M. lacrosse defeats Scarlet Knights, but barely

Down 8-7 with just over nine minutes left in the game, the men's lacrosse team used a three-goal spurt over a 51-second span to retake the lead it had lost earlier in the fourth quarter and escape with a narrow 10-8 win over Rutgers in Piscataway last night.

Down 7-5 after three quarters of play, the host Scarlet Knights (7-1) came out in the fourth quarter like the pacesetter at the Preakness. Just 45 seconds in, Rutgers closed the gap to a single goal, and tied the score at seven less than three minutes later.

After the Knights controlled the ensuing faceoff, attackman Delby Powless gave Rutgers its first lead since 4-3 in the second quarter. Powless' goal also sent the home crowd into a frenzy, igniting the emotion that had not been seen since early in the first half.

The momentum that Rutgers fought so hard to regain would not last long. Taking advantage of a man-up opportunity, junior attackman Ryan Boyle found senior line mate Sean Hartofilis who ripped his fifth goal of the night into the back of the net.

A mere 14 seconds later, Hartofilis again took a feed, this time from senior midfielder Brad Dumont, and retook the lead for the Tigers with his sixth and final goal of the evening.

"Sean can be delightful when he plays well and frustrating when he has an off game," head coach Bill Tierney said. "Sometimes, like tonight, he makes some really great plays. He was just sticking them tonight."

Forty seconds after Hartofilis' tally, sophomore attackman Jason Doneger netted his third goal of the game to provide Princeton with a two-goal cushion.

For the final five minutes, the Tigers passed the ball around, playing more possession lacrosse rather than looking to attack the goal. With two minutes left, the Rutgers faithful began to clear out of the stands as the outcome became a certainty.

The match, however, did not begin as auspiciously for Princeton as it ended.

Rutgers jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter thanks to some solid play on its behalf and some careless play from the Tigers.

The Scarlet Knights scored two goals in the first five minutes, and controlled possession for much of the quarter. Down 3-0 with under five minutes to play, Princeton looked poised to put an end to Rutgers' dominance when it was awarded a man-advantage opportunity. But another errant pass and Tiger turnover gave the ball back to the Knights and produced more squirming from the Princeton faithful who had made the trek up Route 1.

"I knew the slow start was going to happen," Tierney said. "I warned our guys about coming out flat, and we did it anyway. But you have to give credit to Rutgers. They're for real now. They have good players and a great coach."

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"It was like we were playing with a hangover," senior defenseman Damien Davis said. "We needed a kick in the butt and they gave it to us."

With two minutes to go in the opening period, Princeton finally got on the board. Hartofilis moved left from 12 yards out and fired a rising shot that found the top right corner of the net.

In the second period, the visitors took over. Down 4-2 midway through the quarter, the Tigers reeled off four straight goals to end the half and went in to the locker room with a 6-4 lead. A defensively played third quarter brought the score to 7-5 before the roller coaster fourth quarter that was to follow.

Along with Hartofilis' six tallies and Doneger's three, Boyle had a solid game offensively with a goal and four assists on the night.

Defensively, the team played strong against a small and quick Rutgers attack. Despite giving up the three early goals that Tierney called "exactly the things we practiced against the last two days," the Tiger back line held the Knights to just five goals the rest of the game. Junior Ricky Schultz and seniors Davis, Brian Lieberman and Joe Rosenbaum contained extremely well as they faced a variety of different schemes.

"We had to adjust a lot because they kept switching their looks," Davis said. "They made all their runs while we were adjusting to what they were doing."

In net, senior Julian Gould had his third straight outstanding game and earned his third straight win.

"With Ricky, Brian and Damien comfortable covering their men, Julian gets comfortable in net and makes great saves," Tierney said. "Tonight was just typical Julian."