Men's lax blows out Big Green

Since 1995, Ivy League men's lacrosse has been Princeton and then everyone else. The Tigers had won 36 conference games going into Saturday's matchup with Dartmouth. With a win, Princeton's class of 2001 — including stars like goalie Trevor Tierney, defender Ryan Mollett and attackman Matt Striebel — would become the third straight class to go undefeated in the league in four years of Ivy lacrosse.

The seniors got just that in the No. 1 Tigers' most complete victory of the season, a 19-2 thrashing of the hapless Big Green (6-7 overall, 1-4 Ivy League) at 1952 Stadium that earned the Tigers (10-1, 6-0) their seventh straight Ivy crown. Princeton reached its self-imposed limit of 19 goals just 39 seconds into the fourth quarter with sophomore attackman Will MacColl's second goal of the game, assisted by fellowsophomore attackman Josh White.

In a play that epitomized the Tigers' mastery of the Big Green, White controlled a ground ball and advanced the ball toward the goal, separating from the defense. He then flipped a pass to a wide-open MacColl, who was on the other side of the net, and MacColl easily beat Dartmouth goalie Mike Gault.

"I thought we were lethargic all week," head coach Bill Tierney said. "I thought we were feeling sorry for ourselves even though we won [against Cornell.] But I'm really happy with the way we came out today and played."

Dartmouth needed to contain Princeton's streaky attack early if it was to have a chance to keep the game close. But the Tigers scored seven goals in the first quarter, with the first two coming just 11 seconds apart.

Three minutes, five seconds into the game, sophomore attackman Sean Hartofilis drew first blood by taking the ball from behind the net to the left corner and shooting past Gault. Princeton controlled the ensuing faceoff but lost possession near the Dartmouth goal. Junior attackman B.J. Prager picked up the bouncing ball just outside the crease and scored.

The Tigers would go on to increase their lead to 10-0 until the Big Green answered late in the second period. Prager and Hartofilis both added additional goals, and freshman attackman Ryan Boyle, Princeton's leading scorer, added a goal and two assists during the run.

Throughout the first half, Princeton constantly held the ball in Dartmouth's end. The Big Green had a few opportunities to score by counterattacking and eventually found the net on a transition sequence late in the second quarter.

Unfortunately for the Big Green, any momentum that it might have gained was extinguished about 90 seconds later when senior midfielder Rob Torti scored with 28 seconds left in the half.

The second half was more of the same for both teams. The Tigers scored seven goals in the third quarter, including two, nine seconds apart, late in the period. With the game already decided, attention turned to the record book. If Princeton could hold the 19-1 lead it had earned, after MacColl scored early in the fourth quarter, for the remainder of the contest, it would have its largest margin of victory since a 28-3 crushing of FDU-Madison in 1985, before coach Tierney arrived in Princeton.

Starting senior goalie Trevor Tierney earned a seat on the bench in the third quarter, and his backup, sophomore Julian Gould, sat down after about 12 minutes of work with the score still 19-1. Dartmouth had a couple of man-advantage opportunities against senior goalie Parker Kelsey and eventually converted midway through the fourth quarter.

The teams went scoreless for the rest of the way, with Princeton refraining from taking shots because of the 19-goal limit and the Big Green unable to muster serious chances to score.