Princeton University
Duke
Prager's Goal Lifts Princeton Past Duke In Third OT
April 05, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
April 5, 2002
Princeton did not get a point from its attackmen until the 69th minute of its game Friday night against Duke. It was well worth the wait.
B.J. Prager redirected a feed from Ryan Boyle that barely skipped past Duke's A.J. Kincel with 38 seconds gone in the third overtime to give No. 12 Princeton a 7-6 win over the eight-ranked Blue Devils in front of 2,512 fans at Class of 1952 Stadium. Princeton used the same combination of Prager from Boyle in overtime to defeat Syracuse in the NCAA championship game last Memorial Day.
"It was the luckiest goal of my career," said Prager, who has scored 101 in his career and is the only current Princeton player with an overtime goal. "It was a great feed from Ryan. I don't even know what happened. It hit my stick. It hit my shoulder. It went in." Princeton improved to 12-2 in overtime games in Bill Tierney's 15 years as Tiger head coach. Princeton and Duke are now each 4-4.
"It was a great game," Tierney said. "It was about two defenses that played great and two goalies who played great. It's great to win, but it's a tough way for them to lose."
Neither team had more than a one-goal advantage until Princeton took a 6-4 lead early in the fourth quarter on Brad Dumont's second goal. To that point, Princeton had six goals and two assists, all by the midfielders.
Duke tied it on goals 1:59 apart by Kevin Cassese and Matt Rewkowski, making it a 6-6 game with 5:53 remaining. Princeton had one more chance before turning the ball over, and Duke took over with 2:30 to go. The Blue Devils then held it deep behind Princeton's goal until the final 15 seconds of regulation before making a move, but they were unable to get a good shot.
Princeton won the face-off to start the first overtime, but Kincel stopped Josh White, who had two goals, on a move to the net at the 1:30 mark. The Blue Devils then held again until 15 seconds remained without attempting to get a shot off before Kevin Brennan started toward the goal. Anthony Perna forced the play into the middle, where Brian Lieberman rode Alex Lieske until time expired.
Duke then won the face-off for the second overtime and called timeout 13 seconds into the four-minute period. After the restart, the Blue Devils again held until the final 15 seconds before starting their play. This time, Damien Davis intercepted a feed in front as the second OT ended. At that point, Duke had held the ball for nine minutes of 10:30 but did not have a shot to show for it.
The Blue Devils won the face-off to start the third OT, but Kyle Baugher stripped the ball and then picked it up. Princeton called timeout and got the ball behind the net to Boyle, who had at least one point in every game of his career but was scoreless on the night to that point.
Boyle made a rush to the front of the cage and then fed Prager, who managed to get it past Kincel, who had been brilliant all night, to keep Boyle's streak alive and give Princeton the win.
"It was frustrating for a lot of the game," Prager said. "I'm an attackman. I want the ball in my end. When they were holding it, I was wondering if we'd get it back. But the defense was great, and we got another chance."
Cassese, the reigning ACC Player of the Year, had three of Duke's six goals. Dumont had an assist with his two goals, while Princeton also picked up goals from Owen Daly and Mark Pelligrino.
Kincel had 15 saves for the Blue Devils, who were outshot 45-22.
Duke finishes its weekend trip North in New Haven Sunday when it plays Yale. Princeton is off until April 13, when it travels to Harvard for the first of four straight Ivy League games to end the season. The Tigers return home April 20 against Cornell before playing at Dartmouth and at Brown. Should Princeton win all four, it would earn the Ivy League's automatic NCAA tournament bid.
Princeton Scoring (goals-assists)
Brad Dumont 2-1, Josh White 2-0, Owen Daly 1-0, Mark Pellegrino 1-0, B.J. Prager 1-0, Ryan Boyle 0-1, Matt Trevenen 0-1
Duke Scoring (goals-assists)
Kevin Cassese 3-0, Mack Hardaker 1-0, Matt Monfett 1-2, Matt Rewkowski 1-0, Kevin Brennan 0-1, Terrence Keaney 0-1
Goalies
Princeton - Julian Gould 69 minutes, 6 goals-against, 7 saves
Duke - A.J. Kincel 69 minutes, 7 goals-against, 15 saves
Team Quarter Time Goal Assist Score
Pr First 8:35 Josh White Pr, 1-0
D First 9:46 Kevin Cassese Matt Monfett T, 1-1
D First 10:36 Matt Monfett Terrence Keaney D, 2-1
P First 11:43 Owen Daly Matt Trevenen T, 2-2
D First 14:25 Mack Hardaker Matt Monfett D, 3-2
P Second 10:28 Mark Pellegrino Brad Dumont T, 3-3
P Second 13:32 Brad Dumont Pr, 4-3
D Third 3:22 Kevin Cassese Kevin Brennan T, 4-4
P Third 5:15 Josh White Pr, 5-4
P Fourth 4:50 Brad Dumont Pr, 6-4
D Fourth 7:08 Kevin Cassese Pr, 6-5
D Fourth 9:07 Matt Rewkowski T, 6-6
P Third OT :38 B.J. Prager Ryan Boyle Pr, 7-6