Men's Lacrosse: Ivy tournament to begin with rematch with No. 2 Cornell

The losers of a game rarely get the opportunity to exact revenge after just a week’s hiatus. The No. 15 men’s lacrosse team, however, will get that chance in the first round of the Ivy League tournament Friday at 8 p.m in Ithaca. The Tigers (8-5 Overall, 3-3 Ivy League) will look to add to their 38-35-1 all-time advantage over No. 2 Cornell — Princeton is the only Ivy League team to possess a winning record against the Big Red (12-2, 6-0).

Last year’s 14-9 stunner over Cornell at Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium added to the Tigers’ longstanding dominance and gave them home field advantage for the Ivy tournament.

This year, however, the Big Red's victory over the Tigers gave Cornell a home field advantage instead. Last Saturday in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic at MetLife Stadium, then-No. 12 Princeton stumbled hard when it let up eight goals in the first 21 minutes while scoring only one. Although they came up short, the Tigers outscored Cornell 10-9 over the final 39 minutes of the matchup.

The Tigers will need to make a few fundamental changes in order to win their next meeting with the Big Red. A win would put them in the Ivy championship game against either Penn or Yale, with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line.

Princeton ranks second in the league to Cornell in both total goals (159) and number of goals per game (12.23). Moreover, sophomore attack Mike MacDonald, senior attack Jeff Froccaro and junior offensive middie Tom Schreiber acquired 35 (2.69 gpg), 29 (2.23 gpg) and 25 (1.92 gpg) goals, respectively, during the regular season.

Last weekend, in their 17-11 loss to Cornell, MacDonald, Froccaro, Schreiber and their teammates struggled to prevent an overwhelming amount of ground-balling on Cornell’s part. Once Cornell’s All-American Rob Pannell forced two shots past sophomore goalie Eric Sanschagrin in the first 10 minutes, the Big Red established its confidence and refused to look back. Princeton also turned the ball over nine times in the first 23 minutes, despite averaging just over 14 per game coming in. Characteristic of its high-quality level of play throughout the season, Cornell converted four of the possessions resulting from those nine turnovers into goals.

After a dry spell in the first quarter, MacDonald helped pick up the pace when he scored less than two minutes into the second frame. But the momentum really appeared after the half when MacDonald capitalized on a man-up situation and brought the Tigers to a four-goal deficit. After being down 8-1 in the second quarter, the Tigers came within four five times, staying in the game but never breaking through.

The team’s 12.2 goals per game is its best since 1998. That year, including the post-season, Princeton averaged 14.5; it also won its third-straight NCAA title, the fifth of its six to date.

This year, Princeton saw six of its players earn All-Ivy honors. Schreiber received unanimous selection, giving him a first-team All-Ivy League selection in each of his three seasons. Only three players in the conference’s history have earned the distinction all four years: two Cornell players (one of whom is Pannell), and Princeton’s Chad Wiedmaier ’12. MacDonald also earned a first-team pick this year, while Froccaro made the second-team along with junior longstick middie Derick Raabe and sophomore offensive middie Kip Orban.

Freshman offensive middie Jake Froccaro was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and earned an honorable mention All-Ivy selection after scoring 22 goals with nine assists in the regular season. With one more assist, he would have joined Peter Trombino ’07 as the only freshmen in program history to acquire 20 goals and 10 assists in the stat column.

With handfuls of stars playing for each team, neither will leave the field at the first round Ivy Tournament matchup’s end without putting up a bitter fight. The teams will face off in Ithaca at 8 p.m. Friday, and the winner will go on to face either Penn or Yale in the Ivy League championship on Sunday.