Princeton University Athletics
Harrington Leads Balanced Attack Past No. 18 Harvard
August 20, 1999 | Men's Lacrosse
April 11, 1998
John Harrington scored two goals and had seven ground balls to lead second-ranked Princeton to a 15-7 win over No. 18 Harvard in a men's lacrosse game played in front of 2,269 at Ohiri Field.
Princeton (6-1, 3-0 Ivy League) was without Jon Hess, last year's Ivy League Player of the Year and this year's national leader in assists per game. Without Hess, who missed the game with a hamstring injury, Princeton had seven different players score a goal and had six score at least two.
"You have to have people step up" Princeton coach Bill Tierney said. "Last year, when Jesse [Hubbard] was out for three games, we had other guys come forward. We had to take a chance on resting Jon, or this thing could linger all year."
John Wynne, who played in place of Hess, had two goals and one assist, all in the first half.
Harrington's two goals gave the longstick six for his career, which moved him past David Morrow for the most by a Tiger longstick in Tierney's 11 years as head coach. Harrington also led a defense that held Harvard scoreless for a 19:56 stretch between the third and fourth quarters as the Tigers put the game away.
Princeton's defense has not allowed more than 10 goals in any game and not more than eight goals to an Ivy League team in its last 12 games. Princeton has won 16 straight Ivy games.
"We've all been playing together for a long time," Harrington said. "We're pretty comfortable together. When we're playing well and stay away from the letdowns, we're tough to score against."
Harvard (6-3, 3-1) and Princeton entered the game as the lone Ivy unbeatens, just as has been the case each of the last three years. Princeton had won the previous two games by an average score of 18-8.
Freshman Rob Torti and senior Chris Massey led Princeton with three goals each, and Torti scored two of his three in the first 5:38 to make it 2-0 Princeton. Torti would match his previous goal total for the season with the three.
"I thought this was our best game of the year," Torti said. "All week long we focused on this as the Ivy League championship game, and I thought our intensity was there throughout the game."
Princeton led 4-2 at the end of the first quarter and 9-4 at intermission. The Tigers had not allowed a third quarter goal in their last 55:01 dating back four games, but Harvard scored 51 seconds after halftime to make it 9-5. It was 10-6 when the Crimson scored with 3:36 gone in the third, but Princeton then held the Crimson off the board for almost 20 minutes - running its streak of consecutive games with at least one scoreless stretch of at least 11:03 to 67 - while building a 13-6 lead.
Massey extended his school-record streak of consecutive games with at least one goal to 42. Jesse Hubbard and Seamus Grooms also had two each. Corey Popham made nine saves in goal.
Princeton had a 46-29 edge in ground balls, led by Harrington's seven and five each from Chris Berrier and Lorne Smith.
Princeton hosts Cornell next Saturday, April 18, at the Class of 1952 Stadium.
Scoring summary:
Princeton 4 5 4 2 - 15 Harvard 2 2 2 1 - 7Goals: H, Lawson DeVries 2, Doug Crofton 2, Jim Bevilacqua, Roger Buttles, Dana Sprong, P, Chris Massey 3, Rob Torti 3, Jesse Hubbard 2, Seamus Grooms 2, John Harrington 2, John Wynne 2, Josh Sims.
Assists: H, Bevilacqua, Crofton, Sprong, Owen Leary, P, Torti, Wynne, Lorne Smith, Mark Whaling, Christian Cook, Matt Striebel.
Saves: H, Keith Cynar, 60 minutes, 14 saves, 15 gaa, P, Corey Popham, 55 minutes, 9 saves, 7 gaa, P, Trevor Tierney, 3 minutes, 2 saves, P, Neal DiBello, 2 minutes, 0 saves.
Shots: H 38, P 41 Face Offs: H, 14 of 25, P, 11 of 25 Clears: H, 21x 28, P, 20x26 Ground Balls: H 29, P 46 Extra Man: H, 0x2, P, 2x5 Penalties: H, 6x5:30, P, 2x1:30
Attendance: 2, 269