Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
No. 5 Princeton Makes Short Trip To Rutgers For Tuesday Night Men's Lacrosse
March 23, 2009 | Men's Lacrosse
Princeton and Rutgers meet in men's lacrosse Tuesday night at 7 at Yurcak Field in Piscatway. The game can be heard live on WPRB FM 103.3 and on goprincetontigers.com. Princeton enters at 5-1 and ranked fifth nationally; Rutgers is 2-5.
It is the 87th meeting in a rivalry that dates to a 5-1 Princeton win on April 25, 1888 at Rutgers and a 5-0 Princeton win on May 2, 1888, in Princeton.
For four days, Princeton will have played Rutgers as much as any other team, until Princeton and Yale play for the 88th time this coming Saturday in New Haven.
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Since 1958, the winner of the Princeton-Rutgers game has been awarded the Harland (Tots) Meistrell Cup. And why?
Tots Meistrell went from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn to play football at Rutgers in 1920. At that point, Rutgers had not had a lacrosse team since 1883, but Meistrell revived the sport at Rutgers, serving as a player and coach.
He then left Rutgers to attend Princeton the following year. Princeton had dropped lacrosse in 1893, but Meistrell again reorganized the team. The Tigers began play in 1921 and have fielded a team since.
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Princeton and Rutgers have met every year since 1926 except for the World War II years of 1944 and 1945.
Princeton has defeated Rutgers in 19 of the last 20 meetings, including an 8-7 win a year ago at Class of 1952 Stadium when Alex Hewit stopped Justin Pennington's point-blank shot with six seconds to go.
Rutgers defeated Princeton 8-5 at Yurcak Field in 2005.
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Princeton has two wins over Top 10 teams (No. 6 Johns Hopkins/No. 7 UMBC) and a third win over a Top 20 team (No. 18 Albany). Rutgers has a win over No. 19 Hobart.
Princeton and Rutgers have both defeated Manhattan.
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Princeton has attempted at least 50 shots four times in its first six games. Prior to this season, Princeton had attempted at least 50 shots seven times this decade, a total of 130 games.
Additionally, Princeton had not reached the 50-shot mark prior to this year since its 2007 game against Bellarmine, which was a span of 21 straight games without reaching 50 shots, and had done so just twice in its previous 71 games.
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Princeton defeated Albany 18-11 in its last game. The last time Princeton played a game with more than 29 total goals was in 1998, when the Tigers defeated Dartmouth 21-9.
Princeton and Albany combind for 29 goals and 95 shots.
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Princeton scored eight goals and took 26 shots in last year's game against Rutgers. Princeton scored nine goals and took 29 shots in the first half against Albany last Friday.
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Princeton scored nine first-half goals against Albany. Princeton averaged nine goals per game a year ago and scored nine or fewer goals 32 times in its 55 games prior to this season.
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Princeton has scored at least four goals 10 times in 24 quarters this season. Princeton scored at least four goals eight times in 52 quarters for the 2008 season.
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Jack McBride tied his career high with six goals against Albany; McBride also scored six goals against Penn last year. Chris McBride scored a career-high four goals against Albany.
Mark Kovler equaled his career-high with four goals against Albany as well. It was the third four-goal game for Kovler, who also had four against Syracuse as a sophomore and Virginia a year ago. All three four-goal games for Kovler have come on ESPNU.
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Tommy Davis had four assists against Albany. Davis now has eight goals and six assists in three games at Class of 1952 Stadium and one goal and two assists in three games away from Princeton.
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Princeton has averaged 15.7 goals per game and 57.0 shots per game in three games at Class of 1952 Stadium. Princeton has averaged 9.0 goals per game and 39.3 shots per game in three games away from Princeton and 6.5 goals and 33.5 shots per game on away games on the other school's campus.
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All three of Princeton's attackmen and all three of Princeton's first offensive midfield unit have reached double figures for points.
Princeton's first offensive midfield unit of Rich Sgalardi, Mark Kovler and Scott MacKenzie have combined for 36 points; Princeton's second offensive midfield unit of Tyler Moni, Alex Capretta and Great Seaman have combined for three points.
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Jack McBride has a team-high 17 goals and a team-high 20 points. McBride had 19 goals and 21 points for all of last season, when he was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
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John Cunningham, who had been the No. 2 longstick midfielder, suffered a broken jaw in practice on Thursday, March 19, and is out indefinitely. Long Ellis, who has been the No. 4 defenseman, took Cunningham's spot against Albany.