Princeton University
Cornell
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Players Mentioned
Schneider, Davis, Defense Lead Princeton Past Cornell
April 19, 2008 | Men's Lacrosse
Bill Tierney said he couldn't remember a bigger regular season win for his Princeton men's lacrosse team. With apologies to all of the great wins Tierney's teams have had through his Hall-of-Fame career at Princeton, there haven't been too many that came at a better time.
Princeton fell behind early before taking complete control and rolling to an 11-7 win over No. 3 Cornell in front of 4,053 at Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. The win left Princeton and Brown tied for first place in the Ivy League at 4-0 and ended a four-year losing streak for Princeton against the Big Red.
Princeton, now 7-4 overall after its third-straight win, has Ivy League games remaining next Saturday at Dartmouth and May 3 at Brown. Cornell, now 9-3 overall and 4-1 in the Ivy League, hosts Brown next Saturday as the league race can still end with an outright champ, co-champions or tri-champions.
"We knew what was at stake," said Princeton goalie Alex Hewit. "The league, the NCAA tournament - there was a lot on the line."
Cornell came into the game ranked third in the USILA coaches' poll and fourth in the Inside Lacrosse media poll, while Princeton was ranked 17th and 19th. Still, the comparative results between the teams was almost identical. Both lost to No. 1 Syracuse by seven in games played four days apart. Princeton defeated Penn 14-5; Cornell defeated Penn 13-5. Cornell defeated Yale in overtime and Harvard by four; Princeton defeated Harvard in overtime and Yale by three.
Tierney said before the game that his team could not get out to a slow start, something that had plagued Princeton in its last three defeats against the Big Red. It appeared that history was repeating itself when Cornell scored twice on goals by Max Seibald and Chris Finn in the first 3:26 to make it 2-0.
By the time Cornell scored again, though, Princeton already had more goals than it would need. The Tigers ripped off eight straight goals to lead 4-2 after the first, 7-2 at halftime and 8-2 by the time Cornell got back on the board, after a 31:28 scoreless stretch. Cornell would get no closer than four the rest of the way.
Bob Schneider, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week after scoring four goals last week against Harvard including the game-winner in overtime, scored three goals in the first quarter against the Big Red as the Tigers began the turnaround. Schneider scored 1:51 after Finn's goal to make it 2-1, and Tommy Davis tied it with 5:22 to play in the first. Schneider scored two more in the quarter to give him seven in the last two games.
"We learned a lot from the game last week," Schneider said. "We learned we can come back in a game. We weren't rattled when they scored. We stayed confident. They're a good team, but we kept going."
Schneider would not score again in the game, but Princeton would. Pete Striebel, Alex Haynie and Jack McBride all scored in the second quarter, and Striebel scored again early in the third to make it 8-2.
The defense, meanwhile, kept swarming the Big Red, forcing turnovers and tough shots and keeping the high-powered Cornell offense from scoring. Even after Siebald and Ryan Hurley scored to break the long scoreless drought, Davis and McBride answered for Princeton to build it to 10-4.
Cornell dominated face-offs, winning 15 of 21, but possession did not turn into goals. Alex Hewit made 10 saves for Princeton. The Tigers outshot the Big Red 37-36.
"This team has really handled us of late," said Tierney. "They're great shooters. They really move the ball well. I thought our defense was amazing. This was one we really needed. Like I told the team, it's been awhile since we' had one like this. Now we have to keep it going. Dartmouth and Brown are going to be huge challenges."
Davis had an assist to go with his three goals. Siebald had three goals for Cornell.