Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
No. 6 Princeton Travels To Harvard
April 21, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
As ridiculous as it may seem, there are only six Ivy League men's lacrosse regular season games to be played, three this weekend and three more next.
After that looms the first Ivy League tournament, which will determine the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Ivy League champion will be the team (or teams) that win the regular-season round-robin.
Among the mathematical possibilities that still exist are Princeton at 5-1, Penn at 1-5 and the other five teams all at 3-3 or a four-way tie for the league title between Princeton, Cornell, Brown and Yale.
As of the start of this weekend, Princeton is the only team to have clinched a spot in the four-team tournament, though Cornell, Brown and Yale can get there by winning out. Since Brown and Cornell play each other, they both can't win out, which opens the door for Harvard and Dartmouth. Penn can get into a tie for fourth but cannot win any of the tiebreakers.
Also, though there can be a three-way or four-way tie for the championship, the tournament will be played either in Princeton, Ithaca or Providence.
How can it be played in Providence? If Princeton loses to Harvard and Cornell, Brown beats Cornell and Dartmouth and Harvard beats Yale.
Most two-way, three-way and four-way tie scenarios send the tournament to Ithaca. Cornell can also win outright by winning its last two and having Harvard beat Princeton; on the other hand, the five-teams-at-3-3 situation leaves Cornell out of the tournament.
Princeton would host (and win the outright title) by beating Cornell, regardless of anything else, or if Cornell loses to Brown and Princeton beats Harvard.
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A Princeton win over Harvard would clinch at least a share of the Ivy League championship for the Tigers.
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The first college football game ever played was between Princeton and Rutgers, back on Nov. 6, 1869. Exactly 12 years later to the day, Princeton and Harvard met for the first time in men's lacrosse in a game played in New York City that Harvard won 3-0; it was the eighth lacrosse game in Princeton history and second for Harvard, both of the day and all-time.
When the teams meet this weekend in Cambridge, it will be the 76th meeting in a series that Princeton leads 55-19-1.
The teams played 10 times in the 1880s, before Princeton eliminated lacrosse in 1894. As an aside, it was two years later that Princeton and Harvard stopped playing each other in all sports as a result of some on- and off-field football incidents, and it wasn't until 1911 that the schools resumed playing football.
Lacrosse came back to Princeton in 1921, and Princeton and Harvard played every year from 1922-26. The only games in the next 27 years were the ones from 1933-36; Princeton and Harvard have played every year since 1953.
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Looking more to modern times, Princeton has defeated Harvard 19 straight times, but the last two have hardly been easy. In fact, both games were won by Princeton by one goal.
The 2009 game at Class of 1952 Stadium saw Harvard score two goals 42 seconds apart late in the fourth quarter and then have a final chance end when Chad Wiedmaier forced a turnover as time ran out to preserve the 10-9 win.
Two years ago in Cambridge, Princeton trailed 7-3 in the third quarter before rallying to tie it late and then win it 9-8 on Bob Schneider's overtime goal.
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Jack McBride has 80 career goals, 18th-best all-time at Princeton. Of those 80 goals, eight came in the last two games (five against Dartmouth, three against Rutgers) to earn McBride Ivy League Player of the Week honors.
He is also the eighth player in school history to reach 80 goals as a junior. Of the other seven, only two made it past 90. In fact, those two are Jesse Hubbard, who had 117 by the end of his junior year and Chris Massey, who had 112. Not surprisingly, they rank one (Hubbard, 163) and two (Massey, 146) all-time in goals at Princeton.
The other five to get to 80 by junior year: B.J. Prager (89 end of junior year, 118 for career), Justin Tortolani (87 end of junior year, 120 for career), Jason Doneger (86 end of junior year, 105 for career), Wick Sollers (85 end of junior year, 114 for career) and Sean Hartofilis (85 end of junior year, 126 for career)
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Jeff Froccaro has attempted 34 shots this season. Of those, 15 have been shots on goal and 13 have been goals, which means that only two of his shots have been saved by the goalie.
In fact, only one goalie has made a save on a shot by Froccaro this season: Yale's Johnathan Falcone. In that game, Froccaro missed his first three shots, two of which Falcone stopped, before scoring the game-winner with 37 seconds left.
By contrast, Jack McBride has 26 goals and 27 shots saved by the goalie and Chris McBride has 15 goals and 19 saved by the goalie.
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Mike Chanenchuk has 22 goals, fourth-best ever by a Princeton freshman.
The freshman record is 25, set by B.J. Prager in 1999. Peter Trombino is next with 24 in 2004, followed by Jesse Hubbard with 23 in 1995. Of those three, only Hubbard did it from the midfield spot (he moved to attack his final three years).
Chanenchuk has eight goals in his last three games after being shut out in back-to-back games before that.
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Princeton has outscored its opponents by nine goals in the first quarter; Harvard has been outscored by nine goals in the first quarter.
Harvard is minus-10 in scoring in the first half and plus-10 in the second half.
Princeton is plus-9 in the first quarter and plus-14 in the fourth quarter and OT. Harvard's best quarter is also the fourth quarter.
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Princeton is 4-0 in the Ivy League. Its first three wins were by a combined total of four goals, including two one-goal wins, one of which was in overtime.
Princeton's fourth Ivy win, last Saturday against Dartmouth, was by 14 goals (16-2). Princeton led 5-0 at the end of the first quarter and 11-0 at halftime.
Prior to that, Princeton had not had more than a three-goal lead at any point since the UMBC game on March 13, seven games ago.
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Princeton was ranked fifth two weeks ago and then lost to Syracuse 13-4. After that, Princeton went from fifth to ... fifth.
This past week, after defeating Rutgers and Dartmouth, Princeton went from fifth to sixth in both polls.
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What Can You Say About ...
Nikhil Ashra #23
• No. 2 goalie currently recovering from two concussions
• has been backup to Alex Hewit for first two years and now Tyler Fiorito last year and this year; each of first three years, starting goalie has been an All-America
• has a a career .568 save percentage and 7.67 goals-against average
Paul Barnes #31
• scored Princeton's eighth goal in 9-7 win over Brown
• also scored a goal against Manhattan and UMBC
• faced off three times against Brown after facing off once prior during this season and 299 times a year ago as the team's top face-off man
• has gone from facing off to playing in second midfield
• scored four goals off of face-offs in 2009; Princeton had not gotten a goal from its face-off specialist since 2004 prior to that
Christian Blake #32
• backup goalie with Nikhil Ashra's injury
• played 9:24 of fourth quarter against Manhattan
• played 9:59 against Dartmouth, making one save and allowing no goals
• has played 23:17 in his career, with a .500 save percentage
Alex Capretta #1
• scored first goal of the season in win over Brown
• scored a goal against Dartmouth
• also scored against Rutgers last year
• is playing as a fourth attackman
Chris Chandler #16
• had one caused turnover against Hofstra, Manhattan and UMBC
• played in three games last year as longstick middie after playing in every game sophomore year
Mike Chanenchuk #13
• second on the team in goals with 22 and points with 30
• ranks fourth all-time among Princeton freshman in goals, trailing B.J. Prager (25 in 1999), Peter Trombino (24 in 2004) and Jesse Hubbard (23 in 1995)
• has eight goals in last three games after being shut out in back-to-back games
• has three goals in each of his last two games (vs. Dartmouth and Rutgers)
• also had two assists against Dartmouth to equal high-game of five points
• had three goals against Rutgers
• named to Inside Lacrosse Team of the Week after wins over Dartmouth and Rutgers
• had two goals against Syracuse
• fastest Princeton freshman ever to 10 goals
• was Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the second week in a row after scoring six goals and having two assists against North Carolina and Penn
• also named to Inside Lacrosse Team of the Week
• had three goals against North Carolina, including scoring the team's ninth and 10th goals to tie it 10-10 in the fourth
• had three goals and two assists against Penn
• Ivy League Rookie of the Week after scoring six goals in wins over Manhattan and UMBC
• had five goals against Manhattan in 2.5 quarters
• scored on his first five shots against Manhattan
• five goals was second-highest single-game total ever by a Princeton freshman, behind only Jack McBride's six against Penn two years ago
• had a goal against UMBC
• had two assists against Hopkins
• had two goals and an assist against Hofstra
• defered last year after suffering a back injury and is now a freshman
John Cunningham #3
• started first six games on defense before moving back to natural position of longstick midfielder
• mid-season second-team All-America by Inside Lacrosse
• leads team with 41 ground balls
• third on the team with 10 caused turnovers
• has three goals, most by a Princeton longstick in a season since John Harrington had four goals in 1998
• scored a goal against Rutgers and Brown
• had a goal, a caused turnover and 10 ground balls against North Carolina
• goal against UNC was assisted by Jeremy Hirsch; both of Cunningham's career goals have been assisted by a longstick, and they are the only two longstick-to-longstick goals in at least the last 23 years
• had five ground balls and two caused turnovers against Penn
• had two caused turnovers and three ground balls against UMBC
• helped hold Johns Hopkins All-America middie Michael Kimmel to one goal
• had six ground balls and two caused turnovers against Hofstra
• had 13 caused turnovers and 23 ground balls a year ago despite missing six games with a broken jaw
Jimmy Davis #5
• shortstick defensive midfielder
• had an assist, a caused turnover and three ground balls against Hofstra
• played in every game as third shortstick a year ago, behind graduated Josh Lesko and Brendan Reilly
• had four caused turnovers a year ago
• younger brother of Tommy Davis, who graduated last year after starting for four years on attack
Long Ellis #41
• leads team with 13 caused turnovers
• had four caused turnovers against Yale
• held All-America attackmen Billy Bitter (North Carolina) and Stephen Boyle (Johns Hopkins) to one goal each
• had two caused turnovers against Penn
• had two caused turnovers and three ground balls against Hofstra
• had three caused turnovers against Manhattan
• listed as starter on defense, but can play defense or longstick midfield and has played with a shortstick in the past
Rob Engelke #22
• starting on attack
• leads team with 17 assists and is third with 27 points
• had three goals against Carolina to tie career high
• had a goal and three assists against Dartmouth
• had two goals and an assist against UMBC
• had three assists against Hopkins
• had a goal and four assists against Hofstra
• had a goal and assist against Penn and Yale
• had two assists against Manhattan
• had four assists all of last year and nine assists for his career prior to this season
• five points against Hofstra tied career high, set last year against Manhattan
• had made one career start prior to this season but played considerably every year as fourth attackman and on extra man unit
• has 25 career goals on 55 career shots (.455)
• had nine goals on 15 shots last year for .600 shooting percentage, best on team for players with more than one shot
Tyler Fiorito #6
• preseason second-team All-America by Inside Lacrosse
• a Tewaaraton Trophy nominee
• has a .657 save percentage (67 saves, 35 goals-against) since Chad Wiedmaier returned five games ago; had a .455 save percentage prior to that
• made 14 saves and had an assist on an 80-yard pass to Jack McBride man-down against Rutgers
• assist against Rutgers was one of two by a Princeton goalie in the last 30 years (Alex Hewit, 2007)
• set a career high with 17 saves against Brown
• made 12 second-half saves against Brown, including eight in the fourth quarter
• made 10 saves while allowing two goals in the second half against Yale
• made 12 saves against Syracuse
• made seven saves while allowing two goals against Dartmouth
• made 11 saves while allowing five goals against UMBC
• had eight saves while allowing four goals against Manhattan
• honorable mention All-America and second-team All-IvyLeague last year as a freshman
• started every game of his career
• ranked fourth in Division I in goals-against (7.40) and 11th in Division I in save percentage (.587) a year ago
• member of United States U19 team that won 2008 World Championship in Vancouver
Jeff Froccaro #18
• has 13 goals and was second-fastest Princeton freshman to reach double figures, behind only teammate Mike Chanenchuk
• has taken 34 shots this year, of which only two have been saved by the goalie
• scored the game-winning goal against Yale with 37 seconds left and the game-winner in overtime against Penn in the game before
• 11 of his 13 goals have come in the second half or overtime
• has won 66 of 126 face-offs
• is 2 for 2 on overtime face-offs (vs. Johns Hopkins, Penn)
• had two goals and an assist and won 7 of 11 face-offs against Penn
• won face-off to start overtime against both Penn and Hopkins; Princeton won both without ever giving up possession
• Ivy League Rookie of the Week each of first two weeks of the season
• seven goals was the most by a Princeton freshman in his first two games; previously, no freshman had scored more than three in his first two games
• had four goals on six shots against Hopkins, including back-to-back goals to make it 10-8 Princeton in the fourth
• also won 10 of 17 face-offs, including the one to start OT
• scored three goals on three shots against Hofstra in first college game
• first goal against Hofstra gave Princeton lead for good in third quarter; last two goals both came in fourth quarter after Hofstra had twice cut Princeton's lead to one
• had a goal and assist and won 8 of 12 face-offs against Dartmouth
• came back from torn ACL as a high school sophomore and then in the final game of his high school career to play in the season opener
Mike Grossman #8
• first-line midfielder
• had a goal and two assists against Penn, all in the second half
• scored first career goal in win over Hofstra
• had an assist against Yale
• ankle injury wiped out almost entire freshman year
• was the No. 38-ranked recruit by Inside Lacrosse a year ago
Jeremy Hirsch #37
• team captain
• preseason honorable mention All-America
• had first career point when he assisted on John Cunningham's goal against North Carolina
• had two caused turnovers against Dartmouth
• has eight caused turnovers
• started every game but one since the start of sophomore year and has played in every game but one in his career
Bobby Lucas #17
• has won 25 of 48 face-offs (.521)
• won 9 of 16 face-offs against UMBC, including winning first seven
• won 5 of 6 against Manhattan
• won 5 of 9 against North Carolina
Scott MacKenzie #2
• scored overtime goal to defeat Hopkins; goal came after he missed all six of his shots in regulation
• scored a goal against Hofstra and Syracuse
• had two assists against North Carolina
• had two assists against Brown
• preseason honorable mention All-America by Inside Lacrosse
• only returning midfield starter
• had 29 points a year ago; every other current middie on the team had a combined career total of 18 prior to this season
Chris McBride #15
• had two goals and an assist against North Carolina
• had a goal and two assists against Hopkins
• had four goals against Hofstra, tying career high set last year against Albany
• had four goals on six shots and scored one goal in every quarter against Hofstra
• had two goals against Yale and Brown
• had a goal and assist against UMBC
• had one goal against Rutgers, Manhattan and Penn; Rutgers goal was man-down
• had 18 goals and six assists last year
• moved from midfield to starting on attack alongside cousin Jack McBride last year
• his father is Jack McBride's father's brother; his mother is Jack McBride's mother's first cousin
Jack McBride #14
• a preseason first-team All-America by Inside Lacrosse
• a Tewaaraton Trophy nominee, one of 25 players on the list
• second-team All-America a year ago
• first-team All-Ivy League selection
• leads team with 26 goals and 36 points
• ranks 18th all-time at Princeton with 80 career goals
• needs four goals to move into a tie for 15th with former teammate Mark Kovler
• has 99 career points; needs one to become the 24th player in school history to reach 100
• is the eighth player in school history to reach 80 goals by his junior year; of the other seven, only two (Jesse Hubbard with 117, Chris Massey with 112) ended their junior year with at least 90
• has 19 career assists, two of which have come in overtime (last year against Penn, this year against Hopkins) and another that came on the game-winning goal with 37 seconds left in regulation against Yale
• named Ivy League Player of the Week after an eight-goal, 10-point week in wins over Dartmouth and Rutgers
• had five goals and two assists to tie carer-high of seven points in win over Dartmouth
• had three goals against Rutgers, including one man-down after a 70-yard pass from goalie Tyler Fiorito
• had three goals and two assists against Yale
• had three goals and then assisted on game-winner in overtime against Hopkins
• had three goals against Penn, including two goals 12 seconds apart during Princeton's 4-0 run in a 1:18 span of the fourth quarter to tie it
• had two goals and an assist against North Carolina, Hofstra and UMBC
• had two goals against Brown
• had a goal against Manhattan
• one of four Princeton players (B.J. Prager, Sean Hartofilis, Jason Doneger) in the last 10 years to reach 50 goals by the end of sophomore year
• led team with 35 goals last year
• 2008 Ivy League Rookie of the Year
• member of United States U19 team that won 2008 World Championship in Vancouver
• his father is Chris McBride's father's brother; his mother is Chris McBride's mother's first cousin
Jonathan Meyers #28
• started on defense against Hofstra and longstick midfield the next six games
• played as second longstick middie with John Cunningham since Chad Wiedmaier's return until starting on defense against Rutgers
• has nine caused turnovers
• had two caused turnovers against Penn and Syracuse
• had a caused turnover in each of the first four games
• gave up football to concentrate on lacrosse
• recruited for football by schools such as Florida, Michigan and Oklahoma
Tyler Moni #27
• moved from second offensive midfield to defensive shortstick for the Penn game
• has 26 ground balls and five caused turnovers
• had an assist and five ground balls against Penn, including two ground balls after face-offs during Princeton's 4-0 run in the fourth quarter to tie it and then on the face-off to start OT
• had two goals in each of first two games, against Hofstra and Hopkins
• had one goal against Manhattan and UMBC
• had a goal against Brown
• had two career goals prior to this season
• had two goals and an assist last year
Tucker Shanley #7
• playing on the second midfield
• had a goal against Dartmouth and Manhattan
Peter Smyth #26
• one of top two shortstick defensive middies
• had a goal and assist against Dartmouth while winning 6 of 8 face-offs
• had two assists against Rutgers, both after face-off wins
• had first career points with a goal and assist against Hofstra
• won three of eight face-offs against Hopkins while playing as shortstick D middie as well
• father Fran played lacrosse at Princeton, graduating in 1982
Forest Sonnenfeldt #43
• playing on extra-man unit
• had two goals against Dartmouth for first multi-goal game
• scored a goal against Syracuse
• scored first college goal at Manhattan, not far from where he attended the Fieldston School
Chris White #29
• scored first career goal in the win over Brown
• had a goal against Dartmouth
• is playing on second midfield unit
Chad Wiedmaier #9
• preseason first-team All-America by Inside Lacrosse
• missed first six games of the season after having off-season knee surgery that revealed more damage than originally thought
• has seven caused turnovers in four games and at least one in every game
• returned for game against Yale
• held Yale's leading scorer Matt Gibson without a point while he was on the field and caused a turnover on Gibson in final five seconds to preserve the win
• held Brown All-America Thomas Muldoon to one goal while causing two turnovers; goal came on a fastbreak after a face-off win
• forced five turnovers against Dartmouth's Ari Sussman
• named to Inside Lacrosse Team of the Week after Brown game
• had three caused turnovers against Syracuse
• second-team All-America as a freshman
• first-team All-Ivy League as a freshman
• first freshman defenseman and third freshman ever to be first-team All-Ivy at Princeton (Scott Bacigalupo, B.J. Prager)
• ranked as No. 2 freshman in Division I by Inside Lacrosse
Game-By-Game
HOFSTRA (W, 17-14)
GOALS - C. McBride 4, Froccaro 3, J. McBride 2, Chanenchuk 2, Moni 2, MacKenzie 1, Smyth 1, Grossman 1, Engelke 1
ASSISTS - Engelke 4, Chanencuk 1, J. McBride 1, Davis 1, Smyth 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 14 goals-against, 11 saves)
JOHNS HOPKINS (W, 11-10, OT)
GOALS - Froccaro 4, J. McBride 3, Moni 2, MacKenzie 1, C. McBride 1
ASSISTS - Engelke 3, Chanencuk 2, C. McBride 2, J. McBride 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:59 min, 10 goals-against, 8 saves)
MANHATTAN (W, 13-8)
GOALS - Chanenchuk 5, J. McBride 1, C. McBride 1, Barnes 1, Froccaro 1, Shanley 1, Styer 1, Moni 1, Sonnenfeldt 1
ASSISTS - Engelke 2, MacKenzie 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (49:00 min, 4 goals-against, 8 saves), Blake (9:24, 3 goals-against, 1 save), Larrabee (1:36, 1 goal-against, no saves)
UMBC (W, 10-5)
GOALS - J. McBride 2, MacKenzie 2, Engelke 2, C. McBride 1, Barnes 1, Chanenchuk 1, Moni 1
ASSISTS - Engelke 1, J. McBride 1, C. McBride 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 5 goals-against, 11 saves)
NORTH CAROLINA (L, 12-11)
GOALS - Chanenchuk 3, Engelke 3, J. McBride 2, C. McBride 2, Cunningham 1
ASSISTS - MacKenzie 2, Hirsch 1, J. McBride 1, C. McBride 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 12 goals-against, 4 saves)
PENN (W, 11-10, OT)
GOALS - Chanenchuk 3, J. McBride 3, Froccaro 2, Grossman 1, Engelke 1, C. McBride 1
ASSISTS - Chanenchuk 2, Grossman 2, MacKenzie 1, Moni 1, Engelke 1, Froccaro 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 12 goals-against, 4 saves)
YALE (W, 7-6)
GOALS - J. McBride 3, C. McBride 2, Engelke 1, Froccaro 1
ASSISTS - J. McBride 2, Engelke 1, Grossman 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 6 goals-against, 15 saves)
BROWN (W, 9-7)
GOALS - J. McBride 2, C. McBride 2, Moni 1, Cunningham 1, Capretta 1, White 1, Barnes 1
ASSISTS - MacKenzie 2, Engelke 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 7 goals-against, 17 saves)
SYRACUSE (L, 13-4)
GOALS - Chanenchuk 2, MacKenzie 1, Sonnenfeldt 1
ASSISTS - J. McBride 2, Engelke 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 13 goals-against, 12 saves)
RUTGERS (W, 10-8)
GOALS - Chanenchuk 3, J. McBride 3, C. McBride 1, Cunningham 1, Engelke 1, Froccaro 1
ASSISTS - Froccaro 2, Smyth 2, MacKenzie 1, Fiorito 1, Chanenchuk 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 8 goals-against, 14 saves)
DARTMOUTH (W, 16-2)
GOALS - J. McBride 5, Chanenchuk 3, Sonnenfeldt 2, Engelke 1, White 1, Shanley 1, Capretta 1, Froccaro 1, Smyth 1
ASSISTS - Engelke 3, Chanenchuk 2, J. McBride 2, Smyth 1, Froccaro 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (47:20 min, 2 goals-against, 7 saves); Blake (9:59 min, 0 goals-against, 1 save); Larrabee (2:41 min, 0 goals-against, 0 saves)
Career Scoring
Player G-A-Pts
14 Jack McBride 80-19-99
2 Scott MacKenzie 22-34-56
22 Rob Engelke 28-26-54
3 Chris McBride 35-12-47
13 Mike Chanenchuk 22-8-30
18 Jeff Froccaro 13-4-17
27 Tyler Moni 9-2-11
31 Paul Barnes 6-0-6
26 Peter Smyth 2-4-6
8 Mike Grossman 2-3-5
3 John Cunningham 4-1-5
43 Forest Sonnenfeldt 4-0-4
11 Ryan Morrell 2-1-3
21 Connor Reilly 2-1-3
1 Alex Capretta 3-0-3
29 Chris White 2-0-2
7 Tucker Shanley 2-0-2
9 Chad Wiedmaier 1-1-2
5 Jimmy Davis 0-2-2
47 Cliff Larkin 1-0-1
24 David Marshall 0-1-1
36 Derek Styer 1-0-1
37 Jeremy Hirsch 0-1-1
6 Tyler Fiorito 0-1-1
Princeton vs. Harvard
The site Harvard Stadium • Cambridge, Mass.
The date Saturday, April 24, 2010 • 1:00 p.m.
Radio/TV WPRB FM 103.3; goprincetontigers.com/none
The records Princeton: 9-2 (4-0 Ivy League)
Harvard: 5-5 (1-3 Ivy League)
The rankings Princeton: No. 6 Inside Lacrosse/No. 6 USILA
Harvard: unranked
The coaches
Princeton: Chris Bates
first season at Princeton, 9-2/11th overall, 78-73
Harvard: John Tillman
third season at Harvard, 19-18/same
The series Princeton leads 55-19-1
Last meeting Princeton defeated Harvard 10-9 • April 11, 2009