Think of it this way: If the men's lacrosse team had pulled its goalie at the opening face-off Saturday, and every shot by opponent Yale had been on the mark, the Elis would have topped the Tigers by just one goal.
There would be no such luck for visiting Yale (3-3 overall, 1-2 Ivy League) at 1952 Stadium. Not every shot was on line, and Princeton goalies junior Trevor Tierney and senior Willis Wu combined to push nine of the Elis' 18 attempts aside.
Princeton (4-1, 1-0), meanwhile, had a nose for the net in its 44 shots, as the hosts absolutely abused the visiting Elis, 17-5.
Comments from Yale players had surfaced over the week claiming that the Elis would threaten the Tigers for the Ivy crown, thereby motivating the opponent, a move that was probably not in Yale's best interests.
"They said some things that really got us going and really made us want to put them away early in the game," sophomore attackman B.J. Prager said.
And put them away early, the Tigers did.
"[The game] could get real ugly," a radio announcer was heard to say with eight minutes, 30 seconds to play in the second quarter. He had misspoken, though — the game was ugly from the start.
Domination
Guarded only by a short-stick defenseman, Prager accounted for three of Princeton's five first-quarter goals, shooting Yale's defensive gameplan full of holes. When the Tigers did come away empty-handed, Yale quickly gave them another chance. The Elis often failed to clear the ball from their own end. With so few offensive possessions, Yale managed only two shots in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Princeton put the game well out of reach, notching four goals in a span of 2:52. Freshman attackman Brad Dumont started the run with his second goal with 6:52 to go in the half, an adept turnaround shot off a feed from junior attackman Matt Striebel.
Junior midfielder Matt Bailer followed Dumont's goal a minute later with a long-range bullet that deflected off the Yale goalie into the net to put Princeton up, 9-0. Sophomore attackman Brendan Tierney wrapped up the run with two goals 11 seconds apart to put the Tigers up, 11-1.
Princeton emptied its bench in the second half, as a season-high 10 Tigers scored, including senior attackman Campbell MacColl, whose goal with 4:32 to go in the third quarter was the first of his career.
Crooner
In a game that featured solid teamwork from Princeton, which had 13 assists to go with its 17 goals, Bailer stood out as an individual star. Helping to create the Tigers' possession advantage, Bailer won nine of 11 faceoffs. In addition, he had a goal and an assist — all after singing the national anthem with the a capella group Shere Khan before the game.
He was joined in the midfield midway through the first quarter by junior Rob Torti, making an unexpected return from a broken wrist. Head coach Bill Tierney used Torti in a defensive role to avoid the checks of opposing defenders, but Torti refused to avoid physical contact.
Shortly after Torti checked back into the game, Yale attackman Brian Hunt struggled to pick up a ground ball on the sideline. Torti took the opportunity to announce his return, wrecking Hunt with a brutal check before he could get control — giving the Tigers the ball when Hunt tumbled out of bounds.
"Having a guy like Rob's physical presence out there is uplifting to the other guys," coach Tierney said.
Torti's return and Princeton's nearly flawless Ivy-opening win puts the Tigers in good shape for the rest of the conference season.
"I think [the Elis] were pretty confident because a lot of teams are confident out there," Bailer said. "And that's good, but we've got to be just as confident because we know what we've got."
Next up for Princeton on Tuesday is Penn, which lost to Yale earlier this year.
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