Dominant m. lacrosse to host pesky Dartmouth

The game of men's lacrosse is a fast, edge-of-your-seat, blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of game. Much of a team's success depends on its ability to master the speed of the sport and use it to its own advantage. Through the years, Princeton has thrived on tic-tac-toe precision passing and shots that whiz past the opposing goalie before he even sees them. So what can one do to stop this machine?

Slow it down.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see a slowdown style [from Dartmouth]," head coach Bill Tierney said. "Loyola used that same style well [Tuesday]."

The Tigers (9-2 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) host Dartmouth (9-2, 3-1) tomorrow in a chance for Princeton to clinch at least part of its ninth-straight Ivy League title.

No gimme

It will not be an easy win for the Tigers, however, as the game features a newly resurgent Big Green. Dartmouth's 14-10 win over Brown last Saturday gave the team its most wins since 1995 and clinched its first winning Ivy League record since 1994.

Dartmouth is led on the score sheet by freshman attack Jamie Coffin. Coffin has led the team all season and currently paces the Big Green with 17 goals and 18 assists. The standout will not be wreaking any havoc on the Tigers, though, as he has been sidelined for the season with a broken wrist.

Senior attack Scott Roslyn and another young star, sophomore midfielder Ben Grinnell, will be there, however, and the Tigers will need to shut them down. Roslyn and Grinnell's 41 combined goals total nearly half of the rest of the team's output without Coffin.

Princeton will also have to pay particular attention to senior face-off specialist Justin Weinstein. Weinstein takes the lion's share of face-offs for Dartmouth and is as reliable a player as a team could hope for. His .574 face-off winning percentage is greatly responsible for the team's overall .553. The Tigers have struggled somewhat with face-offs this season, as their .452 face-off win percentage shows.

In addition to slowing the game down, the Big Green may try to invert the Tiger defense as Loyola did with some success.

Normally, Princeton would like to have a defender with a long pole guarding the ball behind the net. With a longer reach it is easier to knock the ball loose from an opponent's stick and regain possession. The Big Green may try to shift their offense around quickly enough that the Tigers are stuck with a short-stick midfielder guarding the ball low, an advantageous situation for any attack.

"We try our best to get out of it," Tierney said. "We can't panic. The reason it's effective is that it's easier to dodge a short stick."

The Tigers will also rely on improved play from their midfielders, who had trouble converting on scoring opportunities against Loyola.

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"The middies didn't do their job Tuesday like they did on Saturday," Tierney said.

Princeton also was unable to exploit its four man-up opportunities in the double-overtime, 6-5 nail biter against Loyola. The Tigers were even awarded a one-minute man advantage in the first overtime, and although they were able to get off three shots in that period the scoreboard did not change.

"The key will be our shooting; we have to get that back," Tierney said. "The man-up unit has to start playing well, like a unit again."

Although Dartmouth and Princeton's opponents have overlapped only within the Ivy League, the Tigers certainly come out ahead in those match-ups.

While Princeton's closest Ivy game this season was a six-goal win over Penn, the Big Green lost by eight to Cornell. Dartmouth also struggled to pull out a win at Yale in the final few seconds, while Princeton trounced the Elis by double digits.

On paper, the six-time national champion Tigers certainly have an advantage. As long as they can stay calm and use the lessons so nerve-wrackingly learned against Loyola, the Tigers' lacrosse dominance of the Ivy League should remain secure.