Men's lacrosse retains Meistrell Cup with win over intrastate rival Rutgers

PISCATAWAY — After losing to defending national champion Syracuse and falling from No. 1 to No. 4 in the polls, the men's lacrosse team rolled up Route 1 to take on Rutgers, looking to capture any momentum it might have lost.

If there were any lasting negative effects from the 14-8 loss to the Orangemen, they did not show early on against the Scarlet Knights.

Princeton (4-1) routed Rutgers, 14-5, claiming the Harland (Tots) Meistrell Cup for the twelfth straight year. The Meistrell Cup, named for the man who revived lacrosse at both Princeton and Rutgers in 1919 and 1920, is awarded winner of the annual meeting between the two teams.

The Tigers scored four goals in under four minutes early in the first quarter. Junior attack B.J. Prager started the run with one of his four goals with 11 minutes, 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The attackman cut to the front of the goal, received a pass from senior attack Matt Streibel and beat Rutgers goalie Dan Slaivitz.

Exactly one minute later, sophomore attack Will MacColl scored unassisted. MacColl took the ball toward the goal, spun and shot past Slaivitz.

Sophomore midfielder Owen Daly, on a diving shot, and junior midfielder Dan Clark added goals, to give the Tigers a 4-0 advantage with 7:48 remaining in the first quarter. Prager scored again late in the period to make it 5-0.

"We had a good start, then we fell asleep," head coach Bill Tierney said. "Rutgers kept on plugging."

The second quarter was more evenly matched, with both teams unable to score for much of the period. With 2:30 to go, Ken Springer scored the first goal for the Scarlet Knights (2-3). Princeton got the ball back, but what looked like a sure Princeton goal was stopped by Slaivitz.

After making the incredible save, however, the Rutgers netminder turned the ball over, allowing Streibel to score with only seven seconds left in the half to make the score 6-1 going into the break.

Rutgers came out strong in the second half and appeared to be taking control of the game. The Scarlet Knights scored two quick goals to put Princeton on the defensive. The two strikes — tallied 35 seconds apart — lit a fire under Rutgers momentarily, as the crowd got into the game, and the Scarlet Knights out-hustled the Tigers for a spell.

Freshman attack Ryan Boyle ended the momentum, however. The freshman picked up a ground ball near the net and fed Prager for a clever goal. Boyle finished with three assists on the evening. The goal changed the tide of the game and Princeton went ahead for good.

"We really turned it around after it was 6-3," Tierney said.

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Freshman attack Josh Doneger also scored two goals in the second half to help the Tiger onslaught.

Prager then ended the evening with his fourth goal, taking a pass from senior midfielder Chris Harrington and backhand flipped a score past an unsuspecting Slaivitz.

Although Princeton went on to win the game, 14-5, the Tigers play all night was not crisp and smooth.

"You could see in our passing and catching and picking up ground balls the effects [of the loss to Syracuse]," Tierney said. "You're not going to be pretty after a loss like that.

"It was good to score some goals and play to get it out of our system."