Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Hosts Cornell As Ivy Men's Lacrosse Race Heats Up
April 22, 2004 | Men's Lacrosse
April 22, 2004
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Princeton enters the Cornell game Saturday as the lone unbeaten in Ivy League men's lacrosse at 3-0, but Cornell is as much in the driver's seat for the league's automatic bid as the Tigers. The Big Red, 3-1 in the league, would clinch at least a tie for the title and would earn the automatic bid with wins over Princeton and Brown in the last two league games.
On the other hand, a Princeton win over Cornell would leave the Tigers two games ahead of the Big Red in the loss column with two games to play. Dartmouth, too, is still in the thick of the league race at 2-1; Brown has two league losses, and everyone else has been mathematically eliminated.
No. 5 Princeton vs. No. 11 Cornell
The site Class of 1952 Stadium * Princeton, N.J.
The date Saturday, April 24, 2004 * 12:00 p.m.
Radio www.goprincetontigers.com
The records Princeton: 7-2 (3-0 Ivy League); Cornell: 6-3 (3-1 Ivy League)
The coaches Princeton: Bill Tierney (19th season overall, 222-66); Cornell: Jeff Tambroni (fourth season overall, 33-17)
The series Princeton leads 35-26-2
Last year Princeton defeated Cornell 17-9 * April 20, 2003
On the one hand - Princeton wins over Cornell this week and Dartmouth next would give Princeton the outright Ivy League championship.
On the other hand - A Cornell win over Princeton this week and Brown next week would give the Big Red at least a share of the Ivy title and would clinch the Ivy League automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. ln case you were wondering - Penn, Yale and Harvard have all been mathematically eliminated from the Ivy League men's lacrosse race. It is also mathematically impossible to have a four-way tie for the championship, though several different three-way ties are possible. Brown would be eliminated with a loss in any of its three remaining games.
Back and forth - Princeton went 21-1-2 in the first 24 games of the series with Cornell. The Big Red then won 24 if the next 25 games; Princeton has since won 13 of the last 14.
No place like home - Cornell has not won in Princeton since 1988; Cornell did not lose in Princeton between 1964 and 1988.
Us or them - Either Princeton or Cornell or both has won the Ivy League men's lacrosse championship 38 of the 48 years it has been awarded.
A perfect 10? - Peter Trombino has at least one goal in each of the first nine games this season; the Princeton record for consecutive games with at least one goal to start a freshman season is 10, set by Lorne Smith in 1996.
The whammy - Princeton has defeated Cornell eight straight times.
Career day - Jason Doneger scored a career-high seven goals against Cornell last year.
History lesson - Ryan Boyle had seven assists against Cornell a year ago. It is Princeton's highest single-game total in the last 194 games, dating to a nine-assist performance by Kevin Lowe against Yale in 1991.
Aw, shoot - Princeton has taken one more shot than its opponents (282-281).
More shoot - Princeton has 21 more goals than its opponents (97-76) despite having taken only one more shot than its opponents (282-281).
Extra man-ia - Princeton has two more extra-man goals than its opponents (10-8) despite having 33 more extra-man opportunities (54-21).
Fresh faces - Princeton starts three freshmen on offense (Peter Trombino on attack, Whitney Hayes and Scott Sowanick at midfield), has another freshman on the second midield (Michael Biles) and has two freshmen at longstick midfield (Zachary Jungers, John Bennett).
More fresh - Princeton's freshmen have combined to score 32 goals in nine games; Princeton's freshmen last year combined for one goal, and Princeton's freshmen the year before combined for no goals.
Last fresh - Princeton's freshmen combined for nine goals and eight assists in Princeton's wins over Penn and Harvard last week.
Boyle-ing point - Ryan Boyle has at least one point in all 51 games of his career.
More Boyle - Ryan Boyle leads Princeton in scoring with 33 points, nine more than second-place Jason Doneger. Should Boyle lead Princeton in scoring for the season, he would join Kevin Lowe '94 as the only players in school history to lead the team in scoring for four years.
Streaker - Jason Doneger has scored at least one goal in 25 straight games, the third-longest streak in Princeton history: Player Consecutive Games With At Least One Goal Chris Massey (1995-98) 46 Scott Conklin (1993-95) 28 Jason Doneger (2001-present) 25
Last streaker - Jason Doneger, Peter Trombino and Drew Casino all have at least one goal in each game this season.
We're honored - Ryan Boyle is the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week; Peter Trombino is the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week.
More honored - Peter Trombino has been the Ivy League Rookie of the Week twice this season.
Can you spare a dime? - Ryan Boyle is fourth in Division I and first in the Ivy League in assists with 25.
Poll cats - Princeton is ranked fifth in this week's USILA poll.
Double play - After scoring one goal in each of the first five games, Peter Trombino has scored two goals in each of his last four games.
Triple play - Scott Sowanick had his first career three-goal game in last week's win over Harvard.
A little Hayes-ee - Whitney Hayes has six assists in the last three games; he had three assists in the first six games.
Oliver's story - Oliver Barry's assist against Penn was the second by a Princeton longstick this season. Ryan Schoenig, who plays longstick and shortstick defense, had a goal against Quinnipiac.
Casino royale - Drew Casino has 14 goals this season; he had nine for the first three years of his career combined.
Been there, done that - When UConn won the men's and women's NCAA basketball championships this year, it marked the second time the same school has won NCAA men's and women's championships in the same team sport in the same year. Princeton won the 1994 men's and women's lacrosse championship.
Local headlines - Brothers Dixon Hayes (shortstick defense) and Whitney Hayes (four goals, two assists) are graduates of Princeton High School.
All in the family - Freshman Michael Biles, who had his second career goal last week against Hofstra, is the younger brother of Princeton junior Lindsey Biles, the second-leading scorer on the two-time defending NCAA champion and current No. 1 women's lacrosse team.
Sink or swim - Peter Trombino, Scott Sowanick and Zachary Jungers became the 10th, 11th and 12th Princeton players in the last 10 years to start the first game of their freshman season.