Men's Lacrosse: No. 2 Blue Jays solve Princeton’s defense

“I give Hopkins credit, but I think we played subpar defense,” head coach Chris Bates said. “I think our defense was tired, and that was a disciplined offense that Hopkins was playing.”

Emotions were certainly not lacking on either side during the contest. Tempers began flaring on both ends when a Hopkins defenseman pushed over junior midfielder Tucker Shanley. Princeton teammates contested the non-call, but no penalty was given.

Those emotions came to a head after a Hopkins attackman connected for a questionably-legal body check on sophomore midfielder Nick Fernandez in front of the benches, sending him sprawling to the turf. No foul was called, and players on both sides cleared the benches toward the action. The teams almost came to blows but were eventually quelled by referees and coaches.

Adding to the tempers was the Blue Jays’ offensive strategy of slowing down the pace of play. Johns Hopkins took an early 3-2 lead at the end of the first period, and from there, the mood of the game changed for Princeton. The Blue Jays slowed down the pace of play even further, leaving Princeton with no opportunities to find the net.

“They clearly stalled for three or four minutes, and that’s tough on the offensive end,” Bates said. “You lose any kind of momentum there.”

During its second possession of the second quarter, Hopkins passed around the far edge of the crease for a six-minute possession that eventually only ended in a missed shot. Princeton finished the second quarter without a single shot, and of the few opportunities they had to carry the ball, the Tigers turned possession over to the Blue Jays six times.

Even with overwhelming advantage holding the ball, Hopkins still struggled to find the goal during the quarter until John Greeley dodged a check from senior defenseman Chad Wiedmaier to find a crease on the right side of senior goalie Tyler Fiorito for a goal with seven minutes left in the half.

“We’re a great defensive team, and we did things we normally don’t do, and they took advantage of it,” Fiorito said. “They had long possessions, and they capitalized on those possessions.”

Hopkins attackman John Ranagan followed three minutes later; after taking the pass on the Princeton side for a successful clear and then running through the middle of the Tiger defense, he rocketed a solo shot over the shoulder of Fiorito. The Tigers ended the first half down 5-2 with little momentum to speak of.

Mark Goodrich added to the Tigers’ troubles when he stood out on the right side of the crest and snapped a ball pass into the goal to provide an imposing four-goal lead.

With five minutes left in the third quarter, junior attackman Forest Sonnenfeldt took a pass from behind the cage and knocked a shot into the bottom left side for a huge goal that ended a 25-minute goal drought for the Tigers.

But at the start of the fourth quarter, the hopes of a comeback would die for the Tigers after Hopkins caused several turnovers and capitalized. The Blue Jays scored four goals in a period in which Princeton needed the time to build back the game.

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The Tigers only created scoring chances with six minutes left in the fourth. Three different players found the net with the small amount of time available, but the efforts came up short, giving Hopkins the latest win in the series after three straight losses.

Princeton held possession for the early parts of the game and took advantage. The Tigers handled the ball for the first four minutes of the first quarter, passing around the crease until sophomore midfielder Tom Schreiber dished out a pass to Shanley.

Hopkins responded soon afterwards when attackman Zach Palmer came from behind the crease to pass out to Goodrich on the right side of the goal. Goodrich whipped the ball back over the head of Fiorito to tie the game. Hopkins won the following face-off and slowed down the speed of the attack despite several stall warnings.

Hopkins shot another two goals past Fiorito, driving the Tigers into a two-goal slump, lessened only by an unassisted rocket shot from junior midfielder Jeff Froccaro to the feet of the Hopkins goalie at the last seconds of the first quarter.

While fans may have anticipated difficulties with the Tigers’ offense given their track record last year, Hopkins cut through the Princeton defense during this year’s match.

The Tigers’ defense boasts three players drafted by Major League Lacrosse, which should signal the strength of the backfield, but the match against Hopkins showed a potential area of concern.

Princeton will look to redeem itself when it travels to Baltimore, Md., to take on No. 4-ranked North Carolina next Saturday in the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic.