Princeton University
Harvard
Players Mentioned
DeSantis Homecoming Helps No. 11 Princeton Past No. 17 Harvard
April 15, 2006 | Men's Lacrosse
April 15, 2006
Final Stats
Cambridge, Mass. - Bill Tierney smiled when asked what it was that made him turn to Mike DeSantis as his primary face-off man against Harvard Saturday afternoon.
Something he did in practice? Experience?
Nah. It was much simpler.
"He's from Massachusetts," Tierney said of the junior from Sudbury. "When you bring kids home, they always do well. That was it."
DeSantis, who had taken only 10 face-offs in the first nine games, won 7 of 12 draws against the Crimson to help the Tigers to a much-needed edge in possession as No. 11 Princeton won a critical Ivy League game at No. 17 Harvard in front of 2,211 at Jordan Field. Nine different Princeton players scored one goal each.
The win improved Princeton to 6-3 overall and 3-0 in the Ivy League as the Tigers remained the lone team with no league losses with wins this week over No. 7 Penn and No. 17 Harvard. Princeton hosts Cornell, now 3-1 in the league after an 18-9 win over Dartmouth Saturday, in a key league showdown next week at Class of 1952 Stadium.
A Princeton win would clinch at least a tie for the title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament; a Cornell win would put the Big Red in line for both prizes. Cornell has beaten Princeton each of the last two seasons, including 17-4 in Ithaca a year ago.
"We need to have a good week of practice," said Princeton's Dan Cocoziello, who shut out the Crimson's Brooks Scholl while adding a goal of his own. "We play better Saturday when we play well during the week. Cornell's a big game. We know how tough they are. We certainly found out last year." The first quarter of the Princeton-Harvard game was a track meet, as the teams ran up and down the field and had eight unassisted goals between them as the first 15 minutes ended 4-4. The game was 5-5 when Evan albert scored his second goal for the Crimson with seven minutes remaining in the half, but Princeton would shut out Harvard for the next 30:29 while building an 8-5 lead.
Harvard scored on an extra-man goal with 6:31 left, but Alex Haynie answered to make it 9-6 with 3:12 to play. Zach Widbin scored with 12 seconds left for the final.
DeSantis, who had shared the face-off position for his first two years, helped slow down Harvard by controlling most of his draws against Harvard's John Henry Flood, who had won 14 fo 18 in Harvard's last game.
The key stretch for Princeton was the final 1:13 of the third quarter. Princeton led 6-5 at intermission and had the ball the first 5:30 of the third quarter but could not score. From there, Harvard had the ball for the next eight minutes but also could not score. The logjam was broken when Grant Hewit took a loose ball down the field and fed Josh Lesko in front for a goal that made it 7-5. Whitney Hayes then scored with just 6.8 seconds left in the quarter to give the Tiger their first three-goal lead.
Peter Trombino was one of the players to score for the Tigers as he ran his streak of consecutive games with at least one goal to 21, the fourth-longest streak in school history.
Alex Hewit made six of his seven saves in the second half, including four during the stretch of the third quarter when Harvard dominated the ball. Evan O'Donnell made seven saves in the first half for Harvard, while Joe Pike made five in the second.
The Tigers out shot Harvard 36-32.
Penn finished its Ivy League season at 4-2 with a 9-8 win over Brown Saturday, a game that eliminated both Yale and Brown from the league race.