When the men’s lacrosse team takes the field on Saturday at Yale, all eyes will be on the Tigers for a strong start. No. 5 Princeton (5-1 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) will take on the No. 19 Bulldogs (4-1, 0-1) at Reese Stadium for the second year in the row. This breaks with the teams’ tradition of alternating venues, a result of shuffling schedules this season to make room for the addition of an Ivy League tournament.
Last weekend, Yale fell to No. 9 Cornell 18-7 in Ithaca, N.Y., while Princeton recovered from a six-goal deficit against Penn to salvage its Ivy League home opener 11-10 in overtime. Though five Ivy League teams currently rank in the top 20, Penn is not one of them. The Tigers have had several strong performances so far this season, including a one-goal loss to No. 3 North Carolina and solid wins against No. 6 Hofstra and No. 12 Johns Hopkins. The unexpectedly close game against an unranked Penn team has renewed the Tigers’ focus.
“Last week was pretty crazy with the overtime win against Penn,” senior attackman Rob Engelke said. “We’re going to try and play a lot better this week: Make sure that we come out from the start, try to get the best start we can, and be focused and ready to go.”
“We need to get off to a better start this week,” head coach Chris Bates said. “We felt like we just put ourselves in a hole last week. For us, this week is [about] making sure we start the game well and give ourselves a chance — we have to not be playing from behind.”
Face-offs will be key on Saturday. While Princeton has beaten Yale in eight of the last 10 meetings, the Bulldogs have won a dominating 70 of 98 face-offs in the last five years. Last weekend, Princeton went four of 14 in the first three quarters against Penn, but controlled seven of 10 in the final quarter, which fueled their comeback. Freshman midfielders Bobby Lucas and Jeff Froccaro have both come up with more than half of their face-offs, with Lucas winning 23 of 42 and Froccaro going 37 for 70.
Both Yale’s and Princeton’s offensive lineups this season include a pair of threatening attackmen with the same last name. Junior attackmen Jack and Chris McBride rank second and third, respectively, in goals scored this season. Each McBride cousin has scored at least one tally in every game so far this year. The Bulldogs bring two brothers — senior attackman Brendan Gibson and sophomore attackman Matt Gibson — who have combined for 21 of the team’s 56 goals to date.
“We are excited to play against a good offense, but as the team’s focus has been all year, we are concerned with ourselves and what we do,” senior defenseman and co-captain Jeremy Hirsch said. “It’s about us.”
“Offensively we continue to want to share the ball and have to be patient so that we get good shots — not necessarily the first shot,” Bates said. “Defensively, Yale ... is a very talented group and we need to slow them down. That’s a side of the field that continues to need to get better and I think we will.”
The defensive unit will receive a boost with the return of sophomore defenseman Chad Wiedmaier, who earned preseason first-team All-America honors and is transitioning back into practice after being sidelined for the start of the season with a knee injury.
“We think he’s going to get some minutes this week,” Bates said. “You’ll see some of him, just not much.”
Two freshman stars have emerged early in the season: Midfielders Mike Chanenchuk and Froccaro have both earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors twice this season. Chanenchuk leads the Tigers in goals with 14. Froccaro is tied for third on the team with 10 goals, most recently scoring the overtime game-winner against Penn.
“Those guys have had critical importance to helping us be 5-1 at this point,” Bates said. “I don’t know if we’d be there without them. Bobby Lucas has provided a spark facing off in a few games. Jeff and Mike have just gotten us big goals this year. I think that’s taken some pressure off other guys.”
“The McBrides and [senior midfielder] Scott [Mackenzie] tend to get a lot of attention, so the fact that other guys are stepping up and playing well — [sophomore attackman] Michael Grossman is another guy who is playing well, and obviously Rob Engelke — that has allowed us to take a little pressure off guys who usually get a lot of attention,” Bates added. “[Freshman midfielder] Chris White has done another good job as a freshman logging some important minutes.”
With a win over the Bulldogs, Princeton will be in strong shape heading into its showdown the following Saturday with No. 2 Syracuse at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
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