Princeton University Athletics
Old Friends, New Friends: Princeton Hosts Harvard, Butler In Weekend Men's Lacrosse
April 14, 2005 | Men's Lacrosse
April 14, 2005
Princeton and Harvard first met in men's lacrosse on May 26, 1882. Princeton scored first before the Crimson rallied for a 3-1 win. The two meet for the 71st time as Harvard travels to Princeton Saturday (3, WHWH AM 1350), which will be followed by a game Sunday at 1 as Princeton hosts Butler, a team the Tigers have never before played.
Princeton, like Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown, enters the weekend knowing that wins in its remainging league games would ensure at least a tie for the Ivy championship.
Princeton vs. Harvard
The site Class of 1952 Stadium • Princeton, N.J.
The date Saturday, April 16, 2005 • 3:00 p.m.
Radio Moneytalk AM 1350/www.goprincetontigers.com
TV Patriot 8 (tape delay)
The records Princeton: 1-6 (1-1 Ivy League); Harvard: 4-4 (1-2 Ivy League)
The coaches Princeton: Bill Tierney (19th season overall, 227-74); Harvard: Scott Anderson (18th season, 130-116)
The series Princeton leads 50-19-1
Last year Princeton defeated Harvard 13-4 • April 17, 2004
Semper Fi - Jim O'Brien, a member of Princeton's first midfield unit, is the younger brother of former Harvard midfielder John O'Brien (Class of 2003), who is now a Marine Corps 2nd Lieutenant stationed in Falujah, Iraq. The members of Princeton's men's lacrosse team have adopted a pen pal program with the members of John O'Brien's platoon.
History lesson - Princeton has defeated Harvard 14 straight times, dating to a 12-6 Harvard win in the 1990 season.
More history - Princeton and Harvard meet for the 71st time in a series that dates to May 26, 1882; Princeton and Butler, whom the Tigers play Sunday, have never met.
Ivy update - Princeton would earn at least a share of its 11th straight Ivy League championship by winning each of its remaining four league games. More Ivy - Princeton would win the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by winning its remaining four Ivy games AND by having Yale lose one of its remaining league games, to either Harvard or Dartmouth.
Still more Ivy - Princeton could win the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by being involved in a three-way tie (at 5-1) or four-way tie (at 4-2) for the league title, though it might take a random draw to do so.
Last Ivy - Cornell and Dartmouth, who play Saturday afternoon in Hanover, are the lone remaining undefeated teams in the league entering this weekend. The Ivy standings, as of Brown's win over Harvard Tuesday: Cornell 3-0 Dartmouth 1-0 Yale 3-1 Princeton 1-1 Brown 1-1 Harvard 1-2 Penn 0-5
Close shaves - Princeton's first seven games were decided by a total of 15 goals.
More close - Dating to last season, Princeton's last nine games have been decided by a total of 17 goals. Of those nine games, five have been one-goal games.
No margin for error - Princeton entered the weekend having not had a lead of greater than two goals at any point of its first seven games.
Buzzer beaters - Princeton has allowed seven goals in the final 10 seconds of a quarter through seven games this season.
Playing from behind - Princeton has had the lead at the end of three of 28 quarters entering this weekend.
Fresh faces - Princeton has used eight freshmen in each of its last two games.
Youth movement - Of Princeton's 48 goals this season, 41 have been scored by freshmen or sophomores; of Princeton's 30 assists, 24 have come from freshmen or sophomores.
Net results - Princeton has had three different goalies start at least one game this season. Moving up the charts - Jason Doneger ranks 13th all-time at Princeton with 92 career goals. The all-time leaders: 163 Jesse H. Hubbard 1995-98 146 Christopher G. Massey 1995-98 126 Sean P. Hartofilis 2000-03 120 P. Justin Tortolani 1989-92 118 William J. Prager 1999-2002 114 Joseph S. (Wick) Sollers 1975-77 103 Joshua S. Sims 1997-2000 97 Scott R. Conklin 1992-95 Gerald A. Ronan 1980-83 94 William M. Chaires 1973-75 David H. Tickner 1975-77 Lorne D. Smith 1996-99 92 Jason M. Doneger 2001-present
Get to the point - Peter Trombino has at least one point in every game of his career. Only two Princeton players have ever had at least one point in every game for four years: Kevin Lowe '94, Ryan Boyle '04.
Three for all - Peter Trombino, Scott Sowanick and Whitney Hayes have at least one point in every game this season.
Open Mike - Sophomore Mike Gaudio has eight goals and one assist in his last five games; he had two points for his career prior to that.
Great Scott - Scott Sowanick leads Princeton in goals and assists. The last Princeton player to do so for a full season was David Tickner in 1976.
Old friends - Freshmen Alex Hewit, who has started the last two games in goal, and Dan Cocoziello, who has started every game on defense this season, were high school teammates a year ago at Delbarton School in North Jersey.
No place like home - Princeton has averaged 6,236.5 fans for its first two home games this season.
A league of their own - Princeton is 79-7 in Ivy League games since the start of the 1991 season.
Polling place - Princeton is unranked for the second straight week. Prior to that, Princeton had been ranked in every USILA poll since March 26, 1990.
It had to be Hewit - Alex Hewit made nine saves, including three in the overtimes, in Princeton's 6-5 win over Penn on April 5 in Hewit's first career start. He then made seven more saves against Rutgers last Saturday.
Tripp-le play - Tripp Shriner has two goals and two assists, all on extra-man opportunities.
Princeton Lacrosse '05 ... By The Numbers
0 number of meetings all-time between Princeton and Butler, who meet at Class of 1952 Stadium Sunday
1 career points for freshman Trip Cowin, who had his first career assist last week against Rutgers
2 largest lead at any point of any game that Princeton has had this season
3 Princeton players with at least one point in every game this season: Whitney Hayes, Scott Sowanick, Peter Trombino
4 Ivy League teams (Dartmouth, Cornell, Princeton, Brown) who would guarantee themselves at least a share of the league title by winning their remaining league games
5 one-goal games Princeton has played in its last nine games, dating to last season
7 goals allowed by Princeton in the final 10 seconds of a quarter this season
8 number of freshmen Princeton has played in each of its last two games
14 consecutive Princeton wins over Harvard
22 career games, of 22 played, with at least one point for Peter Trombino; only two players in Princeton history have had at least one point in every game of their careers for four years: Kevin Lowe '94, Ryan Boyle '04
41 goals scored by Princeton freshmen and sophomores this season while juniors and seniors have combined to score seven; in 2002 freshmen and sophomores scored 25 Princeton goals (21 of which were by Ryan Boyle), while juniors and seniors combined for 157
92 career goals by Jason Doneger; Peter Trombino, with 34, has the next-highest career total by a current Tiger
1976 last season in which Princeton had a player (David Tickner) lead the team in goals and assists; Scott Sowanick currently leads the team in both
1882 first year in which Princeton and Harvard played lacrosse
PROBABLE LINEUP Attack 20 Peter Trombino So. 10-6-16 4 Jason Doneger Sr. 6-1-7 5 Scott Sowanick So. 11-8-19
First Midfield 16 Jim O'Brien Jr. 1-4-5 8 Mike Gaudio So. 9-1-8 3 Whitney Hayes So. 5-5-10
Second Midfield 9 Pete Striebel Fr. 1-1-2 28 Bob Schneider Fr. 2-0-2 6 Michael Biles So. 0-0-0
Longstick Midfielder 36 Zachary Jungers So. 0-0-0 37 John Bennett So. 0-0-0
Defense 42 Oliver Barry Sr. 0-0-0 13 Tim Sullivan Sr. 0-0-0 1 Dan Cocoziello Fr. 0-0-0
Goal 15 Alex Hewit Fr. 6.47 GAA