Tigers ride 7-0 lead at half to win

Pre-frosh weekend 2007 showed off Princeton's most talented feet. DiSiac wowed audiences in "Disclosure," BodyHype took over the runway at the fashion show and the dance groups that performed at "This Side of Princeton" enthralled likely members of the Class of 2011. The weekend's best display of fancy footwork, however, was not found at Intime, Frist or Richardson. Down at Class of 1952 Stadium, the men's lacrosse team's (8-2 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) defense had the fanciest footwork of all.

Princeton's impenetrable defense smothered Harvard (3-6, 2-2) and held the Crimson to a scoreless first half en route to a 9-3 Tiger victory. The Tiger defensemen's footwork, sliding and double-teaming frustrated the Crimson attack all afternoon and proved why Princeton's defense is arguably the best in Division I. Leading the charge was junior All-American Dan Cocoziello, who held Brian Mahler, one of the Crimson's most dangerous midfielders, to a single assist. Alongside Cocoziello, fellow defensemen sophomore Chris Peyser and senior Zach Jungers helped stop the Crimson attack.

"Those three know each other now," head coach Bill Tierney said. "They know what each other can do. They're just so confident in one another, and it seems to get better each game."

From the first whistle, Saturday's defensive performance was reminiscent of the way the Tigers have been playing nearly all season. Princeton had a minor lapse against Penn on Tuesday evening when it allowed two goals in the first four minutes, 14 seconds, but Saturday the Tigers held Harvard scorless well into the third quarter. The Tigers have allowed only five first quarter goals all year.

"After the Penn game where we had a slow start, some guys kind of got on each other during practice [to prepare] especially for Harvard," Cocoziello said. "They're a good team that feeds off us not playing well at times. It seemed like it was important for us to come out with a lot of emotion to stop them early."

Cocoziello, Peyser and Jungers stopped them early and stopped them often, but they could not have done it without the help of midfielders junior Zach Goldberg, sophomore Brendan Reilly, senior Derek Sudan and sophomore Josh Lesko.

"We played a lot of team defense today," Cocoziello said. "It was really easy to play defense today with everyone talking and helping each other out. With [junior] Alex [Hewit] in goal, it was pretty easy to hold [Harvard] to no goals in the first half. It's all about communicating with each other and playing team defense but at the same time playing the ball well."

Hewit turned in another outstanding performance in between the pipes, making 13 saves on the afternoon. An overeager Crimson attack outshot Princeton 39-38, but most shots were errant and taken from poor angles, as Harvard's attackmen found it impossible to outmaneuver Cocoziello and company. Princeton's defense stifled freshman standout Jason Duboe, who recorded a hat trick in Harvard's last game but came up empty-handed against the Tigers.

The offense was impressive despite winning only three of 15 faceoffs. Princeton's attack struggled in the opening minutes, allowing Crimson goalkeeper Joe Pike to make a few easy saves. Senior attack and tri-captain Peter Trombino opened the scoring floodgates when he netted a goal with 4:27 remaining in the first quarter. Moments later sophomore midfielder Mark Kovler gave Princeton a 2-0 lead when he unleashed his signature left-handed shot on an unprepared Pike.

With 7.5 ticks left in the first quarter, sophomore attack Tommy Davis registered his first of two goals of the afternoon. Davis has tallied at least one point in each of his last 16 games. The Tigers went up 7-0 by halftime after senior midfielders Scott Sowanick and Mike Gaudio, Davis, and sophomore midfielder Rich Sgalardi netted goals.

Harvard's Carle Stenmark finally erased the donut on the scoreboard when he beat Hewit on a low shot with 7:03 remaining in the third quarter. Kovler immediately responded at 6:01 when he corralled a pass from Trombino through the heart of the Crimson defense and beat Pike to give Princeton an 8-1 lead. Less than a minute later, Kovler received a pass from Sowanick and found himself open once again to complete his hat trick. Harvard scored two goals late in the fourth quarter, but by that point Princeton's lead proved too great to overcome.

With Harvard out of the way, the Tigers can now focus on their showdown with undefeated Cornell this Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y.

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"[Cornell is] a pretty daunting challenge," Tierney said. "But I think our defense is great and has been great. I don't think they've seen the kind of speed and accuracy that they're going to see on Saturday, but I wouldn't want any other defense to try and do it, that's for sure."

The Tiger defensemen will have to work hard this week in preparation for Cornell, but if they move anything like they did Saturday afternoon, the nation's highest-scoring team is going to be in for a disappointment.