Men's Lacrosse: Back with a vengeance

For a lot of people, the number 13 is extremely unlucky. But for freshman midfielder Mike Chanenchuk, that feared number has been a lucky charm.

Chanenchuk, who wears number 13 for the men’s lacrosse team, has been a breakout star for No. 5 Princeton (5-1 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) this season. In his six games with the Tigers, Chanenchuk has racked up 14 goals and five assists, leading the team in scoring.

Though Chanenchuk plays with poise, his road to success has not been easy. Last year, the 5-foot-10-inch midfielder from Poquott, N.Y., suffered an injury to his back, causing him to redshirt his freshman year.

“I came in last year as a freshman and, right at the beginning of the season in early February, I broke a vertebra in my back,” Chanenchuk said. “That’s the reason I left school for a medical leave.”

Chanenchuk’s teammates are happy that he is back on his game.

“Mike is a great teammate and an awesome kid to play with,” junior attackman Chris McBride said. “He really understands the ins and outs of the offense. He knows when to push the ball and when not to.”

The offense that McBride is referring to is the new high-octane attack implemented by new head coach Chris Bates. Under Bates, Princeton is averaging 12.2 goals per game.

Chanenchuk said that learning Bates’s style of offense was simple.

“For me, it wasn’t too hard because I grew up playing with my dad, and he would play run-and-gun,” Chanenchuk said. “It’s a similar style, so the offense was right up my alley. It’s been fun, and it’s pretty easy for me.”

Coming back from his injury, Chanenchuk has wasted no time finding the back of the net, especially in big moments. In the Tigers’ season-opening 17-14 victory over No. 6 Hofstra, Chanenchuk notched two goals and one assist. He also scored a hat trick in Princeton’s tough 12-11 loss to No. 2 North Carolina on March 16 and got another hat trick in Saturday’s 11-10 overtime victory over Penn.

For Chanenchuk, the highlight of his season so far was the statement win over Hofstra.

“That was my first game and Bates’s first game,” Chanenchuk said. “We lost to them last year. They are a great team. It was awesome to get a win for our freshman class, and it was nice to beat them at home.”

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Based on his success this season, it should come as no surprise that Chanenchuk picked up a lacrosse stick at an early age. Chanenchuk started playing competitively when he was in sixth grade, and his father played at the U.S. Naval Academy.

The talented freshman noted that his high school experience at St. Anthony’s, a private school in Long Island, prepared him well for the collegiate game.

“Our league was pretty good, and we played a lot of good teams,” Chanenchuk said. “The biggest difference between high school and college is that at the collegiate level, the players are a lot faster. I had to adapt to that.”

At St. Anthony’s, Chanenchuk earned All-America status. Coming out of high school, he was recruited by many Division I schools and was ranked 19th in Inside Lacrosse’s Power 100 for incoming freshmen.

Though he was heavily recruited by several top schools, Chanenchuk said that Princeton was always his first choice.

“Growing up, I always went to the Final Four,” Chanenchuk said. “That was the late ’90s, and Princeton was always in the Final Four. In sixth grade, I wrote ... that I wanted to play lacrosse at Princeton.”

His teammates are certainly glad that Chanenchuk decided to play for the Tigers.

“Mike has one of the best shots on the team,” McBride said. “Also, one quality that Mike is really good at is how he can change speeds during a dodge. I think that’s one of the things that makes Mike so hard to cover, and it has really been showing in games.”

This skill was evident in Princeton’s 11-10 overtime win over No. 12 Johns Hopkins. On the Tigers’ first possession of the game, Chanenchuk made a quick, decisive cut. When he saw junior attackman Jack McBride racing toward the net, Chanenchuk passed to him, and he buried the ball in the back of the net.

Chanenchuk attributes his early season success to Bates’s offensive strategy.

“It’s more of an up-tempo style of play,” Chanenchuk said. “They just let us be athletes and make decisions, instead of having set plays. On our offense, we just work well with each other and trust each other.”

Above all, though, Chanenchuk’s teammates view him as a tremendous talent that the Tigers are lucky to have.

“It’s scary to think that he is just a freshman,” Chris McBride said.

Indeed, when number 13 has the ball in his stick, it certainly can be scary for the other team.