Men's Lacrosse: Princeton shoots to rebound

Now, head coach Bill Tierney’s team finds itself fifth in the poll and preparing for a game against Dartmouth (4-8, 1-3) with only a chance at sharing the Ivy title.

Princeton’s 10-7 loss last week to Cornell (9-2, 5-0) leaves the race for the Ivy title a bit more complicated than it was before.

With two games left in the regular season against Dartmouth and No. 13 Brown (11-2, 3-1), Princeton has a good chance to claim the Ivy crown and an even better opportunity to enter the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid.

If No. 2 Cornell beats Brown this weekend, the Big Red would be the outright Ivy champion. A victory by the Bears and a Princeton win over Dartmouth, however, would give the winner of the Princeton-Brown game next week a share of the Ivy title with Cornell.

With the end-of-the-year Ivy League tournament still a calendar year away from its inception, the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament will, unfortunately, not be awarded to the Tigers this season.

Chances are that Princeton will be a favorite for an at-large bid to the tournament, as the Tigers have accumulated impressive victories over No. 3 Syracuse, No. 7 Johns Hopkins and No. 10 University of Maryland, Baltimore County, all of which have come on the road.

That the Tigers find themselves in a better situation than they were last year cannot be doubted.

This time last year, Princeton sat on a 7-4, record heading into its matchups against Dartmouth and Brown.

The team went on to lose those road games and finish at 7-6, a highly uncharacteristic record for Tierney’s team. This year, the Tigers sit at a strong 10-2 with their final two games taking place in Class of 1952 Stadium.

Despite the possibly favorable conditions, the Big Green is not likely to prove a pushover. In its last game against No. 1 Virginia, Dartmouth showed just how dangerous it can be.

The Big Green carried its 6-5 lead into the opening minutes of the final quarter, only to lose on a cataclysmic offensive outburst from the Cavaliers in which Virginia scored eight goals in less than 12 minutes to claim the victory.

“Virginia is one of the most powerful offenses in the country, so when a team like that is held to five goals through the first three quarters of the game, you have to give credit to the defense they’re playing against,” senior attack Tommy Davis said. “We know that Dartmouth is capable of playing stifling defense, and we need to take advantage of the good scoring chances that we get throughout the game.”

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Whether or not its previous contest was a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence, Dartmouth’s offensive unit is still a force to be reckoned with. Led by Brian Koch’s 22 goals, the Big Green offense is very capable of catching fire.

A similarly weak 5-7 Dartmouth squad downed the Tigers 11-9 last year, but Princeton will not enter this weekend’s contest nearly as self-contented.

“Coming off of the loss to Cornell, this game is extremely important,” Davis said. “After what happened last year, we know that if we do not play well, Dartmouth can beat us. I think we need to keep the memory of last year’s game in mind going into Saturday’s game. That should provide more than enough motivation to keep us focused on how important this game is and how much we need to win.”

Depending on which Dartmouth defense shows up to play this weekend — the one that held Virginia to five goals in three periods or the one that allows a goal every five minutes — Princeton’s offense could find itself on the good side of target practice.

Davis, sophomore attack Jack McBride and senior midfielders Rich Sgalardi and Mark Kovler may receive some golden opportunities to pad their stat sheets. The prospect of facing a team that boasts a combined save percentage of .464, coupled with the rollover offensive frustration from the Cornell game, could prove to be the key to reviving the Tigers from their recent offensive slump.

Dartmouth is only one of three teams the Tigers have faced this season that has had less statistical success at faceoffs than Princeton has. Control of possession from the get-go will be a crucial factor in this upcoming game, especially considering that Princeton only scraped out five faceoff wins out of 19 opportunities in last week’s loss against Cornell.

Dartmouth edged out Princeton in last year’s game by winning 13 of 23 faceoffs.

Princeton’s success this year in the category will rest on the stick of junior midfielder Paul Barnes.

“Last year this game was tremendously disappointing and played a huge part in ruining our season,” senior tri-captain and midfield Brendan Reilly said. “All year long we have been saying that this season will be different. Saturday, we have the opportunity to prove that by giving Dartmouth the respect they deserve and coming ready to play.”

Play starts this Saturday at noon at Class of 1952 Stadium.