Men's Lacrosse: Princeton sneaks by Quakers

The Quakers (2-7 overall, 1-4 Ivy League) forced the game to overtime after scoring a goal with 59 seconds left in the fourth quarter to knot the match at nine. But the Tigers (9-1, 2-0) kept Penn at bay when sophomore attack Jack McBride got the ball and hit a cut right down the middle to Davis, who slammed the ball into the net and won the game for the Tigers.

Head coach Bill Tierney was satisfied with the way his offense played in overtime.

“During overtime, what you’ve got to try and do is get everybody thinking positively and try to get the faceoff,” Tierney said. “The offense was very clearheaded [in overtime] and threw good passes. They did a really good job of being patient for the first time all night.”

So far this year, the now-No. 2 Tigers have been indomitable, and they entered the game riding the momentum from their huge win over Syracuse. In contrast, the struggling Penn squad had just recently broken a six-game losing streak with a 9-6 win over Dartmouth. In spite of all this, the Quakers showed a ferocity on the field on Tuesday that shocked Princeton.

Though the Tigers failed to win the faceoff at the start the game, a Penn turnover gave Princeton possession in the opening minutes of the first quarter. Senior midfielder Rich Sgalardi quickly capitalized on the opportunity, gaining possession and finding senior midfielder Mark Kovler, who fired a shot into the back of the net for his 20th goal of the season 12 minutes, 52 seconds into the game.

This fiery start to the game, however, was short-lived, as Penn went on to score three unanswered goals and ended the first period with a 3-1 lead over the Tigers. During the first quarter, Princeton — a team that usually plays aggressively on offense — had made just one shot by the time Kovler found the back of the net. In the same amount of time, the Quakers had fired 12 shots. Additionally, Penn’s defense — normally a weakness for the Quakers — halted Princeton’s offense.

“Offensively, we got really sloppy,” Tierney said. “Each time we gave up the ball, they would hold it for a couple of minutes, and after these long possessions, they would score. We also weren’t winning faceoffs, which was killing us because they would take such long possessions.”

Heading into the second quarter, Penn won the faceoff and started to circle passes around the Princeton crease, eventually increasing their lead to 5-2.

At this point, the Tigers found a renewed sense of urgency and started to attack the goal. Junior midfielder Paul Barnes won the ensuing faceoff, and junior attack Scott Mackenzie dodged down the middle and shot the ball into the high corner of the net for a goal at the 6:05 mark of the second quarter.

Just a minute later, Davis scored another goal to cut the Princeton deficit to one. The Quakers managed to find the back of the net with 1:38 left in the first half and took a 6-4 lead into the locker room.

“It was a good second quarter offensively,” Tierney said. “We spent a lot of energy battling back, but we just never got that two-goal lead which put us on edge. [Penn] played hard and responded.”

The Quakers and the Tigers traded goals at the beginning of the third period to bring the score to 7-5 with 11:49 remaining in the third quarter.

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Penn once again won the faceoff after its goal, but it immediately turned the ball over. Princeton quickly cleared the ball, and Mackenzie came down the left side to score at the 10:51 mark, making the score 7-6.

Then, Barnes won his first faceoff of the second half after Mackenzie’s goal, and McBride gained possession. McBride took no time to find the back of the net for his 25th goal of the year and knotted the game at seven apiece with 10:40 left in the period.

After Davis notched his second goal of the game with 9:46 left in the third, Penn wisely called a timeout, and the 60-second break was enough to cool off the Tigers’ hot streak. Neither team scored for the rest of the period, and this dry spell continued more than seven minutes and into the final quarter.

Unfortunately for fans of the Orange and Black, it was the Quakers who broke the dry spell with a goal at 7:12, knotting the game at eight. But coming right out of a Tiger timeout, Davis fired the ball into the back of the net to give Princeton a 9-8 lead.

Though the Tigers won in overtime, the game was anything but satisfying for Princeton. With the Tigers winning just eight of 23 faceoffs and Penn outshooting them 33-23, Princeton was lucky to come away with the victory.

Tierney knows that his team will have to play better when it faces Harvard on Saturday at Class of 1952 Stadium.

“Harvard’s a much better team than Penn, and if we play like we did tonight, it’s going to be really tough to win,” Tierney said. “We’ve got to get ready for Harvard with two days of practice. We will be ready.”