Princeton falls to No. 2 UVa.

The men's lacrosse team learned the hard way this weekend that it's not enough to keep the ball out of the goal most of the time, to start strong or to score a fair number of times — against the best in the country, the team has to be on top of its game from whistle to whistle.

Despite sophomore goalkeeper Alex Hewit's brilliant 20-save performance, No. 5 Princeton (2-1) fell to No. 2 Virginia (6-0), 7-6, harried by the Cavaliers' aggressive defense that took key opportunities right out of Princeton's hands, particularly in the second half.

The Tigers certainly didn't play a bad game, and it was a strong showing against an excellent Virginia team.

"In one regard we blew one [we should have had], and in another regard, give Virginia a lot of credit," head coach Bill Tierney said.

The result could have been much worse had Hewit not played so well. But even in the loss, Princeton proved something yesterday, validating last week's win over defending national champion Johns Hopkins and reestablishing themselves as a legitimate top-five team.

Princeton opened the scoring early on with a goal by junior attack Peter Trombino less than two minutes into the first quarter, a bounce shot that landed in the top shelf off an assist by sophomore midfielder Zach Goldberg.

Princeton would score again to take a two-goal lead off the stick of freshman midfielder Mark Kovler, a beautiful underhanded rip with nine minutes, 12 seconds remaining in the first, but some of the hallmarks of the game came out in the interim.

Remarkably, Hewit made four saves to compensate for sloppy defensive play that gave Virginia some key opportunities, most off botched clears. Hewit would have 12 of his 20 saves in the first half alone; Tierney said his performance was so good, it was "scary."

The Cavaliers finally found their way past Hewit with five minutes left in the first quarter to get on the board. Only 53 seconds later, sophomore attack Alex Haynie found himself alone on the crease and faked high, then low, then shot high to beat Virginia's goalkeeper, Kip Turner, and put the Tigers up, 3-1.

Princeton had to be pleased after the first quarter, holding a two-goal lead over a team that has averaged five goals in the first stanza alone so far this season. The Tigers struck again with 7:12 left in the half off sophomore midfielder Pete Striebel's stick.

But a goal by Virginia — a tip into an empty net after Hewit stepped out of the cage for a ground ball — heralded what would become a four-goal run stretching through the third quarter.

Time and again, the Tigers would clear the ball only to lose it to Virginia's highly athletic and aggressive defense, placing tremendous pressure on the Princeton defense.

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"Each possession became a little frenetic [and] we lost the ball a lot," Tierney said.

The Cavaliers were able to catch the Tigers hanging their sticks and checked the ball away, repeatedly demolishing valuable opportunities. By the end of the third quarter, UVa. had taken a 5-4 lead.

The few times the Tigers did have looks at the goal in the third, Turner was able to make saves, stuffing freshman midfielder Josh Lesko, junior midfielder Scott Sowanick and junior midfielder Tripp Shriner.

Goldberg scored early in the fourth to bring the Tigers back, but the Cavaliers responded with two unanswered goals to take the 7-5 lead. Sophomore attack Bob Schneider would reply, though, to push Princeton to within one, 7-6.

The Tigers had their last opportunity when Virginia went offside with 1:27 remaining in regulation. But the man-up play was lost when the Tigers lost a pass out of bounds, and from then on it was all keep-away for the Cavaliers.

But it would not be fair to say that the game was lost in those seconds.

"As I told them, they didn't lose this game today — we lost it on Tuesday and Wednesday," Tierney said. "We came back after Hopkins thinking we were pretty good and we didn't practice well Tuesday or Wednesday, and it showed in the little things today."

Considering how many young players are on the field for Princeton during games, there was something of a silver lining to the loss.

"We learned a lot [today]," Tierney said. "Our young guys learned a lot about what it takes to compete at the highest level."

It would be a very useful lesson, indeed, considering the Tigers now have a week to prepare for smoking-hot Hofstra, which just defeated Johns Hopkins by a score of 11-6. But the Tigers know they will have to step up their play to stay at the top; whether they can get it done in practice and throughout games remains to be seen.