Princeton University Athletics
Hart-Stopping
April 21, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
The win clinched at least a tie for the seventh-straight Ivy League championship for the Tigers (9-1, 5-0 Ivy), who also clinched the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Princeton won its 36th straight league game, three of the record set by Cornell (7-4, 4-1) in the 1970s.
Princeton trailed 3-1 at halftime and 4-1 after the Big Red's Andre Collins scored the first goal of the second half at the 3:02 mark. From there, however, Princeton did not allow Cornell to score, and Sean Hartofilis scored three consecutive goals as Princeton took control.
"We were confident at halftime, but we definitely wanted to score the first goal of the second half," Mollett said. "When they did that, even the most confident team starts to wonder if may it isn't their day. But we thought we could hold them on defense, and we thought our shots would start to fall." Cornell goalie Justin Cynar made 10 saves in the first half while allowing only one goal, and he and his defense completely stifled the Tigers for the first 36 minutes. Princeton had trailed for only 23 seconds total in its first four Ivy games and had won its previous two league games by a combined 30-3, but this day would be completely different.
Cornell scored first on a Michael Egan goal two minutes in, and after Matt Striebel tied midway through the first quarter, Cornell began to build its lead, using another goal by Egan late in the first and a goal by David Key late in the second for the 3-1 halftime score. Collins then scored on fastbreak feed from Galen Beers to make it 4-1 with 3:02 gone in the third quarter.
"Their goalie was very hot," Hartofilis said. "Our shots weren't falling, and he was making a lot of saves. I thought I was getting good looks, so I kept shooting. We figured sooner or later they'd have to start to fall."
Striebel's second, off a feed from Ryan Boyle, made it 4-2 with 8:32 left in the third, and then Hartofilis took over.
-- MORE -- Princeton 7, Cornell 4 April 21, 2001
His first goal, also from Boyle, came 55 seconds after Striebel's to make it 4-3, and he then took a feed from Striebel to tie it with four minutes left in the quarter.
It was 4-4 entering the fourth quarter, but Hartofilis put Princeton on top for the first time off a transition feed from Rob Torti with 12:05 to play. Kyle Baugher then made it 6-4 with 6:42 to go and B.J. Prager sealed it with a late goal to extend his consecutive games with at least one goal streak to 29 straight.
While Hartofilis and Boyle gave Princeton enough offense to win, it was the defense that made the biggest difference. Princeton held Cornell to three shots from Collins' goal until the final two minutes, when Cornell had four more shots. Princeton outshot the Big Red 49-21.
"I thought our defense did a great job," said Tiger coach Bill Tierney. "Cornell does what it does, and it does it very well. I'm proud of the way we hung in there. We were going through some tough times, and they hung in there."
Mollett held David Key, the Ivy League Player of the Week each of the last three weeks, to one goal. Princeton hosts Dartmouth next weekend (12 p.m.) at the Class of 1952 Stadium.
Princeton (9-1, 5-0) 1-0-3-3 -- 7
Cornell (7-4, 4-1) 2-1-1-0 -- 4
C 1st 1:57 Michael Egan 1 (J.P. Schalk 1)
P 1st 6:36 Matt Striebel 1
C 1st 10:57 Michael Egan 2
C 2nd 12:56 David Key 1 (Frank Santo 1)
C 3rd 3:02 Andrew Collins 1 (Galen Beers 1)
P 3rd 6:28 Matt Striebel 2 (Ryan Boyle 1)
P 3rd 7:23 Sean Hartofilis 1 (Ryan Boyle 2)
P 3rd 11:09 Sean Hartofilis 2 (Matt Striebel 1)
P 4th 2:55 Sean Hartofilis 3 (Rob Torti 1)
P 4th 8:18 Kyle Baugher 1
P 4th 14:50 B.J. Prager 1 (Ryan Boyle 3)
Goalies
P Trevor Tierney 60 minutes, four goals-against, six saves, C: Justin Cynar 60 minutes, seven goals-against, 15 saves
Shots P 49, C 21