ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Princeton women's lacrosse team closed strong, handing Cornell its eight straight setback against the Tigers in a 15-11 loss on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red slipped to 6-3 (2-1 Ivy), while the 17th-ranked Tigers improved to 4-3 (1-1 Ivy).
 
Nina Montes, who entered the game with four goals on the season, tallied six times on seven shots, while Amelia Hughes made 11 saves in goal, including six in the second period to keep Princeton in the contest. McKenzie Blake scored three times and Kari Buonanno had a goal and two assists for her three points.
 
The Big Red dominated the draw (20-9), with Annie Thomas and Shannon Brazier winning seven apiece. By the end of the afternoon, Thomas held the school's career draw controls record with 163, four more than Sarah Hefner's 159 from 2012-15. Amanda Cramer, who had a five-point day, notched five draw controls.
 
Ona day that the Big Red honored the McGahan family, including three-year starting goalkeeper Katie, with the unveiling of the McGahan Family Locker Room, sophomore Ellie Horner made 13 stops, her second-highest career total. Five of Princeton's goals came from the free position arc.
 
A season-low three players scored for the Big Red, which has capitalized on a balanced and high-scoring attack. Cornell surpassed the 11-goal mark for the ninth time this season, but relied on Katie Castiello (five goals), Amanda Cramer (four goals, one assist) and Josie Vogel (two goals, one assist) for the offense. Maggie Pons was credited with two assists.


 
The Tigers' game-ending 6-1 run saw three scores from Blake McKenzie, who was silent over the first 45 minutes. It was Jami MacDonald's only score, however, that triggered the spurt and ultimately was the momentum changer.
 
Blake drew a foul with 2.7 seconds left in the third period and capitalized on the ensuing free-position shot with less than a second remaining to knot the score up at 10-10 entering the final period. That came less than a minute after Cornell had stolen the edge back from the Tigers.
 
Cornell scored two goals just 14 seconds apart early in the first and staked itself to a 7-2 edge early in the second with Cramer and Castiello both recording hat tricks in the game's first 16:21 of play. Montes kept the visitors in the contest with three straight to cut the Princeton deficit to 7-5, ultimately going into the break with Cornell leading 8-6.
 
Princeton gained its first lead of the day at 9-8 midway through the third and it went back-and-forth from there until MacDonald's goal right before the third quarter horn.
 
Cornell will hit the road to test itself against No. 1 Syracuse on Tuesday, March 28 at 6 p.m. at the JMA Wireless Dome. The game will be televised on ESPNU.