Men's Lacrosse: Princeton topples Syracuse at Giants Stadium

By the end of the game, the answer was clear.

No. 5 Princeton defeated No. 2 Syracuse 12-8, shut out Syracuse for nearly 15 minutes on two separate occasions and held the Orange to a season-low eight goals. Freshman goalie Tyler Fiorito finished with 15 saves for the Tigers and had a lot of support from a defense that made Syracuse’s high-octane offense look like it was running on cooking grease.

“When you know your goalie is playing well and he’s seeing the ball, you tend to get out and be a little more aggressive, making slides and checks that other times you’re a little hesitant on, and I thought that happened today,” head coach Bill Tierney said.

Syracuse head coach John Desko explained that the Orange tried to make adjustments in its shot placement during the course of the game, but it was unable to do so effectively.

“We were shooting the ball high today and wanted to go lower in the second half, and the guys didn’t adjust well,” Desko said.

The Tigers scored the first goal of the game and never trailed. Princeton opened the scoring with 10 minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the first quarter when sophomore attack Jack McBride tallied his 21st goal of the season.

Syracuse picked up its first man-up chance of the day three minutes later when Princeton senior long-stick defenseman Charlie Kolkin was on the wrong end of a pushing call.

The Tigers, who came into the game second-to-last among Division I teams in man-down defense, held steady against the top extra-man unit in the nation. The stand became a theme of the game, as Princeton denied Syracuse on all four of its man-up opportunities.

With five minutes remaining in the first quarter, Syracuse got on the board when midfielder Matt Abbott notched an unassisted tally. But McBride fired right back for the Tigers, scoring a second unassisted goal again on an arching run from behind the net. The teams traded goals once more before the quarter ended.

The second quarter started with two big saves from Fiorito on Syracuse’s first possession. Fiorito then cleared the ball himself and drew a slashing violation upon entering Syracuse’s box.

“I was a little nervous,” Fiorito said. “I didn’t even know there was a penalty. I was just getting ready to sprint all the way back down the field when I dropped it.”

The gutsy play paid off, as the Tigers would soon cash in on their first man-up chance of the day. With 10:25 remaining in the quarter, junior attack Scott Mackenzie fed senior attack Tommy Davis, who fired a bouncer past Syracuse goalie John Galloway.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Less than seven minutes later, senior midfielder Rich Sgalardi — the Tigers’ leader in assists — found senior midfielder Mark Kovler undefended 10 yards from the goal. Kovler fired home a blistering lefthanded shot, and the Tigers took a 5-2 lead.

With 2:36 remaining in the half, the Orange scored for the first time in nearly a quarter of play when attack Kenny Nims snuck a nifty shot past Fiorito. Sparking the offense from behind the goal, Nims snuck around the left side and squeezed a shot in between Fiorito and the inside post.

In the third quarter, Syracuse got two quick goals from midfielder Pat Perritt and Nims, and it seemed only a matter of time before the Orange’s dynamic offense would explode the way it did last week against Loyola.

But Princeton junior midfielder Paul Barnes won the faceoff following Nims’ goal, and after methodical movement of the ball, McBride found space and fired his third goal of the day.

A minute-and-a-half later, junior attack Rob Engelke took a feed from Mackenzie and one-timed a shot past Galloway to put the Tigers back up by two.

Syracuse responded with an unassisted goal from Perritt and looked to be in position to tie the game when Tiger sophomore attack Chris McBride was called for slashing with 4:52 remaining in the quarter.

This time, the Tigers didn’t just stop Syracuse’s man-up unit. They scored on it.

Senior short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Lesko picked up a loose ball off a bad pass and initiated a fast break. The play ended when Davis fed senior short-stick defensive midfielder Brendan Reilly, who fired high from the doorstep and scored his first goal of the season.

The teams traded goals once more before the quarter ended, with Syracuse attack Stephen Keogh and Kovler each scoring their second goals of the game.

In the fourth quarter, Princeton’s defense clamped down again. Princeton got two more goals from Sgalardi and one more from Kovler before Syracuse finally broke its second lengthy scoring drought in the game with a goal from midfielder Kevin Drew.

The Orange did not score between the 2:11 mark of the third quarter and the 2:13 mark of the fourth quarter, and its final goal made the score 12-8.

“We came in with a pretty specific game plan like what we’ve done all year, and we just stuck to it,” Sgalardi said.

Despite never leading, the Orange came out on top in a number of statistical categories. The Orange outshot Princeton 39-31, picked up 40 ground balls to Princeton’s 25 and won 15 of 23 faceoffs. These stats speak volumes about the efficiency of Princeton’s offense, something the Tigers have struggled with in recent years.

Syracuse rode well, especially in the second quarter when Princeton succeeded on only four of seven clearing attempts. And while the Tigers finished 16 of 21 on clears, Syracuse was 18 of 21.

But the two most telling statistics from the game were saves and extra-man opportunities. Syracuse’s zero-for-four performance with a man-up was a huge disappointment for the Orange, as extra-man goals are regular supplements to their usual offensive output.

The performance of the goalies was also strongly skewed in Princeton’s favor, as Fiorito’s 15 saves dwarfed Galloway’s seven.

“Obviously, I have a lot of weaknesses after this game. You can pick any one you want and write it down. I need to work on a lot of things,” Galloway said.

Galloway, who hung his head in shame and was on the verge of tears during the post-game press conference, came into the game with a 23-3 mark as Syracuse’s starting goalie. The Orange’s three losses with Galloway in the cage were all one-goal games, and one was an overtime loss. Saturday’s game was arguably the low point of Galloway’s young career.

Princeton was led offensively by Sgalardi, Jack McBride and Kovler. Sgalardi finished with two goals and two assists along with two forced turnovers, and he was named the game’s most valuable player. Jack McBride finished with three goals, and Kovler finished with three goals and an assist.

Mackenzie notched a goal and two assists, and Davis tallied a goal and an assist. Freshman defenseman Chad Wiedmaier picked up one ground ball and forced three turnovers, and sophomore long-stick defenseman Long Ellis picked up four ground balls and forced two turnovers.

Nims, Keogh and Perrit each scored two goals for the Orange. Abbott finished with one goal, one assist and 10 ground balls.

Both teams have quick turnarounds this week. Princeton takes on Penn tomorrow night, while Syracuse will welcome another Ivy League opponent, Cornell, at the Carrier Dome.