Sailer Honored for Lifetime Achievement

Princeton Women

PRINCETON, – Princeton University’s head women’s lacrosse coach Chris Sailer was awarded the Diane Geppi-Aikens Memorial Award at the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) honors banquet in Florida in December.

“Diane Geppi-Aikens was a close personal friend of mine, so winning the award that bears her name is especially meaningful to me,” Sailer said. “Di had such a zest for life, and she demonstrated remarkable courage, perseverance and strength, not only while battling her illness, but throughout her life. Her spirit lives on and inspires me to this day.”

The award is presented annually, recognizing lifetime achievement in contribution to women’s lacrosse. A three-time national championship coach, Sailer was most recently inducted into the US Lacrosse National Hall of Fame.

In her 22 years as head coach at Princeton, Sailer has led the Tigers to 17 NCAA tournament appearances in which they’ve made the national semifinals 11 times. Princeton has gone to the tournament in each of the last 11 seasons. She has coached over 20 first-team All-Americans and eight Ivy League Players of the Year. Sailer has a 74.6 win percentage at Princeton with 282 career victories, which ranks second in the nation amongst action Division I coach. She has been named the national coach of the year three times and regional coach of the year six times.

Her other contributions to the sport of women’s lacrosse include: chair of the Tewaaraton Trophy selection committee, member of the IWLCA Board of Directors, sits on the US Lacrosse Women’s Division Board of Governors as the College Coaches Representative and is a former member of the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Committee.

Titans Succeed in Newark Debut

The New York Titans defeated the Boston Blazers 19-14 at Prudential Center in Newark on Saturday night. Casey Powell and Pat Maddalena each registered nine-point games for the Titans playing its first contest in Newark. Blazers rookie and top overall draft pick Daryl Veltman had a goal and six assists in his National Lacrosse League debut.

New York stormed out to a 5-1 lead in the first quarter on goals by Jordan Hall (2), Brendan Mundorf, Greg Peyser and Maddalena. Brendan Thenhaus scored the first goal for the Blazers on a power play with 7:49 remaining in the quarter. Dan Dawson assisted on the franchise’s first goal.

The teams basically played even the rest of the game. Both scored four goals in the second quarter, giving New York a 9-5 halftime lead.

Scoring really picked up in the third quarter, with the clubs combining for 14 goals, which was the combined total scored in the Toronto-Buffalo game (8-6 Buffalo). Powell registered the natural hat trick (three goals in the quarter). The Blazers got their offense going, as Dawson and Gary Bining scored two goals each in the frame.

In the fourth quarter, the Blazers got to within three as a Thenhaus goals made it 16-13 with eight minutes remaining. The Titans responded quickly with goals from Maddalena and Powell to secure the lead for good.

Blazers goaltender Anthony Cosmo, who saved 31 out of 49 shots faced. Matt Vinc made 33 saves on 47 shots faced for the Titans. New York improves to 1-1 on the season, while Boston is 0-1. The two teams face each other again next Saturday in Boston at TD Banknorth Garden in the Blazers’ inaugural season home game.