Men's lacrosse outlasts Blue Devils in triple-overtime thriller

On a cold, blustery night not befitting of April, senior attackman B.J. Prager tipped in a centering feed from sophomore linemate Ryan Boyle 38 seconds into the third overtime as No. 12 Princeton knocked off No. 8 Duke 7-6 in front of 2,512 freezing fans at 1952 Stadium.

The hard-fought win, coupled with Yale's loss to Brown earlier in the week, gives new life to the Tigers' season. With the Bulldogs' second conference loss of the year, Princeton now controls its own destiny for postseason play. If the Tigers win out — a challenging prospect with teams like Brown and Cornell remaining on the schedule — they will win the Ivy League championship, garnering the league's automatic NCAA bid.

"We have a second chance now," Prager said. "It will hopefully motivate us to work even harder in practice. It would be a shame to throw this away."

"We're a little tired, but I hope the emotions are back up after Yale lost to Brown," head coach Bill Tierney added. "If we don't realize the opportunity now, we never will."

The emotion certainly seemed to be there Friday night, as Princeton showed strong resolve and a firm will to win in defeating the Blue Devils.

As the clock ticked down at the end of regulation, Duke decided to hold the ball for one last shot. But strong, physical defense by junior midfielder Anthony Perna and the rest of the Tigers prevented Duke from getting a shot off.

In the first overtime, Princeton won the faceoff, but misfired several times and eventually turned the ball back over to the Blue Devils. Duke again decided to hold the ball, and began to make a move with 15 seconds remaining. Perna again came up big and forced his man into traffic where the rest of the Tiger big men could shift over and help.

The second overtime seemed like a severe case of deja-vu as Duke won the faceoff and held the ball without a shot for nearly five minutes. This time, as the Blue Devils attacked the net, junior defender Damien Davis picked off the centering pass and ran out the clock himself.

The third overtime began with a groan from the already frostbitten crowd as Duke won the faceoff again and the fans prepared for more stalling tactics from the visitors. But before the Blue Devils were able to advance the ball into the offensive zone, senior midfielder Kyle Baugher stripped and recovered the ball and called timeout for the Tigers. When play resumed, Boyle made a couple moves and drew an extra defender. He sent the ball into the middle towards Prager, who finished with one of the oddest game-winners in recent Tiger history.

"He threw the pass and it hit off my stick, then off my shoulder and somehow went into the goal," Prager said. "It was the luckiest goal of my career."

Though luck may have played a part in the game's finish, skill and tough play dominated the first 60 minutes. Princeton got offensive jumpstarts from junior midfielders Brad Dumont and Josh White as Dumont finished with two goals and an assist, while White tallied two goals of his own.

The real star of the game, however, was junior netminder Julian Gould. Officially, Gould recorded seven saves, but the timing of his stops was far more critical for the Tigers.

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In a 20 minute span encompassing much of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, Princeton held Duke scoreless, thanks in large part to several key saves by Gould.

"Julian's played an excellent season with the exception of a couple games," Prager said. "This game was huge for him and the defense to get that confidence back. He's an emotional player and he came up big for us."

"A game like this is about defense and goalies," Tierney added. "It's about goalies that play great games and we got the break in the end. I thought we deserved to win, but that's a hard way for them to lose as well."

Starting with this Saturday's game against Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., Princeton now heads into a four-game conference stretch that will decide its postseason future. The formula for the team is simple: win and you're in. The completion of the task, however, may not be as easy.