Men's lacrosse seals tie for first in Ivies with win over Cornell

It was all on the line for the men's lacrosse team. In a battle of Ivy unbeatens, No. 1 Princeton trailed No. 14 Cornell, 4-1, three minutes into the second half Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y. The winner would claim the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Also at stake for the Tigers was their top national ranking and 35-game winning streak in the conference, which started the game after they lost to Cornell at Schoelkopf Field in 1995.

With the pressure on in the second half, Princeton (9-1 overall, 5-0 Ivy League) delivered, scoring six unanswered goals to beat a feisty Big Red team 7-4.

The Tigers trailed 3-1 at halftime and wanted to come out strong in the third quarter but gave up a quick goal. Then senior attackman and captain Matt Striebel started the run with his second goal of the day, six minutes, 28 seconds in into the third quarter, with freshman attackman Ryan Boyle picking up the assist. The captain's goal was the Tigers' first score in nearly 30 minutes.

After Striebel cut the deficit to 4-2, sophomore attackman Sean Hartofilis — who leads Princeton in goals this season with 21 — scored three consecutive times. Striebel, Boyle and senior midfielder Rob Torti each had an assist on one of Hartofilis's goals.

"Their goalie was very hot," Hartofilis said. "Our shots weren't falling, and he was making a lot of saves. I thought I was getting good looks, so I kept shooting. We figured sooner or later they'd have to start to fall."

The sophomore's third tally gave the Tigers their first lead of the day, 5-4, with 12:05 remaining in the game. Cornell (7-4, 4-1) couldn't manage a comeback, and two juniors — midfielder Kyle Baugher and attackman B.J. Prager — scored the final two goals of the game.

Last season, in Princeton's home win over Cornell, Prager tore his ACL, ending his season. The junior has since fully recovered and has played a crucial role in the Tigers' success this year. His goal came with just 10 seconds remaining, extending his streak of games in which he has scored at least one goal to 29. Boyle assisted Prager on his goal. Prager has 18 goals this season, and Boyle has picked up the assist on 11 of those scores.

For the entire first half, Cornell's defense gave Princeton's potent attack fits. The Big Red's netminder, Justin Cynar, made 10 saves in the half, with only a shot from Striebel getting by him midway through the first quarter.

Striebel's goal tied the game at one, but Cornell went on to score three straight goals. Michael Egan scored twice in the first quarter and Andrew Collins added a goal on a breakaway.

For the most part, the Tigers were able to contain the Big Red's best attackman, David Key. Key was named Ivy League Player of the Week for the last three weeks, but he only managed the one score against Princeton. Senior defender and captain Ryan Mollett ably handled reponsibility for shutting down Key.

"I thought our defense did a great job," head coach Bill Tierney said. "Cornell does what it does, and it does it very well. We were going through some tough times, and I'm proud of the way we hung in there."

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Princeton outshot Cornell 49-21. The Tigers had problems earlier in the year with a low shooting percentage, but those troubles seemed to disappear during the Ivy schedule until Princeton met Dartmouth.

The Big Red are head and shoulders above the rest of the league, however, as evidenced by their 16-3 trouncing of Harvard.

In fact, Cornell gave Princeton its first real challenge in Ivy League play. Coming into the game, the Tigers had trailed for a total of just 23 seconds in their first four conference contests combined. Princeton had outscored its Ivy opponents — Yale, Penn, Brown and Harvard — 62-15.

The test at Cornell cannot hurt the Tigers' chances at another national championship as they quickly approach the NCAA Tournament. If the easier schedule over the last month or so could have dulled Princeton into complacency, the hard-fought win over the Big Red shook things up.