Men's Lacrosse: High-flying attack paces sixth victory

The Scarlet Knights, hot off their 5-4 win over No. 17 Hobart — their first victory over a top-15 team in two years — were looking to extend the glory streak. The Tigers, however, had other plans in mind.

Princeton (6-1 overall) jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead behind the heroics of senior midfielder Rich Sgalardi, who opened the game with a goal barely two minutes after the opening whistle. Sgalardi followed up less than a minute later with another unassisted goal, pushing the momentum in Princeton’s direction.

A little more than halfway through the first period, Rutgers (2-6) found some magic of its own, putting together two goals in a little more than a minute a minute to tie the game at two.

The back-and-forth seesaw action continued until the end of the half. Scores by senior midfielder and co-captain Greg Seaman and junior attack Scott Mackenzie drove Princeton’s lead to 4-2 after the first quarter, but two first-half scores from Rutgers attack Kory Kelly, including one dribbler that bounced off the turf and past freshman goalie Tyler Fiorito with 10 seconds left to play in the half, kept the Scarlet Knights in the game.

While Fiorito found himself quite at ease guarding Princeton’s net, Rutgers was forced to go to its bench early. Finding themselves two goals down after one period of play, the Scarlet Knights switched goalies three minutes into the second quarter, replacing Billy Olin with Peter Pantages.

Though Rutgers went into the locker room at the half trailing 5-4, it had the momentum. That little burst of confidence, however, dissipated, as the Scarlet Knights took the field in the second half looking extremely flat. Princeton was ready to take full advantage.

“Well, we tried to sort of lock it down a bit defensively the second half,” senior defenseman and co-captain Brendan Reilly said. “There were a few times in the first half where there were distinct holes in the defense. We just had to wake up. They’re a good team, they came to play and we just had to be ready.”

Junior midfielder and faceoff specialist Paul Barnes won the opening faceoff of the second half and pushed the ball ahead to Sgalardi, who passed the ball to senior midfielder Mark Kovler. He then tucked the ball past Pantages for his 11th goal of the season.

A few minutes later, senior defenseman Chris Peyser orchestrated another offensive masterpiece, flinging the ball 30 yards down the field to sophomore attack Chris McBride, who relayed it to a cutting senior attack Tommy Davis. He rocketed the ball into the net for his second goal of the game.

Another score from Kelly tightened the score to 7-5, but the Tigers had finished playing cat and mouse with Rutgers and did not relinquish any more ground. Four goals in the final quarter brought the final score to 13-6.

Head coach Bill Tierney’s rapid-fire offense did not show up to Piscataway. Going into the game averaging an astounding 47 shots per game, Princeton only had 14 shots through two-and-a-half quarters against the Scarlet Knights and finished the night with 23.

Deadly accuracy, however, got the Tigers 13 goals on those 23 shots. The 57 percent shooting percent was the team’s highest in a game all season.

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Fiorito recorded nine saves in the victory, and junior goalie Nikhil Ashra sealed the victory with two saves in the last three minutes.

Princeton’s offensive outburst came from all fronts. Seven Tigers scored in the win, led by Kovler with four and Sgalardi with three — season highs for both.

Kelly, the Scarlet Knights’ offensive leader with 12 goals on the season, wasn’t enough to push Rutgers over the Princeton. The Tiger defense held Kelly to three goals on seven shots.

Reilly recognized that, as a team, Princeton made its shots when it counted most.

“There was good shooting from the guys on offense for sure,” Reilly said. “We didn’t get a lot of shots because Rutgers slowed it down. They really valued their possessions … We didn’t many shots on offense as a result.”

The Scarlet Knights had scored a total of 15 goals in their previous three games. The 13 goals they gave up last night was the second most surrendered by Rutgers in a game this season.

Mackenzie noted that the Tigers did a good job of sticking to their game plan throughout the matchup.

“I think we just came out and did what we were comfortable doing,” Mackenzie said. “The key was being ready to play. We had to be mentally ready, and we realized that coming back in the second half and that we just had to step up and execute our game plan.”

With the victory, the Tigers are now 19-1 against Rutgers since 1990. The Orange and Black also captured the Meistrell Cup, awarded annually to the victor in the Princeton-Rutgers matchup, for the fifth consecutive year.

Princeton opens Ivy League play this Saturday at Yale before facing off against No. 2 Syracuse next weekend in what could prove to be a key battle between two of the nation’s best lacrosse teams. The Tigers certainly will have some confidence heading into that pivotal game.