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No. 5 Princeton Falls To Top-Ranked Cornell 10-6
April 21, 2007 | Men's Lacrosse
This was not the start that Princeton's men's lacrosse team was hoping for out of its showdown against No. 1 Cornell. As a result, the end wasn't what the Tigers wanted either.
Cornell used a fast start to take control en route to a 10-6 win over No. 5 Princeton in front of 10,721 sun-baked fans at Schoellkopf Field Saturday afternoon. The win improved Cornell to 11-0 on the season, clinched at least a tie for the Ivy League title and earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Princeton fell to 8-3, 3-1 in the Ivy League, as its seven-game winning streak was snapped.
"We talked about the importance of getting off to a good start," said Princeton coach Bill Tierney. "Unfortunately, that didn't happen. You have to give them a lot of credit."
Cornell came into the game with the nation's top offense, averaging 14.9 goals per game. Princeton came in with the top defense, allowing 5.5 goals per game. Princeton had also allowed just five first quarter goals in 10 games prior to this one.
Cornell would score its first goal in 43 seconds and would score four by the end of the first quarter. In addition, Princeton lost All-America defenseman Zachary Jungers, one of 17 final nominees for the Tewaaraton Trophy, to a knee injury that he first suffered during the week in practice and then aggravated during the game.
"That didn't help," Tierney said of losing Jungers. "But you can't take anything away from Cornell. They're a great offensive team. When you look at most teams, you look at their weaknesses. When you look at them, you don't really see any. If you take away one thing, somebody else steps up."
In this case, it was Cornell's midfield. Princeton, even without Jungers, did a good job against Cornell's attack, holding the high-flying Big Red attackman without a goal until the third quarter. Unfortunately, when the Big Red did a goal from up front, it was back-breaking.
Princeton trailed 5-2 at intermission after neither team scored for the final 14:02 of the second quarter. Cornell scored a quick goal early in the third quarter to make it 6-2, but the Tigers answered on Tommy Davis' goal a minute later to make it 6-3.
Cornell would win the next face-off and score on Eric Pittard's goal 13 seconds after Davis scored. To make it worse, Cornell won the next face-off and scored 10 seconds later, when fellow attackman Henry Bartlett scored to make it a five-goal game. Princeton would get no closer than four the rest of the way.
Princeton, outshot 94-34 by Cornell the last two years combined, would outshoot the Big Red 45-29, but the Big Red defense did a great job of forcing shots from the outside, which enabled goalie Matt McMonagle to clean up in the goal.
Whitney Hayes would score twice for Princeton, while Davis, Scott Sowanick, Alex Haynie and Mark Kovler had one each. Midfielder John Glynn scored all three of his goals in the first half for the Big Red.
Alex Hewit made 10 saves for the Tigers; McMonagle made 19 for Cornell.
Princeton hosts Dartmouth next Saturday and Brown the following Saturday. Cornell concludes its Ivy League schedule at Brown next weekend; Princeton needs a Cornell loss in that game and two wins of its own to force a tie for the league title.
Either Cornell or Princeton has won the Ivy title 41 times in the first 51 years of league play.