The men's lacrosse team came away from Hanover, NH with a 13-7 victory over Dartmouth this weekend. The win raises the Tigers' record to 7-4 overall, 4-1 in the Ivy League, and drops the Big Green to 6-6 overall and 0-5 in the Ivy League.
The six-goal win was not as convincing as the score might indicate. Sloppy defensive plays, a heavily guarded front line, and a few surprises from the Dartmouth side prevented Princeton from taking clear control of the game.
The Tiger defense did a good job of plugging up the area immediately surrounding the goal, preventing Dartmouth players from penetrating toward the net on or off the ball. But the tightness around the goal allowed the Big Green the freedom to pass uncontested around the perimeter for extended periods of time, as demonstrated by the fact that Dartmouth held possession for 12 minutes, 28 seconds of the first 15-minute period. The period ended with the Tigers ahead 3-2, only because they were able to convert the few offensive opportunities they had into goals.
Despite Princeton's tight defense around the goal, leaks appeared intermittently that allowed Dartmouth players to come face-to-face with junior goalie Julian Gould.
One such leak appeared with 8:18 to go in the fourth quarter. Dartmouth defender Adam White found himself with the ball deep in Tiger territory. He eluded a dazed Tiger defense and flipped the ball backwards past Gould for Dartmouth's sixth goal.
White's goal was one of only five that Gould allowed in fifty minutes. Gould finished the game with 11 saves, eight in the first half.
"We played some sloppy defense," sophomore attackman Ryan Boyle said. "Julian really bailed us out."
On the offensive end, the Big Green kept the front line of the Tigers in check, forcing the midfielders to step up. Senior attackman B.J. Prager, the Tigers' leading scorer, was held to one goal, which he scored with 11:46 to go in the fourth quarter. Junior linemate Sean Hartofilis finished with three goals, while Boyle had two.
The rest of Princeton's goals were scored by midfielders, namely junior Brad Dumont and senior Dan Clark, who had two each, and senior Mark Pellegrino, junior Owen Daly and junior Josh White, who added one apiece.
Dumont had a career-high five points, including a pair of goals in the first eight minutes of the game and a key assist to Boyle with one second to go in the first quarter. Boyle's clock-beating goal gave the Tigers an edge over the Big Green, for it put Princeton ahead at the quarter even though Dartmouth had controlled the ball for the majority of the period.
Dartmouth caught Princeton off-guard when it substituted freshman goalie Andrew Goldstein in for starter Mike Gault to start the second quarter. Prior to Saturday's game, Goldstein had only 12 minutes of playing time under his belt. According to Dartmouth head coach Rick Sowell, however, he had been playing exceptionally well in practice. That practice paid off, as twice Goldstein startled the Tigers by not only coming out of the goal, but then carrying the ball almost to midfield — a style of play very different from Gault's.
"The offense was not prepared for Dartmouth's goalie," Boyle said. "The goalie we were expecting to face [Gault] is more of a stand-in-the-goal kind of player."
Another surprise was Dartmouth's Tom Daniels, who scored three of Dartmouth's seven goals and assisted on two. Furthermore, the Big Green's aggressiveness on both offense and defense prevented Princeton from running away with the game.
"Whatever Dartmouth lacks in skill it makes up for in effort," Boyle said. "They were competitive from start to finish."
But aggression and competitiveness were not enough to defeat the heavily armed Tigers, who proved on Saturday that they have enough weapons that when one aspect of the game falls short, others step in to compensate.
Princeton's movement off the ball was noticeably superior to Dartmouth's. Frequent cutting in front of the goal opened up more shot opportunities for the Tigers, who outshot the Big Green 43-23.
Meanwhile, Dartmouth appeared confined to the perimeter for the majority of the game. Its patient ball-control approach, though effective at times, served more to run out the clock than to create worthwhile shot opportunities.
Looking ahead, Princeton travels to Brown this Saturday in what is essentially an Ivy League championship game. Princeton and Brown are both 4-1 in the Ivy League after Brown's 9-8 overtime victory over Cornell, which means that the winner of Saturday's game will win the Ivy title outright — and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
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