Men's lacrosse gains its sixth win vs. Quinnipiac

It was not Syracuse. It was not Virginia or Johns Hopkins or even Yale. But when the men's lacrosse team took the field Friday night to battle Quinnipiac (2-7 overall), a win and the accompanying boost in the standings were on the line, and the team knew it.

"Whether we are playing Quinnipiac or Syracuse, there is never an excuse for not getting up for a game, since we only have 13 chances in the regular season to prove ourselves," sophomore attack Jason Doneger said.

The No. 2 Tigers (6-2, 2-0 Ivy League) set out to prove themselves to be the better team early in what would eventually become a 14-3 win, as they took the lead — one which they would not relinquish — at 10 minutes, 24 seconds in the first quarter when senior attack Sean Hartofilis scored his first of six goals on the night.

After a Bobcat penalty, Doneger added to the Princeton lead at 1:49 with the Tigers up a man. He scored his second of the night evenhanded with 10:28 remaining in the second half to continue the Princeton goalscoring run. After three more goals by Hartofilis and one by senior midfielder Brad Dumont, the Tigers headed into the locker room for halftime secure in a 7-0 lead.

Perhaps this security led to complacency, for Quinnipiac seemed to turn it up a notch at the beginning of the second half. The Bobcats were able to put three balls past senior goaltender Julian Gould to open the third quarter and reduce the deficit to a manageable four goals before Hartofilis' fifth with six seconds remaining in the quarter ended the Quinnipiac run.

The Tigers opened the fourth quarter intent on a goal streak of their own. Hoping to secure the win in resounding fashion, Princeton used six unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to thoroughly bury Quinnipiac, 14-3.

Princeton dominated the number of the shots in the game, out-shooting the Bobcats, 57-19. The Tigers also scooped up more ground balls, winning 37 to Quinnipiac's 29.

The only area in which Princeton was not dominant was face-offs. Quinnipiac won 12 of the 21 face-offs in the game, while the Tigers gained control of the ball nine times.

Princeton was led by Hartofilis' six goals and also received three scores from Doneger, two from junior midfielder Drew Casion, and one each from Dumont and sophomore midfielders Mac Bryson and J.G. Guidera.

Hartofilis' six goals bring him to a team-leading total of 27 on the season. Combined with his three assists this year, Hartofilis now has 30 points, which ties him with junior attack Ryan Boyle for the national scoring lead.

On a tear

After losing its first two games, Princeton has been on a tear recently. The win against Quinnipiac marks the Tigers' sixth straight victory.

"We've been able to turn it around, because nobody got too negative after the losses," Hartofilis said.

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Boyle did not play against Quinnipiac after injuring his hamstring in a win over Penn last week. He is out indefinitely, and it is a loss that did not go unnoticed by his teammates.

"Ryan's a huge loss," Hartofilis said. "The entire offense flows through him. Not any one player can make it up. The offense just has to pick up our games collectively and, hopefully, that'll make us better when Ryan gets back."

Boyle, an assists specialist, has 24 dishes and six goals to make up his 30 points this season. Without Boyle against Quinnipiac, the Tigers certainly had no problems scoring, as they pumped in 14 goals past the Bobcat goalie, T.J. Barnett. Eight of the goals, or 57 percent, were unassisted, however, a percentage which is much higher than Princeton's season total of 29 percent of all goals coming unassisted.

Head coach Bill Tierney speculated that Boyle will almost definitely not play in Princeton's next game against Harvard April 12, but may return against Cornell a week later.