Princeton University Athletics
Boyle-ing Point
April 03, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
April 3, 2001
Philadelphia, Pa. - Boyle Leads Princeton Past Penn Tigers reach 19-goal mark for first time since 1998
Philadelphia, Pa. - Freshman Ryan Boyle, playing less than half the game, had two goals and six assists to lead second-ranked Princeton to a 19-8 win over Pennsylvania at Franklin Field.
The victory was Princeton's 33rd straight in the Ivy League and 12th straight over Penn. The Ivy League record for consecutive victories is 39, set in the mid-seventies by Cornell. Princeton improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the league, while Penn slipped to 3-4 and 1-3.
Boyle's six assists were the most by a Princeton player since Kevin Lowe had six against Rutgers in 1993, and his eight points were the most by a Princeton player in a game since Jesse Hubbard had nine against Hobart in 1996.
"We wanted to come out and set the tempo for this game," said Boyle, who came out of the game late in the second quarter and then played less than a minute of the second half. "In our last game [a 13-4 win over Yale], we waited to see what Yale was doing. This time, we wanted to establish ourselves right away." Princeton's previous game at Franklin Field was the lone one-goal win in the current Ivy streak, a 9-8 Tiger victory that saw Princeton trail 7-3 in the third quarter and hold off a Penn breakaway in the final 10 seconds. This time, the game lacked any such drama.
Boyle scored both of his goals and had the first three of his assists in the first 8:38 of the game as Princeton built a 6-0 lead. The Tigers reached their 19th goal of the day with 10:47 remaining and then went into head coach Bill Tierney's self-imposed mandate against scoring a 20th. It was the first time since 1998 that Princeton has reached the 19-goal mark, Tierney's Tigers had done so nine times in 30 games prior to that.
"It's been awhile," said Tierney, who substituted freely in the second half. "I thought they were very loose warming up, and that usually means one of two things. This time, the right thing happened."
Matt Striebel opened the scoring on an assist from Boyle at the 1:45 mark, and then Boyle scored two straight goals nine seconds apart and added an assist on a B.J. Prager goal 23 seconds after that to make it 4-0. After a Kyle Baugher goal, Boyle fed Prager for another goal to make it 6-0. It was 7-2 at the quarter and 13-4 at intermission. "Guys were hitting their shots," said Boyle, who leads the Tigers in scoring (11-15-26). It felt good. I'm getting more comfortable out there. Earlier in the season, I didn't want to force things. This time, guys were open, and I threw it to them. They could just catch it and shoot."
Sean Hartofilis had four goals for Princeton, while Doneger, Prager, Rob Torti and Brendan Tierney had two each. Tierney added an assist, while Drew Casino had the first two points of his career with a goal and assist.
Todd Minerley and Sonny Sarker had two goals each for Penn.
Prager's two goals extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one to 26, while Hartofilis has scored in 12 straight.
Princeton was playing its fifth straight road game in a 17-day period, but the Tigers now finish the regular season with four home games in five weeks. Princeton hosts Brown Saturday (1 p.m.) at the Class of 1952 Stadium, where Princeton has never lost an Ivy League game.
"It didn't seem like that big a deal when we started this stretch," Tierney said. "Only one game [at Syracuse] was an overnight trip, and we had four other close trips. But I think we're a little tired now. It'll be good to play at home. Of course, the last game of the stretch was the best one. We came out early and got on top and played very well. Everybody got to play. It was a good game for us."
Princeton (6-1, 2-0) 7-6-5-1 -- 19 Pennsylvania (3-4, 1-3) 2-2-1-3 -- 8
Princeton scoring Ryan Boyle 2-6, Sean Hartofilis 4-0, Matt Striebel 1-1, B.J. Prager 2-0, Brendan Tierney 2-1, Rob Torti 2-0, Jason Doneger 2-0, Drew Casino 1-1, Kyle Baugher 1-0, Matt Bailer 1-0, Brad Dumont 1-0, Chris Harrington 0-2, Dan Clark 0-1.
Pennsylvania scoring Sonny Sarker 2-0, Todd Minerley 2-0, Mike Iannacone 1-0, Will Phillips 1-0, Scott Solow 1-1, Alex Kopicki 1-0, Scott Marimow 0-1.