Hewit, Tigers shut down Big Green

The bricks in front of the far stands at Class of 1952 Stadium weren't the only brick wall there on Saturday.

Freshman goalie Alex Hewit had an incredible 16 saves, leading Princeton's men's lacrosse team (4-7 overall, 3-2 Ivy League) to a 10-8 win over league rival Dartmouth (6-4 overall, 3-2 Ivy).

The win wiped away some of the bitterness left over from last weekend's ugly 17-4 loss to Cornell, which ended the Tigers' hopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament later in May. Moreover, because the Big Green lost to the Tigers, the Big Red will win the Ivy League championship outright.

Princeton didn't have much to play for other than pride and respect on Saturday, but they definitely earned those.

The Tigers struck first with a goal by sophomore midfielder Mike Gaudio off sophomore attack Peter Trombino's assist. The two teams traded goals into the second quarter, with Dartmouth leading, 3-2, at one point.

With 8:38 to play in the half, though, sophomore attack Whitney Hayes started a string of Princeton goals by answering the Big Green's two previous ones. In the final seconds of a man-up play for the Tigers, he caught a feed on the crease, faked twice and put it past the goalie to tie the game at three.

"I thought we played composedly — when they scored, we scored, which is a good sign," head coach Bill Tierney said.

About a minute and a half later, senior attack Jason Doneger rifled a feed from freshman attack Trip Cowin for another score, his second of the game. Doneger's quickstick, his second score of the game, put Princeton ahead, 4-3.

However, one of the highlights of Saturday's game was that both the offense and the defense played well, and it was now the defense's turn to come up with a brilliant play.

Dartmouth went man up with 6:10 left in the second quarter, but the Tigers repulsed them time and time again, aided by one of Hewit's numerous saves of the day. In a subsequent Big Green possession, Hewit showed the 1,527 people in attendance why he had earned the start that week. In only a few seconds, he had a save, a foot save immediately afterward off a rebound shot, and then another save to tip the ball away.

Energized by Hewit's incredible saves, Princeton's offense looked to find the back of the net again in the final minute of play. The Tigers did just that as Hayes scored again with only 13.8 seconds left.

Princeton, up by two at the half, continued its high level of play in the third quarter. Sophomore attack Peter Trombino started the second-half scoring only seconds later when the Tigers were man-up. Trombino's score off sophomore attack Scott Sowanick's assist gave the Tigers a 6-3 lead.

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Whether attacking or defending, though, the Princeton players rode each other's momentum. Hewit made another save like it was nothing at 11:22 left in the third, and Gaudio came right back with a goal at 10:38, shooting across his body after beating his defender.

Dartmouth scored on a man-up play, but the Tigers did not let this rattle them. Doneger followed it right up with an acrobatic goal, scooping up a rebound from Trombino's blocked shot and converting it to give Princeton the four-goal lead, 8-4. And just to put the icing on the cake, Hewit vacuumed up a low shot at the end of the quarter.

The Tigers ran the score up to 10-5 in the fourth before they hit a slow spot. Dartmouth scored three unanswered goals before Princeton could stop them by holding the ball for most of the last few minutes of the game, hanging on for their fourth win of the season.

"I thought it was a good 60-minute sustained effort. We didn't hit too many lulls except for that last six or seven minutes," Tierney said.

Despite those last few minutes, Hewit came away with 16 saves out of 24 shots on goal — racking up an impressive 67 percent save ratio. He was quick to note, though, that Saturday's game was a team effort.

"I was pleased, but a lot of it had to do with our whole team this week — our whole team was really ready for this game, and the excitement was much higher," Hewit said.

Indeed, when the players walked off the field into the locker room after the final buzzer, many of them wore smiles of satisfaction — even though the Tigers' season will end with a contest against Brown here in Princeton next Saturday.

"I don't think I've ever been as inspired by a group of young men as I was this week by ... how hard they came out to practice, and they deserved to win this game because of that," Tierney said. "Sometimes athletics doesn't work that way, but I'm still happy that they did come out with a win because of the effort they put in this week."

It's been a difficult season for the Tigers this year, but with the great attitude of such a young team and talent like Hewit's, next season is going to be one to watch.