Princeton starts year with rout

In a young season where many of lacrosse's big guns have already fallen — then-No.1 Virginia to Drexel, No. 2 Syracuse to Army and No. 1 Johns Hopkins to Albany — one highly ranked team avoided the upset bug in resounding fashion.

Paced by seven points from sophomore attack Tommy Davis, the No. 3 men's lacrosse team (1-0 overall) opened its 2007 campaign with a dominating 18-7 performance over Canisius at Class of 1952 Stadium.

Davis scored two goals and notched five assists, while senior attack Peter Trombino, junior attack Alex Haynie and freshman attack Rob Engelke netted three goals apiece.

Davis' five assists against Canisius exceeds his one assist from last season, which was cut short by a shoulder injury.

"Tommy showed up," head coach Bill Tierney said. "He hadn't had a good preseason, and we were worried about him, and then on Thursday, the old Tommy came back ... He's a gentleman; he doesn't say a word; he works his tail off. He really gets it done. Once he gets his confidence, it's going to start happening for him."

While the game was largely one-sided, it was the Golden Griffins who struck first, as Canisius attack Tom Hensel netted his first of four goals just one minute, 41 seconds in to the game. The remainder of the period, though, would see six unanswered Princeton goals.

"All around, we had kind of a mental error to start the game," Tierney said, "but on the other hand, it made us dig down a little."

The Tigers tied the game a minute later when a streaking Davis found an open Haynie just outside the crease and took their first lead on an unassisted run by sophomore midfield Josh Lesko.

Davis notched his second assist on Princeton's third goal, when he passed from behind the net to junior attack Bob Schneider, who finished from close range, while Engelke recorded his first career point on a man-up goal with 4:18 left in the first quarter.

Princeton finished its strong opening period with unassisted goals from sophomore midfield Mark Kovler and Davis to hold a 6-1 lead after 15 minutes.

The second quarter, however, saw mediocre play from a defense considered to be one of the country's finest. Canisius scored its first of four goals in the frame after just over a minute of play.

"We had a defensive lapse in the second quarter," Tierney said. "[It was] very discouraging, because that's supposed to be our strength."

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The Tigers scored four in the period to match the Golden Griffins, with goals coming from Davis, senior midfield Michael Biles, Trombino and Engelke for a 10-5 lead going into the locker room.

Whatever was said in the locker room proved effective, as Princeton came out firing. The Tigers netted three strikes in the first three minutes of the second half, en route to tallying five for the period.

Kovler began the party 59 seconds in on a feed from Davis, while Haynie scored on a cheeky behind-the-back shot 27 seconds later. Trombino found the twine on a bouncing shot before another minute expired.

Davis recorded his fifth and final assist of the afternoon with 8:47 left in the third quarter when Trombino whistled a long shot past the Canisius goalie. Senior midfield Whitney Hayes added Princeton's fifth of the quarter with 7:38 remaining after an assist from junior midfield Pete Striebel gave him an easy put-away.

The final quarter saw several good saves from backup goalie freshman Nikhil Ashra, while sophomore midfield Greg Seaman got on the score sheet and Haynie and Engelke completed their hat tricks.

The Tigers outshot Canisius 48-23 for the game, putting 30 shots on goal and several off the iron. Princeton also won the faceoff battle 18 to eight.

Junior goalie Alex Hewit, who was first team All-America last year, started between the pipes and made three saves on 10 opportunities.

While that tally is uncharacteristically low for Hewit, Tierney still has plenty of faith in his man.

"I'm not worried about Al," Tierney said. "He'll step up."

While Princeton's offense has had its struggles the past few years, the Tigers have revamped their offensive strategy to shoot more aggressively. But the unheralded key to Saturday's performance, according to Tierney, was senior midfield Scott Sowanick.

"To me, he's our most valuable player right now," Tieney said. "He knows the game; he plays the full thing; he lifts everybody else up. I don't know if he had a point today [Sowanick had one assist], but he's our catalyst."

Davis also emphasized the importance of the team's offensive play.

"We know our defense is going to show up every game," Davis said. "We have great goalies, and our defense is very strong, so we have to score goals for them."

Princeton faces a tough task next weekend against perennial power house Johns Hopkins, but notching a win while the other top teams were falling was an important step in the right direction.

"We came out with a win, so that's always good," Davis said. "What really matters is that we played well. We made mistakes, and we adjusted, so we got the job done."