Tierney faces off versus nephew at Hofstra

Tuesday night, the men's lacrosse team exorcised its demons. After losing two straight games by one goal — falling in a double-overtime thriller at Johns Hopkins by a score of 7-6 and losing on a last-minute goal to Virginia a week later — the team notched a much-needed 15-8 victory over Rutgers.

Now, No. 9 Princeton (2-2 overall) will look to keep the demons away in two games over spring break. On March 17, the Tigers travel to Hempstead, N.Y., to face Hofstra (1-2). One week later, on March 24, Princeton will host Bellarmine (1-4) at Class of 1952 Stadium.

At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is how many times you put the ball in the net. So far this season, Princeton has had mixed results in the scoring category. In the losses against the Blue Jays and the Cavaliers, the Tigers netted 12 goals on 80 attempts.

In its two victories, however, Princeton's shooting percentage was much better — the Tigers capitalized on 35 percent of their shots at the cage.

Head coach Bill Tierney noted that taking higher-percentage shots and finishing plays will enable his team to score more goals.

"If you can't score more than six goals, you aren't going to win too many lacrosse games," Tierney said. "That's been our Achilles' heel. We are generating more shots this year ... we just have to keep working hard and improve our shooting."

Princeton has dropped its last two games against Hofstra, a team that sits just outside the top 20 in the polls. The game Saturday will be a family matter: The Pride is coached by Tierney's nephew, Seth, who is in his first year at the helm.

Sophomore attack Tom Dooley leads Hofstra's scoring onslaught. Last season, Dooley was the Colonial Athletic Association's Rookie of the Year, netting 38 goals and 31 assists. Accompanying Dooley on attack is Dan Stein, a promising freshman who has tallied four goals, including a hat trick in the Pride's 9-8 loss to Johns Hopkins last weekend.

All eyes will be on Princeton junior goalkeeper Alex Hewit to keep Hofstra from scoring. Fortunately for the Tigers, Hewit has the ability to shut down the nation's top offenses. He held Virginia to seven goals for the second straight time — the only goalkeeper to hold the Cavaliers under 10 goals over that same time span.

Though he started the season in quiet fashion, senior attack Peter Trombino has once again become an integral part of Princeton's offense, scoring five goals and one assist in the past two games.

Trombino currently leads the team in scoring with nine goals, but he is not the only Tiger who poses a threat to score; a total of 15 other players have found the back of the net this season.

After returning from the game against Hofstra, Princeton will have a chance to earn a home victory against Bellarmine. The Knights are currently on a three-game skid, having dropped games to Brown, No. 15 North Carolina and Manhattan.

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The team's offense is averaging 8.07 goals per game and is led by junior attack Ray Finnegan, who has eight goals and seven assists on the season.

In the net for Bellarmine will be senior goalkeeper J.C. Hutchins, who has allowed an average of 10.23 goals per game thus far this season. If the Tigers can score 10 goals against the Knights, while playing solid defense, they will have a good opportunity to come out on top.

So far this season, Princeton has had a chip on its shoulder, having lost two heartbreaking games against national powerhouses.

But Tierney knows that his team can turn disappointment into motivation to perform well — something it showed in the victory over Rutgers.

"The result from [close losses] is a fork in the road," Tierney said. "We can either pout about it and be divisive, or we can use it as motivation. We just need to keep plugging and good things will happen for us. We've got plenty of games left to right that ship."

If the Tigers can continue their offensive success and grab two wins over spring break, they may be able to keep the demons at bay for good.