Princeton University
Harvard
Sowanick Leads Princeton Past Harvard 13-4
April 17, 2004 | Men's Lacrosse
April 17, 2004
Final Stats
Cambridge, Mass. - Scott Sowanick scored two of his three goals during a four-goal burst to start the game and lead sixth-ranked Princeton to a 13-4 win over Harvard in front of 2,144 at Jordan Field Saturday afternoon.
Princeton scored four goals on its four shots in the first six minutes of the game, built the lead to 9-1 at halftime and led 12-1 in the third quarter.
"We've been coming from behind to win our last few games," said Sowanick. "We wanted a game where we could come out and dominate from the start. We knew it was important to come out and take control right away."
The win improved Princeton to 7-2 overall and 3-0 in the Ivy League, while Harvard slipped to 5-5, 1-3. With Cornell's win over Dartmouth Saturday afternoon, Princeton is the lone unbeaten team in the league, while Dartmouth and Cornell now have one loss each. Princeton hosts Cornell next Saturday and is at Dartmouth the following week in games that are likely to decide the Ivy champion.
Princeton, 75-5 in Ivy games since the start of the 1991 season, won its 25th straight Ivy road game. The Tigers, playing on the road for the first time in 34 days after five straight home games, wasted little time in getting started against the Crimson.
Sownick scored 4:17 in, and Jason Doneger made it 2-0 36 seconds later. Goals in the next two minutes by Ryan Boyle and Sowanick again made it 4-0 after six minutes. It would grow to 5-0 after one and 7-0 before the Crimson scored.
Sownick, a freshman, would finish with his first career three-goal game, while classmate Peter Trombino had two goals and two assists. Princeton's freshmen have now scored 31 goals in nine games.
Trombino has now scored at least one goal in all nine games, leaving him one away from tying Lorne Smith's record for most consecutive games with at least one goal to start a freshman season, set in 1996. Trombino also moved past Kevin Lowe and Jon Hess, the two leading scorers in Princeton history, into eighth place at Princeton for most goals scored in a freshman season (13).
In addition to the big day by the freshmen, which included an assist from Whitney Hayes, Princeton also saw junior Doneger score four goals, giving him 26 for the season and 67 in his last 24 games. Doneger has at least one goal in 25 straight games, three away from tying Scott Conklin for the second-longest streak in school history, behind the 46 straight of Chris Massey from 1995-98.
Ryan Boyle had a goal and three assists, all in the first half, moving him past the 200-point mark for his career. Boyle needs nine points to tie Jesse Hubbard for third all-time at Princeton and 13 to tie Hess for second.
Drew Casino had a goal and assists, giving him at least one goal in every game this season.
Harvard, who had defeated No. 10 Brown Wednesday, had four players score one goal each. Princeton outshot Harvard 33-31, 27-15 in the first three quarters.
"Our team chemistry is great," Sowanick said. "It's been really good all year, but it's getting better. We know we have to continue to win. We have to win every game. This was a good game for us."