Men's lacrosse prepares for Yale to start off Ivies

1994. That's the last time Princeton failed to win the Ivy League men's lacrosse championship. The struggle to win its 10th straight title begins tomorrow when Princeton's Ivy League season kicks off as the No. 7 Tigers (3-2) host Yale (4-1) at 3 p.m. at Class of 1952 Stadium.

This year, with an inexperienced Princeton team and each of the seven Ivy teams either ranked or receiving votes in the national poll, the Tigers will again see their dominance threatened from all angles.

The threat starts with Yale. The Elis have a deceptively strong record, having taken early-season victories over relatively easy non-league opponents Drexel, Butler and Vermont. Recently, they started their league play with a win over Penn and a 10-6 loss to No. 9 Cornell.

The last time Yale came to Princeton, in 2002, the Tigers had a 37-game Ivy League winning streak on the line. The Bulldogs ended that run with a shocking 15-13 victory that ended the Tigers' streak two games shy of the all-time Ivy record. That loss was avenged with a 15-5 rout in New Haven the following year, but the loss on their home turf still rankles.

Yale was only 2-4 in league play last year, but they've lost only six players from that team. This year, the Elis are led by junior attack Seth Goldberg, who was the Ivy League Player of the Week two weeks ago. Goldberg scored six goals in Yale's defeat of Penn.

Yale's freshman goaltender, Jordan Ellis, has also shown surprising strength this year, winning an Ivy Rookie of the Week award. Senior captain Scott Kenworthy is another Eli to watch out for.

Saturday will be the 85th meeting between the two teams, and Princeton leads the all-time series 63-19-2.

Princeton is fresh off a stinging 14-12 loss to perennial rival No. 3 Syracuse. That loss was particularly painful, coming as it did in front of a record home crowd of 6,186.

Despite holding a 7-2 lead at one point in that game last Saturday, the Tigers' inexperienced defense collapsed in the second half against the Orangemen's potent offense, and Princeton never managed to give its offense a chance to save it at the end.

The failure to get the offense the chances it needed highlighted a trend which can be seen throughout the Tigers' games this season, the lack of shots by the offense. They took only four shots in the fourth period, were outshot 43-34 on the game and overall have been outshot by their opponents 181-163, despite winning a majority of their games.

While Princeton's style of offense certainly doesn't entail throwing many shots away, the shot count reflects a poor level of ball control, and that is something Princeton is sure to work on as the season progresses.

Much of their lack of ball control stems from an inability to win important face-offs. The Orangemen won 21 of 29 on the game, giving them that many more chances to score on the Tigers. In addition, Syracuse picked up ten more ground balls than Princeton throughout the game.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Though the team's overall performance against Syracuse was not at the level they would have liked, there were a number of highlights which can give the Tigers some confidence.

Senior attack Ryan Boyle, arguably the team's best player, led Princeton with three goals and three assists. He leads the team with 18 goals and 11 assists on the season, and his experienced offensive skills are a boon to a team which has few entirely reliable players.

At Boyle's side, as he has been for two years now, was junior attack Jason Doneger, who found the net for three goals against Syracuse, as well.

Sophomore goalie Dave Law put up a solid performance against one of the best offenses in the nation, finishing with ten saves.

If Boyle, Doneger and Law can replicate their personal performances tomorrow, then Princeton will be in good position to begin its defense of the Ivy League crown.