Princeton University
Syracuse
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Sizzling Goalie Leads Syracuse Over Princeton
April 08, 2006 | Men's Lacrosse
April 8, 2006
Final Stats
A little over a week ago, Peter Coluccini hadn't even established himself as Syracuse's starting goalie. Saturday afternoon against Princeton, the redshirt freshman may have almost single-handedly saved the Orange's season.
Coluccini made 19 saves, 10 in the fourth quarter alone, to lead Syracuse to a 7-5 win over Princeton in front of 4,753 at the Carrier Dome Saturday. The win improved Syracuse to 3-4, while Princeton slipped to 5-3 heading into Tuesday night's home game against Penn.
Syracuse is now 152-19 all-time at the Carrier Dome.
"What can you say?" Princeton coach Bill Tierney said. "Peter was unbelievable."
Coluccini and the rest of the Syracuse defense struggled through a winless month of March that saw the Orange fall to 1-4. With at least a .500 record necessary for NCAA tournament consideration, the Orange had very little margin for error. Syracuse defeated Loyola last week 12-6 behind 14 saves from Coluccini, and he was even better against the Tigers.
"He really frustrated us," said Princeton's Peter Trombino. "You're getting good shots off, and he's making saves. After awhile, it gets to you."
The score was 2-1 in favor of the home team at halftime as Alex Hewit matched Coluccini with nine saves, but Syracuse scored three straight to start the third quarter and build a 5-1 lead. Princeton got one back late in the third on a Whitney Hayes goal, but the frustration level was just starting for the Tigers.
Princeton would outshoot the Orange 17-2 in the fourth quarter, but Brett Bucktooth scored on both Syracuse shots and Coluccini made 10 saves. His best spurt came with the score 6-3 Princeton with six minutes to go when he stopped Scott Sowanick, Tommy Davis and Trombino back-to-back-to-back. The Orange then converted a transition goal at the other end to make it 7-3 instead of 6-4. Josh Lesko scored twice for Princeton, while Hayes, Davis and Trombino all had one. Trombino's goal, with 18 seconds remaining, kept alive his streak of having at least one point in every game of his career.
Princeton outshot Syracuse 37-25 for the game.
The Tigers now host Penn, a 10-9 winner over Dartmouth Saturday, before heading to Harvard Saturday to take on a Crimson team that lost to Cornell 10-3 this weekend. Princeton is 1-0 in the Ivy League.