Feb. 23: Tigers drop Canisius 13-6 in season opener

When the men’s lacrosse team puts away 13 goals in its first game of the season, head coach Bill Tierney is usually pleased. In Princeton’s game against Canisius, however, Tierney was decidedly unhappy with his offense’s effort.

“It was almost like two games, one for three quarters, one for one quarter,” Tierney said. “We made so many mistakes today offensively that it’s almost hollow that we scored 13 goals.”

While the No. 5 Tigers (1-0) won the matchup with the Golden Griffins (0-1) 13-6, Tierney’s unhappiness was certainly warranted during the third quarter, in which Princeton entered with a 6-4 lead but allowed Canisius to close the gap with two unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes of play.

The Golden Griffins’ key offensive weapon, Adam Jones, scored his third goal of the day exactly four minutes into the second half off a perfect pass from Nick LoCoco. Canisius dominated play for the next five minutes, controlling the ball and outshooting the Tigers. Just over six minutes after Jones’ goal, Canisius found the equalizer in Michael Benzinger, tying the game 6-6.

With the momentum on Canisius’ side, Princeton needed a big play, and a minute later it got one. After a long scramble that saw possession change three times, senior midfielder Zach Goldberg found junior attack Tommy Davis wide open deep inside the Canisius box. Catching the ball cleanly, Davis marched to the crease and sent a shot flying past Griffin goalie Chris Courteau to make the score 7-6 with four minutes, 45 seconds remaining in the frame.

“In the beginning we were a little shaky,” Davis said. “But it came together in the end.”

Following Davis’ goal, Canisius threatened to even the score once again, but terrific goaltending by senior goalie Alex Hewit on a 10-yard shot by the Griffins kept the momentum on Princeton’s side. Hewit tallied an impressive 17 saves during the game, keeping a surprisingly powerful Canisius offense at bay while the Tigers struggled to gel.

Just over a minute remained in the third when sophomore attack Scott Mackenzie put the first nail in Canisius’ coffin. Mackenzie scored his first collegiate goal when he spun past two Canisius defenders and dropped the ball right past Courteau, extending the Tigers’ lead back to two.

Mackenzie had impacted the game early in the first quarter during a man-up situation, firing a textbook pass to fellow sophomore attack Rob Engelke, who was stationed on the post and ready to drop the ball into the net. Engelke’s goal tied the game at one less than 30 seconds after Jones had scored his first of the day by breaking up a clear and putting the ball past Hewit 3:16 into the game.

Canisius was not deterred by the Tigers’ effort, and a low shot by Tom Hensel put the Griffins ahead 2-1 with 8:21 remaining in the quarter.

After a few minutes of poor passing, the Tigers started to find a rhythm, and Mackenzie, stationed behind the goal, found junior midfielder Mark Kovler, who has the most career goals of any current Tiger. Kovler’s side-arm shot blew past Courteau to tie the game at two with just under six minutes to go in the first.

As the first quarter came to a close, Hewit came up huge for Princeton, making two tremendous saves in a row. After a poor pass to Davis was stolen, Canisius’ offense had the advantage and took a good shot to Hewit’s right. Demonstrating why he is a pre-season All-American again this year, Hewit blocked both the shot and the Griffins’ well-placed second attempt.

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Hewit’s effort kept the score 2-2 at the end of the first, and Davis’ early-second-quarter goal gave the Tigers their first lead of the game. Hensel and Jones both scored again for Canisius, however, and with eight minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Tigers trailed 4-3.

Freshman midfielder Connor Reilly made the most of his first collegiate game, finding the fourth equalizer of the game less than a minute after Hensel’s score, bouncing a shot from outside past Courteau.

Things then started to look up for the Tigers, as Davis scored his second of the afternoon. A pass from Goldberg found Davis at the top of the crease, and after a brief scrap with Courteau, Davis bounced the ball into the net for a 5-4 lead.

“We’re a team where we have no real superstars,” Davis said. “It’s gonna be a different guy every week. Today it was me.”

Freshman attack Jack McBride made Davis’ point when he earned his first collegiate goal on his first shot in his first game. Demonstrating composure, McBride went one-on-one with Courteau and calmly delivered a well-placed shot into the net with a little more than two minutes left in the half. The score carried the Tigers into halftime with a two-goal lead they would soon squander during Canisius’ third-quarter run.

After Mackenzie’s goal late in the third, Princeton really opened the floodgates, putting up five unanswered goals in the fourth. Kovler opened the scoring at 10:49 with a trademark run up the right side of the box and a blazing shot past Courteau. An unassisted topside shot from junior midfielder Rich Sgalardi brought the Tigers’ lead to four, while Davis’ fourth score of the game put Princeton up 11-6. Junior midfielder Greg Seaman netted two in the last two minutes of the game, making the final score 13-6.

The sheer number of Tigers who scored in the match and the contribution from the freshmen bodes well for a Princeton team whose offensive capabilities are fairly unknown. There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding who will ultimately comprise Tierney’s attack, however.

“We might have to solidify [now] even if that means not being sure,” Tierney said.