M. lacrosse regains driver's seat in league with win over Cornell

Champions show up to play when it counts. Last Saturday, it counted.

Capitalizing on six straight goals over a 10-minute span in the second half, the men's lacrosse team moved into a tie for first place in the Ivy League with a 12-7 thrashing of Cornell at 1952 Stadium.

The Big Red (9-2 overall, 4-1 Ivy League) suffered its first conference loss in the process, while Princeton (6-4, 3-1) now needs only to win its last two games against Dartmouth and Brown to capture its eighth straight Ivy title. If the Tigers can play at the same level as they did in the second half on Saturday, that proposition seems quite manageable.

Holding firm to their 4-3 halftime lead, the Tigers started to roar in the third period.

Senior midfielder Dan Clark made the first move, as he beat his defender one-on-one for an unassisted goal just over six minutes into the period. Just 13 seconds later, senior midfielder Greg Golaszewski picked up a ground ball off the faceoff and took it straight in for his own unassisted tally.

Then it was the attackmen's turn. In one of the most stunning displays of rapid-fire scoring, sophomore attackman Ryan Boyle found junior linemate Sean Hartofilis for two goals just eight seconds apart. After the second of those made the score 8-3, Boyle, Hartofilis and the rest of the team exploded with emotion and energy.

"We were the underdog today," Hartofilis said. "We're not used to being in that position. We embraced the opportunity and got excited about playing well."

Boyle netted another goal for the Tigers before the end of the third, and Princeton took a 9-3 advantage into the last 15 minutes.

Junior midfielder Josh White capped the scoring run with an unassisted goal in the second minute of the fourth quarter. Cornell tacked on a few late goals to make the crowd of 3,114 squirm a bit, but junior midfielder Brad Dumont and senior attackman B.J. Prager added two insurance goals in the last three minutes to seal the game.

The twelve-goal output against a stingy Cornell defense showed the skill and depth of the Tiger offense.

"We're playing better and being more unselfish," Hartofilis said. "We moved the ball well because we don't care who scores. We just want to win."

As has been the case throughout the year, the Tiger attack was bolstered by the stellar play of the offensive middies.

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"Those guys are great," Hartofilis added. "They shoot well and dodge hard. When teams don't slide, they run by their man and score goals."

The other hero for Princeton on Saturday was junior goalie Julian Gould. For the fourth straight game, Gould showed why his teammates and coaches have been singing his praises all year. Gould allowed just seven goals on 18 shots and outplayed his All-America counterpart Justin Cynar.

"I'm playing well and feeling good, but the whole defense has been really focused," Gould said. "They're stopping a lot of shots and so I have to make fewer saves."

Another key in the game for the Tigers was transition defense. Transition goals have hurt Princeton all year, but Cornell was unable to take advantage of any odd-man rushes.

"Transition defense is about getting back in the hole," Gould said. "We need that fourth defender to recover, and today our guys did a great job of that."

"We know that if we play six-on-six lacrosse, it will be tough for our opponents to score," Hartofilis added. "We have to limit their opportunities and not let them get breaks."

Tiger fans seem to have reason to be optimistic now. The last few games have shown that if the team plays well, it will be tough to beat down the stretch. The team, however, refuses to look ahead.

"We may have looked over Yale [a 15-13 loss] when we played them," Hartofilis added. "But we can't look past anyone anymore. Every game for us now is a playoff game."