Tigers face Harvard, Butler

The men's lacrosse team will play its lone set of back-to-back games this season when it meets Harvard and Butler this weekend. The weekend of lacrosse begins with a game against the Crimson (4-4 overall, 1-2 Ivy League) on Saturday, followed by a contest against the Bulldogs (4-4, 0-2) on Sunday. Both games will be played at Class of 1952 Stadium.

The matchup with Harvard features two sputtering teams looking to revitalize their seasons. The Crimson started its season strong, notching wins in four of its first five games. Since that initial success, however, Harvard has lost its past three games by a total of 21 goals.

Princeton (1-6, 1-1) can point to no winning streaks of its own so far this season. Their lone win came against Penn, a game won on a goal by senior attackman Jason Doneger in double overtime.

History is in favor of the Tigers, who have defeated the Crimson 14 straight times dating back to 1990. Last year, Princeton traveled to Harvard and came away with a decisive 13-4 victory. The Tigers' offense in that game was led by Doneger, who scored four goals, and sophomore attackman Scott Sowanick, who added three goals of his own.

But this season's first seven games have taught Princeton that history means nothing in the polls. The Tigers were ranked No. 6 in the nation when they faced the Crimson last season. Presently, however, Princeton is unranked for the second week in a row. It is the first time since March 26, 1990 that the Tigers have been unranked.

The Harvard offense is led by a pair of freshmen, attackman Brooks Scholl and midfielder Zach Widbin. Scholl leads the team with 13 goals, while Widbin is close behind with 10.

Penn is the only team that both teams have faced on the season. Both Princeton and Harvard defeated the Quakers by a single goal.

The second game of the weekend features a Butler team that the Tigers have never faced before. The Bulldogs have won half of their games but are coming off a recent 13-9 loss against Ohio State.

Like Harvard, and Princeton to some degree, Butler is a team driven offensively by its youth. The Bulldogs' two leading scorers — attackman Grant Albertson and midfielder Cliff Smith — are both freshmen.

In both games this weekend, the key for the Tigers will be on the offensive end of the field. Princeton has had good defense and goaltending much of the season. Its problem lies in its inability to score goals.

The team is averaging a mere 6.9 goals per game. Last season the Tigers averaged 10.3 goals per game, and the last time the team won a national title, in 2001, the season average was 12.1.

"Last game against Rutgers, [the loss] wasn't from a lack of offensive effort, and it wasn't from a lack of offensive opportunities; we just didn't score," head coach Bill Tierney said. "We just have to up the tempo a little bit, but really just create more and better shots and hope that people start canning them."

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Besides the obvious solution of better shooting, another approach of Tierney's to solve the offensive woes is to open the game up a little more and increase the energy on offense.

"[In practice] we got running and playing a bunch and just tried to make it a little bit more enjoyable for them, and they responded and did a great job," Tierney said. "If we lose this week it's going to be 16-15, not 6-4."

The team is at a critical juncture in its season, about to begin the heart of its Ivy League schedule. If the Tigers win their remaining four Ivy League games they will at least win a share of the Ivy League title and a chance at a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"I think we know our back is against the wall," sophomore attackman Peter Trombino said. "We're going to have the mindset to go hard and play as a team, and, if we do all the things that we know how to do, then we should be fine."