Doneger scores five goals in Tigers' thrashing of Harvard

With the crowd standing outside the locker room, you would have thought you were at a Giants game at the Meadowlands. And by the smiles of those walking out, you might have mistaken the team for the Red Sox after Game Four of the World Series.

But no, the scene took place at Class of 1952 Stadium after the men's lacrosse team's resounding 12-4 victory over Harvard. The players had many reasons to be happy. After muddling through the first half of its season and meeting mostly failure, Princeton broke out of their season slump in glorious fashion against the Crimson (4-5 overall, 1-3 Ivy League).

From the first whistle, it was easy to see that the Tigers (2-6, 2-1) had shown up with a new game plan. On the offensive end, players attacked the goal with a ferocity normally shown by a team such as Syracuse, ditching the more methodical and precise Princeton style.

Shots came from every place, every angle and nearly every player on the field. Even though they were not necessarily quality shots — only 21 of the 43 taken by the Tigers were even on goal — the barrage on the Harvard goalie produced results, as Princeton went beyond double digits for the first time this season. The team's previous high for shots was 36 against Penn, when the Tigers notched six goals.

One player who made the most of his shooting opportunities was senior attackman Jason Doneger. Doneger came into the game with only six goals on the season. He scored five on the afternoon in a performance that many had been waiting all season to see him contribute.

"It's really nice to be able to score goals for once," Doneger said. "Once I scored two or three, I myself gained a little confidence and started feeling a little better and was able to score a few more."

Most of Doneger's goals came from right next to the crease after he received feeds from other players. Doneger scored many of his goals in previous seasons off similar feeds from Ryan Boyle '04. Until today, however, the team has had a tough time finding him in similar spots.

Despite Doneger's offensive dominance, Princeton first got on the board with a goal from sophomore attackman Whitney Hayes two minutes, 23 seconds into the game. Hayes — who had previously started at midfield — slashed behind his defender and caught a pass from sophomore midfielder Mike Gaudio directly in front of the goal. As two defenders closed in on him, Hayes let loose an off-balance shot that went in just beneath the crossbar to give the Tigers the lead.

The Crimson never led during the game, but did tie the contest at one on a goal by midfielder Jake Samuelson 9:41 into the first quarter.

Princeton regained the lead a mere 32 seconds later when sophomore midfielder Scott Sowanick fed the ball to Doneger, who caught the pass with his back to the crease. Doneger then turned and ripped a shot into the bottom right of the goal for the first of his five scores.

Though the Tigers were able to eventually pull away from Harvard, it took a while for the team to get rolling. Despite taking 17 shots in the first half — only five of which hit the cage — Princeton was only able to muster three goals in the half.

Junior goalie Dave Law played an excellent first half in goal to keep the Tigers ahead. Law stopped 10 of 13 shots for an impressive 0.769 save percentage in the game.

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Eventually, Princeton's offense started scoring, and the pressure to support the team was taken off Law. After Doneger's goal gave the Tigers the 2-1 lead, they never looked back. Princeton scored four more consecutive goals spanning halftime to take a 6-1 lead.

"We had a little bit of a rough first half," Law said. "But coming into the second half things really started to click, and we started to come together."

"Coming together" may be an understatement for the Tigers' performance in the second half, at least compared to the rest of the season. Princeton tallied nine goals in the final 30 minutes and gave up only three, despite pulling its starters for much of the fourth quarter.

"That was more of a reward for the other guys," head coach Bill Tierney said of taking the starters out so early. "The other guys have worked so hard, those guys deserved to be in there and play. I'm glad we got a chance to get almost everybody in."

The Tigers have been waiting for this type of victory all season. Armed with the confidence gained from its resounding win, Princeton finally seems to be putting the pieces together as it enters the last bit of the season.