Princeton University Athletics
Sims Leads Princeton Past Hobart
May 06, 2000 | Men's Lacrosse
May 6, 2000
Geneva, N.Y. - Men's Lacrosse * May 6, 2000
SIMS LEADS PRINCETON PAST HOBART Tigers, Statesmen look ahead to NCAA pairings
GENEVA, N.Y. - Josh Sims tied his career high with five goals and Princeton's defense dominated in the first half to lead fifth-ranked Princeton to a 12-6 win over No. 12 Hobart in front of 1,444 at Boswell Field.
Princeton and Hobart had already earned automatic bids to the NCAA tournament as conference champions, and they will find out the pairings Sunday night at 7:30. Princeton, the Ivy League champion, finished its regular season at 10-2, with losses only to the two top-ranked teams in the country (Virginia and Syracuse). Hobart, the Patriot League champ, finished 7-6.
Hobart scored two of its six goals 13 seconds apart in the third quarter in a shorthanded situation.
"Hobart is a very good team," said Princeton defenseman Scott Farrell. "We had a lot of respect for them coming in. To us it was like a playoff game. We figured if we won, we could get a first round bye. We had a playoff mentality." Princeton led 6-1 at the end of the first quarter and 9-1 at intermission. Hobart got no closer than five goals in the second half.
"I was thrilled and yet surprised with the way we came out," said Princeton coach Bill Tierney, who has coached his team to five NCAA championships in the last eight years. "Hobart has been a team that has consistently gotten off to good starts. We needed to score early, and we did. We got some good breaks, and we took advantage of them."
Princeton's Matt Striebel started the scoring five minutes in, and Hobart's Kevin DeWall evened it at 1-1 a minute later. The Statesmen would not score again until three minutes into the third quarter, a span of 27:07.
By that time, Princeton led 9-1 and Sims had scored three of his five. Sims' five goals gave him 96 for his career, moving him past Lorne Smith into sixth place all-time at Princeton and first place all-time among Princeton midfielders.
"That kind of stuff is something that will be always be special to me," Sims said. "It's not really something that I'll think about until after my career is over. For now, I'd like to see what we can do as a team from here on."
Hobart's two shorthanded goals, by Jared Bebee and Jason Ouellet, were followed by an extra man goal by Bebee to make it 9-4 Princeton. Sims then scored two straight to make it 11-4 early in the fourth quarter.
For Sims it was his fourth career five-goal game, including two this year. He now has 29 goals for the season.
"Our defense is solid," said Sims, a two-time first-team All-America. "Our young guys are really improving. Our only real concern is our offense. We're playing without B.J. [Prager, who was Princeton's leading goal scorer before he tore his ACL four games ago], and we're still trying to deal with that. I thought we did a good job today."
Striebel finished with two goals and an assist, while Rob Torti had two goals. Torti, who has been slowed by injuries all season, had just one for the year prior to the Hobart game. Bebee was the only Hobart player with more than one goal.
"We've done everything we can do," Tierney said. "Now it's up to the powers that be. I thought we played a very good game today against a very good team. Now we'll see where we go from here."
NOTES - Trevor Tierney made 14 saves while allowing five goals for Princeton in 58 minutes. He improved his save percentage for the season to .656 and his goals-against average to 7.33 ... Princeton outshot Hobart 51-27 ... Princeton had a 13-9 edge in face-offs ... Princeton has now allowed four shorthanded goals on the season ... Of Princeon's 12 regular season games, none was decided by fewer than three goals ... Of Princeton's 12 regular season games, six were against teams in the Top 12. Princeton went 4-2 in those games ... Striebel, Princeton's assists leader with 21, scored two goals against Hobart after scoring two goals in the last eight games combined ... Damien Davis shut out his man for the sixth time in the last seven games ... Sean Hartofilis, Matt Bailer and Dan Clark also scored goals for Princeton