Striebel's third-quarter outburst lifts m. lacrosse to win over Yale

Saturday's Princeton-Yale men's lacrosse game remained scoreless after the first quarter and saw the Tigers carrying only a 4-2 lead going into the locker room at half time. Princeton senior attack Matt Striebel then exploded with four goals in the third quarter to light an offense which would blow the Elis away for a final score of 13-4.

Neither team created many solid opportunities early on, and Princeton (5-1 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) had difficulty penetrating the defense with which Yale (3-3, 1-2) started the game.

"We were having a little trouble figuring out what they were doing defensively," Striebel said.

Not only was the Eli formation a little different from what Princeton expected, but Yale also slowed down the tempo of the game so that the Tigers were unable to unleash their potent offense.

The Elis took the slow-game approach to the extent that they were called for two stalling penalties. Princeton was able to create a couple good scoring chances during man-advantage situations created by these penalties, but due to an air of lethargy as well as a number of strong saves from Yale's keeper, the Tigers were unable to capitalize.

"It's one of those things where we just didn't get up for it," head coach Bill Tierney said. "We were slow in getting started after the trip."

With the game scoreless after the first quarter, the Elis sensed a chance for victory and came out in the second determined to take the game from No. 4 Princeton. When Yale finally scored only 22 seconds into the second quarter, the Tigers received a much-needed wake-up call.

The first Tiger to hear that wake-up call was sophomore midfield Owen Daly, who scored the first and third goals in a 4-0 Princeton run in the middle of the second quarter. After the Elis scored with only 24 seconds left in the half, the Tigers reached the break holding a tenuous 4-2 lead.

That is when Striebel took over, leading a third quarter onslaught in which the Tigers outscored Yale 6-1. He scored his first goal with nine minutes, 55 seconds left in the third.

For the second goal, Striebel picked off a pass from the Eli goalie — a player possibly more skilled in blocking the ball than handling it — right outside the goal and simply dropped the ball over the keeper's shoulder to make the score.

"[Striebel's] hard to keep an eye on," Tierney said. "He is very good at getting open when we have the ball."

The next Princeton possession after Striebel's second goal was a set play in which freshman attack Ryan Boyle received a pass from Daly after getting free of his defender and then rifled the ball far post over the goalie's shoulder to make the score 7-2.

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After two more goals from Striebel, one more from Boyle, and a Yale power-play goal, the Tigers went into the final period with a 10-3 lead.

Something missing from the Princeton attack up to this point, however, was a goal from junior attack B.J Prager. If he failed to score in the final fifteen minutes, his 25-game scoring streak would end. Fully aware of the urgency of the moment, Prager managed to score the first goal of the fourth quarter with 10:40 left and his second goal only 13 seconds later.

The remainder of the final quarter was anticlimactic after the close first two quarters. Each team would score one more goal before the final horn sounded. By giving up only four goals, this was the fifth of six games this season in which Princeton was able to keep the opposition from scoring more than five goals.

"We go into each game expecting to hold teams to five goals or less," senior goalie Trevor Tierney said. "And when we play well, we can." Most Princeton players, however, are just happy to share their thirty-second Ivy League victory in a row, a streak dating back to 1995.

"You never know. In the past, losing big games has hurt us," Striebel said. "I'm just glad that we are able to go on to the next one."