The effort paid off when Radcliffe scored on a pushover try.
"That was the major turning point of the game," Zielinski said. "It mentally discouraged Princeton."
Late in the game, Radcliffe's forwards threatened Princeton's try line, but the Tigers continually collapsed the scrums. Princeton was penalized for intentional collapsing, and Radcliffe converted on one of its tries.
"In the end, it wasn't that close, but during it I was very worried," Wallison said. "I definitely had very tense feelings throughout the game."
However, after Radcliffe's victory, one feeling predominated: elation.
"Beating Princeton was an incredible feeling," Esty said. "It's the epitome of everything we've worked for."
"The past was a big motivating factor," Wallison said. "We were dominating [Princeton] for most of the game last year. We'd been thinking about it for a year, saying, 'God, we could've been in the finals."
Last Sunday, in only its second Nationals appearance, Radcliffe received the chance.
Penn State scored in the first two minutes for a 5-0 lead. Several minutes later, Radcliffe knotted the score. At halftime, though, Penn State led, 16-8.
Trailing, 19-8, in the second half, Radcliffe staged a furious rally, scoring 12 points to grab a 20-19 lead.
"It was an amazing game," Esty said. "It never occurred to us to give up, to stop believing in ourselves. That kept us in the game."
Radcliffe finally fell with eight minutes remaining.
"Penn State had better ball handlers, and was better under pressure than Princeton was," senior Carolyn Magill said. "They burst through the line with a lot of strength; they were very athletic, and very strong."
After the game, the team sang its hymn.
Lee, Wallison, Heather Phillips, sophomore Haley Steele, and junior Zelime Ward were all named All-Americans.