Lax falls to Cavaliers in nailbiter

The sound of rubber meeting metal is a goalie's saving grace and a shooter's worst nightmare. In Saturday afternoon's 7-6 loss to Virginia, senior attack Peter Trombino and senior midfielder Scott Sowanick of the men's lacrosse team shared the same bad dream.

With Princeton (1-2 overall) and Virginia (4-1) deadlocked at six goals apiece in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, both Tigers watched shots ricochet off the goal frame.

With the Tigers unable to break the stalemate, Virginia took advantage of Princeton's missed opportunities. On the last possession of the game, the Cavaliers' All-American attack Ben Rubeor came off a pick, rolled the crease and beat junior goalie Alex Hewit with 25.4 seconds remaining to lift No. 8 Virginia over No. 7 Princeton, 7-6.

Thoughts of "if only" flooded the Tigers' minds, but head coach Bill Tierney knew the outcome of the game didn't depend on that last play alone.

"We had been playing [the pick] well all day long," Tierney said, "but in the heat of the moment, we didn't communicate well and they scored a goal. But as I told [the team], this is two weeks in a row where we could examine that and decipher that as much as we want, but the reality is that we had so many chances to score before that that it shouldn't have come down to the last shot."

Princeton came out flying in the opening minutes, as Trombino converted on his first shot of the day after rolling inside on his defender and finding himself one-on-one against Cavalier goalie Kip Turner. Trombino's goal, his fifth of the season, lifted the Tigers to a 1-0 lead with 12 minutes, seven seconds remaining in the first quarter. Less than three minutes later, sophomore midfielder Josh Lesko bolted past two Virginia defenders and distributed the ball to junior attack Alex Haynie, who found the back of the net before Turner even realized the ball had been released.

Virginia rallied back with goals from Rubeor and Garrett Billings, but Princeton managed to regain a 3-2 lead with under a minute to go in the first quarter when junior midfielder Bob Schneider received a feed from senior midfielder Michael Biles and beat Turner with a low shot.

All seemed to be going well for the Tigers at the end of the first quarter, having outshot the Cavaliers, 12-6. The momentum continued into the second, as Lesko sprinted down the right side of the field, rolled his defender and easily scored his third goal of the season. Virginia responded two minutes later with a goal from George Huguely, but Trombino helped Princeton regain its two-goal lead at 11:09 on a man-advantage opportunity. Sophomore attack Tommy Davis fed the ball to Trombino from behind the cage, and Trombino took the shot, lasering the ball past Turner.

Showing incredible precision, shot selection and movement off the ball, Princeton netted five goals in the first 19 minutes of the game. Despite this strong start, the Tigers slumped into old habits midway through the second quarter as telegraphed, stickside shots left Turner unchallenged and left Princeton without a goal for the next 32:35.

"We couldn't have played more perfectly than we did in the first few minutes," Tierney said. "It was frustrating. Give [Virginia] some credit; they held the ball and slowed us down a little bit, and we had long stretches of being on defense. We became less patient, and our shot selection became erratic, and we allowed Turner to make some easy saves."

Virginia scored the next three goals as the Cavaliers gained a 6-5 lead with 9:27 remaining in the third quarter. The Tigers' scoring drought ended with 8:24 to go in the fourth, when Trombino completed his hat trick after collecting Davis' rebound.

Tierney called a timeout with less than three minutes to go, and it seemed Princeton would convert again, but the goal frame got in the way. Within a span of 28 seconds, tri-captains Sowanick and Trombino both saw shots bounce harmlessly off the post. Virginia transitioned, and minutes later Rubeor netted the game-winner.

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Despite this loss, the Tigers won't dwell on their mistakes for long, as they prepare to face Rutgers on Tuesday evening.

"Things just didn't go our way in the last few weeks," Tierney said. "We need to stay positive. These kids will hang together and support one another, and all of a sudden we'll get one of those breaks. We have to know that we've still got 10 games left, and our season starts now. We need to win as many as we can in a row and hope that that's enough. And I think it will be enough."

The one looming question remaining is whether the goal posts will cooperate.