Hewit saves 14 in win

NEW HAVEN, CONN. — When asked about the men's lacrosse team's offensive performance Saturday, head coach Bill Tierney worried that his response might be too vulgar to print. But despite the obvious displeasure of its coach, Princeton (5-2 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) cruised to a 5-3 win over Yale (4-3, 0-3) in the team's Ivy League opener.

"I thought it was disgusting, to be honest," Tierney said. "Unthoughtful, unenergetic, as uncaring an effort as we've put forth all year. I can't explain it."

Senior attack Peter Trombino opened up the scoring five minutes into the game with an unassisted run from the left side, but his strike would be the only score of the first quarter.

Junior midfielder Mike Gaudio ended the drought just five minutes into the second quarter, doubling Princeton's lead with a high rocket from eight yards in front of the net. The strike was Gaudio's first since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in the early part of last season.

Yale got on the board less than a minute later, but with seven minutes, thirty seconds remaining in the half, sophomore attack Tommy Davis ran from behind the net to notch his seventh goal of the year, and senior midfielder Derek Sudan followed with his first career goal with 4:04 left in transition after a Yale turnover around midfield.

Despite their three-goal second quarter, the Tigers were unable to sustain the offensive momentum and would score only one more goal in a second half that was characterized by strong defense and sloppy offense by both teams.

"It was just a bad effort all the way around," Tierney said. "If we're going to be a championship team, we've got to do better than this."

After Yale struck first in the third quarter to make the score 4-2 in favor of the Tigers, sophomore midfield Zach Goldberg received a feed from Davis on the left side and fired through traffic for his second goal of the season. It was Princeton's fifth and final goal of the game came, coming with 8:53 left in the third quarter.

Yale answered with 5:09 left in the frame, but the two teams would remain scoreless for the remainder of the contest. The Tigers had trouble both in transition and in their set offense, failing to execute crisp passes and frustrated by Yale's zone defense.

"We couldn't clear the ball in the second half," Tierney said. "I'm legitimately concerned. If we play like this against Syracuse [at Princeton Stadium on Saturday], we'll be looking at the south side of a lopsided score. We didn't have our concentration. It was just a mess."

The pace of the game dropped dramatically in the second half, as Princeton received a couple of stalling warnings in the fourth quarter. Though Tierney did not ask his players to slow the pace, the stifling Yale zone defense kept the Tigers far from the goal.

"What we do have to do is give the Yale coaches and players a lot of credit for defending us the way they did," Tierney said. "We'd been practicing all week on the zone.

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The unquestionable player of the game for Princeton was junior goalie Alex Hewit, who recorded 14 saves, including eight in the second half and many from pointblank range.

"I think [Yale was] playing a great defensive game, so we try not to get too frustrated," Hewit said. "Each time on defense we just try not to let them score."

No saves were more crucial than two back-to-back close range shots with less than two minutes remaining in the game. The first was from five yards out with the second coming on the rebound. Hewit got his stick on the first before quickly reacting to block the second one between his legs.

"I try not to think [about making saves]," Hewit said. "The defense was collapsing, and they had to get a quick shot off. Our defense was really good helping me out."

Despite what he called the "great" play of his goalie, Tierney remained concerned about the poor execution and bad decisions made by much of the rest of the team. After the game, he questioned his players' mental focus.

"There's a problem right there — guys getting their pictures taken after the game," Tierney said, pointing to a player who was chatting with a girl after the game. "Guys are happier to get their pictures taken than to play lacrosse."