opportunity on your offensive side of the ball. And it’s disciplined play and not getting needless cards, green cards, yellow cards, stuff like that. So you’ve got to play cleaner. Like you don’t have to dominate that category, but a lot of areas on the field have to be tightened up a little bit.”
Princeton will have to continue to develop while facing the challenge of an ambitious schedule to start to their season. Their home game against Rutgers was their last until March 28. In between is a gauntlet of tough opponents that began with Maryland and will see them continue with their Ivy League opener on the road at Harvard on March 7 followed by games at Virginia, at Penn State and at Hofstra.
“It’s a tough stretch, but I think it’s going to make us stronger,” said Cook. “You’ve got to travel if you make the NCAA tournament, you potentially have to travel with the Ivy tournament. I think it’s good to kind of start this way because the back end we have a lot more home games. I think it provides a little bit more rest towards the back end of the season. But our prep for away games is the same as home games. I think also when you have an away game, I think you have a little bit more of a schedule and a rhythm and it allows for a little bit more focus. It will allow for a little bit more team bonding time.”