Davis nets three in victory

In any sport, tournament play is not just about how brilliant your coach is, how many games you have won, or how great your players have been all season. Advancing depends largely on whether or not your players come ready to play. For the men's lacrosse team on Saturday, one player in particular, freshman attack Tommy Davis, did not need any advice on how to step up.

Coming off a five-week stint on the disabled list after a shoulder injury against Syracuse, Davis scored a hat trick. And thanks to similarly strong play by his teammates and a 4-0 first quarter run, Princeton defeated the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 11-8, to advance to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.

"He's got ice water in his veins and he just plays the game," Tierney said of Davis.

Davis' most critical goal came just a few seconds before halftime. After allowing the Retrievers to score two unanswered goals to bring the score to 4-2, Princeton called a timeout to regroup. Associate head coach David Metzbower then drew up a tricky offensive play for the Tigers in an attempt to recapture momentum before the half.

On the restart, freshman midfielder Josh Lesko fed Davis a few yards in front of the crease in a cluster of men. Few could tell if the pass had even been completed before Davis emerged from the fray a stride or two away from the goal before leaping, spinning, and firing over his body for the score and a 5-2 halftime lead with 9.6 seconds left to play.

"Josh made a great dodge and made a great pass and I shot and scored," Davis said. "It gave us a lot of momentum back going into halftime."

Until UMBC scored those two goals, however, Princeton had already built up quite a bit of momentum. Junior midfielder Whitney Hayes, who leads active Tigers in NCAA tournament scoring, struck first with a bounce shot from about 12 yards in front of the crease with 10:18 left in the first. The assist came from sophomore attackman Trip Cowin.

About five minutes later, Hayes then fed junior attack Scott Sowanick, who scored from near the top of the box, twisting across his body to stick a bounce shot past the goalkeeper.

The Tigers started to build on their run with a third goal from freshman midfielder Mark "Woodland Drive" Kovler, who took a few big strides coming down across the front of the goal and stuck in an easy shot from about five yards outside the crease at 1:51 left in the first.

Davis, then, crowned the run when senior midfielder Michael Wenzel fed him from behind the cage for a score only 12 seconds after Kovler's score.

Even after the Retrievers responded with two goals, it was clear the Tigers were playing well.

"We thought were playing as well as we played all year and we're only up 4-2," Tierney said.

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The halftime score of 5-2 reflected some strong lacrosse by Princeton defensively as well, as sophomore goaltender Alex Hewit had seven saves, including a 1-on-0 stop. His defense, too, played admirably, making key decisions about sliding to stifle the potent UMBC offense.

"They had a tough assignment today because they had to pick out who had the ball and make a decision whether they were going to leave or not," Tierney said. "That's a tough way to play defense, and they did a good job of it."

Unlike some other contests so far this season, the Tigers managed to sustain their effort through the third quarter. UMBC got the first score of the half, but Princeton's sophomore attackman Bob Schneider took a shot across his body coming around the crease that found the off side high portion of the net at 6:51.

And less than two minutes later, junior attack Peter Trombino gave the Tigers a commanding 7-3 lead with a shot from far off the crease.

UMBC, though, would not be put down, scoring again to keep the game within range. But two more Tiger goals would seal the deal.

Trombino managed to back up a teammate's shot behind the net and fed Hayes out in front, who ripped a shot into the top shelf for the 8-4 lead at 12:48 left in regulation.

To put the game on iec, then, Lesko came down the wing and caught the ball from Kovler for an offside low score at 11:09. The 9-4 lead effectively sealed the game for Princeton.

Though the freshmen stepped up admirably on Saturday, Princeton's elder statesmen also played excellently.

"To be honest I don't think that [Trombino, Hayes, and Sowanick] have played their best lacrosse this year, [but] I think that they did today," Tierney said. "I can't give enough credit to [them] for doing what we asked them to do today, controlling the ball and going very hard and getting the job done."

The Tigers will now advance to the NCAA quarterfinals in Towson, Maryland next weekend, where they will face the University of Maryland. The Terrapins defeated Denver, 16-8, on Saturday. With the way the Terrapins have been playing all season the Tigers will need to step up again if they want to make the Final Four in Philadelphia on Memorial Day weekend.