Princeton University
Johns Hopkins
No. 3 Princeton Falls To No. 1 Hopkins In Men's Lacrosse Opener Despite Sowanick's Four
March 05, 2005 | Men's Lacrosse
March 5, 2005
Final Stats
Jake Byrne and Scott Sowanick are both sophomores who are making the move from midfield to attack this spring. The transition is off to a good start for both, though Byrne came away feeling better about the final result.
Byrne scored three goals and Kyle Harrison started Johns Hopkins off with a goal 39 seconds into the game to lead the top-ranked Blue Jays to a 9-6 win over No. 3 Princeton in the season opener for both Saturday afternoon.
Sowanick scored a career-high four goals for the Tigers.
Princeton now plays at Virginia, a 12-11 winner of Syracuse, next Saturday night (7).
The game, played on a field bordered with snow drifts six feet high, drew a chilled crowd of 6,325, the largest crowd in Class of 1952 Stadium history. The previous record was the 6,186 who saw Princeton play Syracuse a year ago. "It was about momentum," Sowanick said. "They came out quickly and got on top, and they were going to be hard to catch. They're a very good team, and when you play good teams - like them or us - you can't let them get the momentum."
Hopkins scored three times in the first 6:08 and then added a fourth goal as time expired in the first quarter to take a 4-0 lead. The Blue Jays, who have been the No. 1 seed in each of the last three NCAA tournaments, scored the first two goals of the second quarter - including one when Princeton accidentally scored in its own goal - to lead 6-0.
Princeton, playing its first game without Ryan Boyle, who graduated last year after leading the team in scoring each of the last four seasons, broke through when Sowanick scored three times in the final 6:52 before intermission to make it 7-3 at the break.
"We have to get used to playing without Ryan," Sowanick said. "But we had Ryan last year, and these guys beat us then. We'll be fine. We have to move forward from this, and I'm confident we will."
JHU scored the only two goals of the third quarter to lead 9-3, but Princeton made a game of it on goals from Jason Doneger, Sowanick and Whitney Hayes. The Tigers had several opportunities in the final three minutes but could get no closer.
"We dug too much of a hole," Doneger said. "You can't fall behind like we did against Johns Hopkins. Once they get on a roll, they're tough to stop."
Hayes finished with a goal and two assists, while Peter Trombino had an assist for Princeton. Trombino did have his streak of consecutive games with at least one goal snapped at 15 after scoring at least one goal in every game last year.
Princeton had five of its six goals and all three of its assists come from its sophomore class. Princeton also started three freshmen in the game: defenseman Dan Cocoziello and first midfielders Pete Striebel and Bob Schneider.
Byrne scored three goals for the Jays, while Harrison had a goal and two assists. Paul Rabil scored twice for Hopkins, who had goalie Jesse Schwartzman make 10 saves.
Matthew Larkin made five saves for Princeton while playing the final three quarters. The Tigers outshot Hopkins 30-29 in the game. Hopkins outshot Princeton 28-15 through three quarters before Princeton had a 15-1 advantage in the fourth quarter.
"They did what they wanted to do," said Princeton coach Bill Tierney. "They want to overwhelm you a little. I was worried it was going to end up like last year [when Hopkins defeated Princeton 14-5], but we settled down. We have work to do, and we're going to move forward now."