Surging Crimson has eyes on upset

After slumping early this season with back-to-back losses against Johns Hopkins and Virginia, the men's lacrosse team pledged to be 8-2 by the time its showdown with Ivy League powerhouse Cornell rolled around April 21. The No. 5 Tigers currently sit at 7-2, and now the only obstacle in the way of their goal is their matchup against Harvard tomorrow. Though the faceoff with the Big Red looms ahead, the Tigers will need to make sure that the Crimson challenge is met first.

"We're trying to be very diligent and businesslike to get the guys to focus on Harvard and go about our business in a steady manner," head coach Bill Tierney said. "At 7-2, we're now on a nice run. It's a perfect opportunity for an upset."

Princeton (7-2 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) will try to avoid an upset as it squares off against Harvard (3-5, 2-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Class of 1952 Stadium. The 72nd competition between the teams will follow the women's game against Harvard at noon. The Tigers have defeated the Crimson in their last 16 meetings, and Princeton leads the all-time series 52-19-1.

Both teams are coming off important wins and will be fired up for this weekend's match-up. Princeton extended its unbeaten streak to six with a 10-5 win against Penn on Tuesday night after experiencing an uncharacteristically slow start. The Tigers had only allowed three first-quarter goals this season until the Quakers netted two within the first four minutes, 14 seconds.

A little composure and a scoring spark from sophomore attack Tommy Davis midway through the second quarter allowed the Tigers to rally. They overcame an early 2-0 deficit and scored eight unanswered goals on their way to victory.

Harvard defeated No. 20 Brown 9-6 Tuesday evening and improved to 2-1 in the Ivy League. The Crimson had a tougher time handling the Quakers earlier this season than Princeton did, narrowly beating them in the last 1:05 of a sudden-death overtime thriller to clinch their first win of the season.

The most important part of Saturday's game will be something that is often overlooked: the faceoff. Harvard's John Henry Flood, who recently moved into third place in Division I with a 65.5 percent faceoff win percentage, is the goto man for the Crimson. He has taken all of Harvard's faceoffs this season and has given his team a distinct edge in the possession game by collecting a team-high 44 ground balls.

Princeton junior midfielder Alex Berg will have to work hard to counter the strength of Flood considering senior midfielder Mike DeSantis, the Tigers' other faceoff specialist, has been sidelined for the last three games with a sprained ankle. Last year, DeSantis controlled seven of the 12 faceoffs he took against Flood, but his participation in this weekend's game remains questionable.

"The faceoff is going to be huge for us, no question," Tierney said. "We're obviously concerned, so Alex Berg has got to step up and do a good job. He has risen to the challenge this year and has won 56 percent of his faceoffs. We feel good about Alex; we feel good that he will compete."

The faceoff "X" won't be the only place of concern for the Tigers. Princeton's defense will have to patiently withstand the challenge posed by the Crimson's senior-laden offense.

Greg Cohen leads the Crimson with 12 points this season, while Brian Mahler and Carle Stenmark have both racked up a team-high nine goals. Harvard has maintained a balanced attack this year, and often the scoring responsibility has been shouldered by a different player each game.

"We know [Harvard's] people pretty well, although they've had an interesting year because it seems that in each game they've had a different player step up," Tierney said. "They're 2-1 in the [Ivy] League and they beat Penn. They have a lot of guys who are all pretty talented. We have to make sure that we're crossing all our Ts and dotting all our Is, following the game plan and coming out with a lot of emotion."

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The Tigers will look to senior attack Peter Trombino to set the pace for the game. Trombino had a career performance last Saturday against Syracuse, totaling five goals and two assists for a career-high seven points. He also notched his 20th goal of the season Tuesday against Penn, which made him only the fifth player in Princeton history to score at least 20 goals in four seasons.

Davis has been remarkably consistent so far this season, tallying 12 goals and 12 assists. Trombino and Davis have gelled well with junior attack Alex Haynie, senior midfielder Scott Sowanick, sophomore midfielder Mark Kovler and sophomore midfielder Josh Lesko during the past few games, and the Tigers will rely on this offensive core again this weekend.

So far, the Tigers have followed the blueprint that they drafted early in the season by winning six of their seven games before April 21. As long as the Tigers maintain possession and contain the Crimson attack, they should be well on their way to achieving this goal and will be prepared for what next weekend holds in store.