M. lax middies key against Dartmouth

Dartmouth, like the rest of the teams Princeton has played this year, was probably trembling in its turf shoes when the attack trio of senior BJ Prager, junior Sean Hartofilis, and sophomore Ryan Boyle got off the bus in Hanover. Last year, the three combined for nine goals against the Big Green. During the 2001 campaign, they tallied a combined 131 points between them and each received All-America honors.

The Big Green responded to the Tiger attack the same way that all other teams have responded, by putting more pressure underneath on the three juggernauts, resulting in more scoring chances for the less-heralded midfielders — a midfield that lost Matt Striebel '01 and Rob Torti '01.

"[Part of the midfield's success] has a lot to do with the three All-Americans on attack," midfielder and attack Josh White said. "You look at the numbers from last season and the other teams have to do something to stop them."

With the other teams pressuring the attackmen, the midfield line has stepped up. Against Dartmouth, the middies combined for seven of the team's 13 goals, a surprisingly large amount.

Against Dartmouth, the offensive midfielders would typically be left alone with their defender at the top of the box in a one-on-one situation. The other defensive players were often hesitant to slide from their respective attackman, so, if the Princeton midfielders beat their man — as they often did — the midfielder could get enough room to unleash a solid shot.

Junior Brad Dumont's two goals were both examples of such a scenario. On his first goal just two minutes, 12 seconds into the game, he beat his defender at the top of the box and got close enough to beat the goalie low. The second goal was just more of the same.

After Dumont's two goals on two shots, the Big Green realized their defensive strategy was not working and allowed players to slide more quickly to the ball. When Dumont got room on his defender with time running out in the first quarter, he fed the ball to Boyle who was again able to beat the goalie with a hard, low shot.

White also mentioned that Dumont, if anybody, is becoming maybe the most feared Princeton midfielder.

"Brad was definitely our premier in that game," White said. "If every team draws up a plan to stop a player, it's probably Brad."

At other times in the game on Saturday, Dartmouth's midfielder was too quick to leave the Princeton midfielder they were defending to double up on a Princeton attacker. The result is that the Tiger midfielder was often open for a chance to receive the ball and score.

That is exactly what happened on one of senior midfielder Dan Clark's goals on a feed from Hartofilis.

"One came in the third quarter from Sean," Clark said. "He got doubled and gave me a quick pass down the middle of the goal, and I was able to beat the goalie."

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Perhaps one of the strongest aspects of the Princeton midfield is its depth and variance of player strengths.

"Each guy has his thing," White said. "Brad [Dumont] is an incredible shooter — fast. Owen [Daly] is the best defensive player. Dan [Clark] hardest shot. [junior] Matt [Trevenen] sees the field."

Before each game, the coaching staff puts in the midfield line-up it thinks will be most effective against the opposing team. Heading into the playoffs, such an array of choices will be helpful.