Men's Lacrosse: Vicious laxers blast Dartmouth

The team got exactly what it wanted on Saturday when it crushed Dartmouth 16-2. No. 5 Princeton (9-2 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) secured its place in the first-ever Ivy League lacrosse tournament with the win and put itself in position to earn at least a share of the Ivy title.

Princeton got off to a slow start against the Big Green (3-6, 1-3). After the opening face-off, Dartmouth quickly got the ball and went on a long offensive possession. Though it maintained possession for a solid five minutes, the Big Green was unable to penetrate the Tigers’ back line and could not create any goal-scoring opportunities. Princeton did not fare any better on its own initial attack, as freshman midfielder Mike Chanenchuk was stopped short by a Dartmouth defender when he tried to break for the goal.

The first serious scoring chances for both teams came halfway into the first quarter. With about eight minutes left in the session, Dartmouth midfielder Towny Swiggett got open in front of the cage and ripped a shot at sophomore goalie Tyler Fiorito. Fiorito managed to barely deflect the shot with an athletic save that would set the tone for Princeton’s defensive play for the remainder of the game.

Just a few seconds later, Princeton recovered the ball and went on the attack. Senior attackman Rob Engelke, who initially drew little coverage from Dartmouth’s defense, got the ball behind the goal, took a sharp turn and found the back of the net with a powerful shot to put the Tigers up 1-0.

In what would become a recurring theme in the game, Princeton won the ensuing face-off and created a five-on-four situation which it was unable to convert into a goal. The Tigers retained possession of the ball, however, and continued to pressure Dartmouth’s defense with well-chosen shots that goalie Fergus Campbell was only barely able to stop.

After some back-and-forth play, Princeton’s attack unit streaked down the field in another five-on-four situation that junior attackman Jack McBride finished with an easy goal to make the score 2-0. Freshman midfielder Jeff Froccaro won the ensuing face-off, and less than a minute later, McBride found the back of the net yet again to put the Tigers up by three. McBride would go on to score five goals in the game and have two assists for a total of seven points, tying his career high in points.

With some help from freshman midfielder Chris White and another goal from McBride — his third in a three-minute span — Princeton ended the first quarter up 5-0. The second quarter went the same way as the first, with Froccaro, McBride, sophomore midfielder Peter Smyth and freshman midfielder Mike Chanenchuk combining for a total of six goals to make the score 11-0 in Princeton’s favor at the end of the half.

The story of the half — and of the game — was Princeton’s dominating performance on face-offs. The Tigers won 11 of 13 face-offs in the first half and 16 of 22 overall, putting them in full control of the game and allowing them to create multiple scoring opportunities with little difficulty.

“Once we got possessions with the face-offs and the offense was scoring goals, we were able to control the game,” Smyth said.

A combined five second-half goals from freshman attackman Forest Sonnenfeldt, freshman midfielder Tucker Shanley, sophomore attackman Alex Capretta and Chanenchuk solidified the Tigers’ 16-2 victory over the Big Green. Chanenchuk’s two goals in the game gave him a total of 22 for the season, making him only the sixth freshman in Princeton history to score 20 goals or more in his first year.

Dartmouth’s two goals came from attackman Ari Sussman and attackman Josh Etzion. Sussman, the Big Green’s leading goalscorer, was nearly shut out against Princeton — a testament to the Tigers’ strong defensive play.

“We haven’t had a game where we brought the defense, the offense and everything together,” Smyth said. “It was good to have a game like that today.”