Princeton University
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Princeton Holds Off Brown, Wins Share Of Ivy Men's Lacrosse Title
May 06, 2006 | Men's Lacrosse
May 6, 2006
Final Stats
Providence - Michael Wenzel and Chris Peyser, two players with vastly different perspectives on the Princeton men's lacrosse renaissance this season, led the Tigers back to the top of the Ivy League Saturday afternoon.
Wenzel, a senior who lived through the down season a year ago, scored the game-winning goal and Peyser, part of the freshman class that has brought new life to the program, caused a turnover with 28 seconds left as Princeton held off a game Brown team 6-5 Saturday in front of 2,650 at Stevenson Field.
The win gave Princeton a share of the Ivy League championship with Cornell, as both teams finished the year 5-1. Cornell, by virtue of its 4-3 win over Princeton earlier this season, gets the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, while Princeton is nearly certain to get one of the 10 at-large bids when the field is announced tomorrow.
Princeton finished the regular season at 10-4 after going 5-7 a year ago, when the Tigers did not win the Ivy title for the first time in 11 years and did not play in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 16. Backed by a rededicated group of returning players and another dynamic freshman class, Princeton had its bounce-back season this year.
"We took a big hit last year," said Wenzel. "The last two games of last year, we worked towards rebuilding the team. Then we added the freshmen, and they're a great group. We definitely, as seniors, wanted to go out on a high note, and I think we have accomplished that. We didn't want to let it get away today."
Brown, which finished the season 2-11 and had its first-ever winless Ivy season, almost spoiled the championship for the Tigers. In fact, the game wasn't decided until Peyser's big play at the end. Princeton led 1-0 after the first quarter on Bob Schneider's goal, but Alex Buckley and David Madeira both scored in the first 2:30 of the second quarter to give the Bears a 2-1 lead. Scott Sowanick answered for Princeton to tie it at 2-2 less than a minute after Madeira's goal, but Will McGettigan put Brown up again at 3-2 with 6:51 to go in the half.
It looked like the Bears would take the lead at intermission, but Mark Kovler scored his 16th of the season on an assist from Josh Lesko with just 19 seconds left in the second to even it.
Any momentum the Tigers may have had wasn't evident in the third quarter, when neither team would score to set up the fireworks of the fourth quarter.
"You have to give Brown a lot of credit," said Princeton coach Bill Tierney, who won his 13th Ivy League title in 19 seasons with the Tigers. "They were loose, and they really took it to us."
Schneider finally broke the tie when he snuck a low shot past Brown goalie Nick Gentilesco, who was tremendous all game with 15 saves, 1:33 into the fourth quarter to make it 4-3 Princeton. The Tigers then added two goals 14 seconds apart, by Lesko and then Wenzel, to make it 6-3 with 9:10 to go, and it looked as if the Tigers would cruise from there.
Instead, Kyle Wailes got one back for the Bears with 6:%8 to play, and then Will Davis made it a one-goal game with his goal with 2:25 to go.
Brown won the ensuing face-off, but Alex Hewit stopped Buckley's shot with 1:15 left to get the ball back for Princeton. The Bears then forced a turnover on the clear, setting up the last chance for Brown.
After two timeouts, one by Princeton and one by Brown, the Bears had a restart in the offensive end with 1:04 to play. After working the ball around for more than 30 seconds, Buckley took the ball and tried to dodge, but he was stripped by Peyser, who was able to get the loose ball to Grant Hewit and gain possession for Princeton. The Tigers then ran out the final 28 seconds.
"They had a lot of momentum at the time," Peyser said. "There was a little over a minute left, and the defense had to buckle down. We were able to get the ball, and that was the game. It was tough. They played really hard, but I thought we played a pretty good game too."
Princeton defeated Brown for the 12th straight time. Princeton has now won its last five games in Providence by a combined 11 goals.
Princeton outshot Brown 31-25. Hewit made six saves.