For the third year in a row, Cornell has the Tigers seeing red.
The No. 5 men's lacrosse team fell to undefeated No. 1 Cornell, 10-6, last Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y. The victory clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament for the Big Red (11-0 overall, 5-0 Ivy League), who now own a potential tiebreaker with Princeton (8-3, 3-1).
Cornell got off to a fast start in each half, keeping a hard-fighting Tiger squad on the defensive for much of the game. Saturday was the first time all season that Princeton's defense had allowed more than eight goals, which is understandable, as Cornell's offense ranks best in the nation.
Senior attack Whitney Hayes struck twice to lead the Tigers, with goals also contributed by senior midfielder Scott Sowanick, sophomore attack Tommy Davis, sophomore midfielder Mark Kovler and junior attack Alex Haynie.
Junior goalie Alex Hewit had 10 saves but was outshone by his Cornell counterpart, Mike McMonagle, whose 19 saves matched a career high.
For the game, Princeton outshot Cornell 45-29, while the Big Red held a 10-9 advantage in face-offs.
Cornell won the opening face-off and needed only 43 seconds to take advantage as Hewit was helpless against agile attack John Glynn. Cornell kept up the pressure, but the Tigers answered four minutes, nine seconds into the game when Sowanick converted a dangerous feed from just outside the crease.
The Big Red scored the next three in the quarter to lead 4-1, but Haynie got one back after he and Davis exchanged several passes in transition.
Cornell dominated possession in the first quarter, winning five of seven face-offs, opening up the early lead that head coach Bill Tierney had hoped to prevent.
"It was a combination of both [Princeton's mistakes and Cornell's skill]," Tierney said. "What we tried to prevent was a fast start, and that didn't work out."
The Tigers settled both offensively and defensively in the second quarter, outshooting the Big Red 13-6, but Glynn bagged the only goal of the frame to give Cornell a 5-2 halftime lead.
Cornell came out firing again in the third quarter, getting its first goal just 1:01 into the quarter. Sowanick found Davis inside to answer just 58 seconds later, but Cornell would stretch its lead to five after netting two goals off face-offs in the 23 seconds following Davis' strike.
Hayes blew by his defender and beat McMonagle to get one back, but Cornell answered on the subsequent possession with a bouncing shot past Hewit.
As in the first half, Cornell's opening flurry had the Tigers in a corner.
"We really got our composure in the second quarter, but the fast start in the third had us back on our heels," Tierney said.
Kovler and Hayes recorded unassisted strikes in the fourth quarter, with each player scoring after burning his defender, but the effort was not enough, as Cornell played keep-away to hold on for the win.
Despite having the same end as last season's 4-3 loss to Cornell, Tierney saw marked improvement in his team's offense.
"Last year when we lost 4-3, we only took 13 shots," he said. "Our offensive game plan [this year] was very good. We played very hard, with a lot of heart. We just didn't play very smart."
One unfortunate factor for Princeton was the loss of senior defense Zach Jungers, one of 17 nominees for the Tewaaraton Trophy, in the first quarter to a recurring knee injury. Jungers had some trouble with it last week during practice and rested for a few days but felt fine and capable of playing Saturday morning.
"We don't know [the injury's extent]," Tierney said. "We'll look at it week by week, but I think he'll be out now for at least this week."
Despite losing all three games to top 10 opponents this year, Tierney believes that this team has what it takes to go deep into the NCAA tournament. If Princeton doesn't finish its regular season with wins over Dartmouth and Brown, however, it may be one of the best teams on the outside of the tournament.
"We're not a team that people are going to look forward to playing," Tierney said. "It's important that we gear back up for the next two games and get rid of feeling bad about ourselves soon."
Though Tierney was mildly disappointed with his vaunted defensive squad and still considers shooting an area needing improvement, he is seeing progress in the offense.
The Tigers return home this Saturday to face Dartmouth, who narrowly lost 10-9 last weekend against Virginia.
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