Princeton jumps out to 4-0 lead and holds off late Syracuse surge

With a little less than nine minutes remaining in the men's lacrosse team's game against Syracuse on Saturday, Princeton fans and players were starting to get edgy. The Orange had scored two unanswered goals, and Syracuse's Dan Hardy was bearing down on junior goaltender Alex Hewit. Hardy ducked hard one way and shot the other, bringing Syracuse to within two, at 9-7.

Princeton (6-2 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) won the ensuing faceoff, though, and two minutes later sophomore attack Tommy Davis batted a quickstick shot into the back of the net, restoring the Tigers' momentum on the way to a 12-8 win. The win over No. 16 Syracuse (3-5) — Princeton's second-to-last ranked opponent of the regular season — was critical for the No. 7 Tigers.

"We really felt like it was a do or die situation today," head coach Bill Tierney said.

A pair of Tigers responded to that pressure with career days. Senior attack Peter Trombino scored five goals, while sophomore midfielder Mark Kovler put away four.

"It's about time [Trombino and Kovler started scoring]," Tierney said. "We're not gonna win without Pete and Mark."

Kovler opened the scoring in the match with 11 minutes, 36 seconds on the first-quarter clock, streaking across the front of the goal and whipping it into the net.

A little less than two minutes later, Kovler snaked a pass to Trombino, who shoveled the ball past Syracuse goaltender Peter Coluccini. The rest of the quarter was marked by even play and a strong defensive effort by Princeton, led by Hewit.

The second quarter opened with Princeton winning the faceoff and another score by Trombino. This time, senior midfielder Scott Sowanick fed Trombino, who ripped a stick-side underhanded shot topshelf to put the Tigers up 3-0.

The Tigers continued to dominate possession, passing the ball around the perimeter of the goal and working the crease. With about seven minutes left in the half, Syracuse got a hold of the ball briefly, only to have it taken back by Princeton. Having come away with the steal, Davis passed to Kovler, who was wide open about 15 yards from the goal. Kovler's shot sailed past Coluccini's off side and put the Tigers up 4-0.

Syracuse began to rally in the remaining minutes of the half, scoring two unassisted goals. With about 30 seconds left in the half, Tierney called a time out. It turned out to be the right call because with 12 seconds on the clock, Kovler scored his third goal of the game on a hard outside shot to Coluccini's stick side.

With a halftime score of 5-2, Tiger fans were hoping they would not see a repeat of the previous weekend's match with Yale, when the Tigers only netted one goal in the second half.

Thanks to Trombino's second-half offensive outburst, the crowd wasn't disappointed. When Syracuse's Kenny Nims opened scoring in the second half of the match, Trombino had an answer prepared. About 10 yards from the goal, Trombino got a pass from junior attack Alex Haynie and shot a grounder past Coluccini, putting the Tigers up 6-3.

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Less than a minute later, Trombino barreled through the Syracuse defense to what seemed to be his favorite location on the field — 10 yards in front of the net, stickside of the goalie. Trombino's shot put the Tigers up by four and tied his career high of four goals in a match.

"You have these days where things fall," Tierney said. "We got our hands free and shot very well."

Syracuse dominated play for the next few minutes, seeking to answer Trombino. With 3:38 left in the third quarter, the Orange scored an unassisted goal by pushing through the Tiger defense and bouncing one past Hewit. A few seconds after the subsequent faceoff, Trombino was streaking down the sideline and passed back across to wide open sophomore midfielder Josh Lesko, who forced the ball into the back of the net.

A minute later, Kovler again made his way to the front of the net and capitalized to put Princeton ahead 9-4 on his career-high fourth goal of the match.

The fourth period opened with an offensive avalanche from Syracuse, who scored three unanswered until Davis put one away with 6:22 remaining in the game.

Though Kovler wouldn't score again, the Trombino show wasn't over, and the senior fired one more shot past Coluccini late in the fourth quarter.

It was Princeton's final score of the game and Trombino's personal-best fifth.

Trombino and the Tigers will not have long to bask in the victory, as they will travel to Philadelphia tomorrow in order to take on Ivy rival Penn at 7 p.m.