Princeton University Athletics
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Princeton Travels To Cornell Hoping For A Second Trip Next Weekend
April 28, 2011 | Men's Lacrosse
The final weekend of the 2011 regular season has the Princeton men's lacrosse team in the bizarre situation of knowing that it could win its game against Cornell and miss the Ivy League tournament or lose and make the Ivy League tournament.
How else should 2011 wind down for Princeton?
When fall practice began, Princeton had every right to think of itself as a legitimate Final Four contender. Now, after a season of close losses against the second-toughest schedule in Division with a team that has been racked by injuries, Princeton heads to Ithaca to play its biggest rival in a game it may or may not need to win.
Cornell knows that it is the Ivy League champion, giving the Big Red 26 league titles, one more than Princeton at 25, and that the Ivy tournament will be held in Ithaca beginning next Friday.
Penn knows it will be the No. 2 seed for the Ivy tournament; Yale knows it'll be either No. 3 or No. 4. Brown knows it's out regardless of what happens this weekend.
That leaves three teams - Princeton, Harvard and Dartmouth - for one spot, though not necessarily the fourth.
There are three games remaining in the league, with Princeton at Cornell, Yale at Harvard and Brown at Dartmouth, and those three will sort out the remaining spot.
Should Princeton get into the tournament, it could not play any team other than Cornell in the first round.
* * *
So how can Princeton win and be out or lose and be in?
The most simple ending to the Ivy League season would be for Harvard to beat Yale, which would eliminate Princeton (even with a win over Cornell) and Dartmouth and give the third seed to the Crimson, setting up a semifinal round of Yale-Cornell and Harvard-Penn.
Should Yale beat Harvard, it would give the third seed to the Bulldogs and match them against Penn. The other team would then be decided by the other two games.
Assuming a Yale win over Harvard, then a Princeton win over Cornell would give Princeton fourth place.
Should Yale win and Princeton lose, though, then the fourth seed gets decided by Brown-Dartmouth. A Brown win in that scenario gives the spot to Harvard, as the Crimson hold the tiebreaker over Princeton and Brown. A Dartmouth win, though, creates an unbreakable tie for the spot between Dartmouth, Princeton and Harvard, so the spot would be decided by a random draw.
* * *
Princeton ranks second in Division in strength of schedule, behind Virginia and just ahead of Syracuse.
The Tigers have seven losses on the year, of which five have been by one or two goals.
Going by the NCAA's RPI released this week, Princeton has lost by two goals to No. 1 Syracuse, one goal to No. 4 Villanova, beaten No. 6 Johns Hopkins by five, lost to No. 10 Hofstra by two and by one in overtime to No. 19 Yale. Princeton has also lost by five to No. 12 Penn and by four to No. 13 North Carolina.
* * *
In every game between Princeton and Cornell since 2005, the Big Red has won the opening face-off and scored the first goal.
Last year, in both meetings between the teams, they won the face-off and scored on the first possession.
Cornell, in every game since 2005, has scored at least the first two, and the Big Red has routinely dominated the early portion of the games.
In the first game last year, Cornell scored 1:03 into the game and built a 4-0 lead.
In the Ivy final, Cornell scored 16 seconds into the game and built a 5-1 lead.
In two games last year, Cornell outscored Princeton by a combined 16-8 in the first three quarters - including 8-1 in the first quarters - but Princeton outscored Cornell 11-3 after the third quarter.
The result last year was a split of 10-9 games played eight days apart, as Cornell won on the final day of the regular season to force a four-way tie for the Ivy title and host the tournament and Princeton won at Cornell in the Ivy final.
* * *
In the last four meetings between Princeton and Cornell - two each of the last two years - there has been a total of 243:59 played between the teams.
Cornell has had the lead for 227:37 of that time; Princeton has had the lead for 4:39 of that time.
For Cornell, that adds up to being in the lead 93.3 percent of the time. Princeton has had the lead less than two percent of the time.
* * *
Chad Wiedmaier and Rob Pannell have gone head-to-head four times. In those four games, Pannell has two goals and nine assists on 31 shots. He's also turned the ball over nine times, while Wiedmaier has three caused turnovers.
In the four games, Pannell is averaging 0.5 goals, 2.25 assists and 2.75 points per game.
In the remaining 43 games of his career, Pannell is averaging 1.95 goals, 2.80 assists and 4.75 points per game.
* * *
Tyler Fiorito made 15 saves while allowing 10 goals in the regular-season loss to Cornell last year and then came back to make 16 saves while allowing nine goals in the Ivy final to earn tournament MVP honors.
For the two games, Fiorito had 31 saves while allowing 19 goals, a .620 save percentage.
Fiorito is currently fourth in Division I in save percentage at .605 and ninth in goals-against at 7.39.
* * *
Alex Capretta, a high school teammate of Cornell's Roy Lang at St. Ignatius in San Francisco, had three goals against Harvard last week. Capretta had not scored a goal for the season prior to that game.
* * *
Nick Fernandez, the freshman shortstick defenseman who was thought to be out for the year when he broke his arm against Yale, returned for the Dartmouth game and also played against Harvard. Fernandez leads the team in injuries with three: an ankle sprain, a concussion and a broken arm.
Princeton is without several starters, including Jack McBride, who scored 19 goals as a freshman, 35 as a sophomore and 35 as a junior. He will be limited to one for this season - which he scored on opening day against Hofstra - after a groin injury has basically kept him out the entire year. Between McBride and Mike Chanenchuk, who was injured in the fall and withdrew from school, Princeton lost 63 goals and 24 assists from a year ago.
Princeton lost starting defenseman Rob Castello for the season with two torn knee ligaments in Week 2 against Johns Hopkins. Oscar Loynaz, who would have been a shortstick defensive middie, got hurt in the preseason and missed the entire season.
Among the other starters or key players who have missed games this year due to injury: Chris McBride, Tyler Moni, Tom Schreiber, Jonathan Meyers, Alex Capretta, Chris White, Peter Smyth.
* * *
What Can You Say About ...
Luke Armour #16
• started first two games on attack and played mostly midfield before starting on attack since Syracuse game
• had two goals and an assist for career-high three points against Harvard
• had two goals against Rutgers, including one 14 seconds into the game
• had one goal against Syracuse, Dartmouth and Yale
• had two assists against both Johns Hopkins and Hofstra
• played in last five games of freshman year after playing in one of the first 11
• scored first career goal in Ivy final last year against Cornell, giving Princeton its first goal of the day
• had career-high three goals against Harvard
• had an assist against Villanova and Syracuse
• can play attack or midfield
• missed Hofstra and Hopkins games due to injury
• scored four goals a year ago, including back-to-back games against Cornell in the regular-season finale and Yale in the Ivy tournament
Rob Castelo #4
• started first two games on close defense
• suffered a torn ACL in the second quarter of the win over Johns Hopkins and will miss the rest of the season
• Hopkins did not score its first goal of the game until the continuation of the possession when Castelo was hurt
• had one caused turnover and one ground ball against Hofstra
• played longstick midfield behind John Cunningham a year ago
• had one caused turnover and one ground ball
• preseason third-team All-America selection by Inside Lacrosse
• 2010 honorable mention All-Ivy League selection
• team captain, making him the first junior captain since Jason Doneger in 2005
• had three ground balls and two caused turnovers against Villanova
• had two caused turnovers and two ground balls against Brown
• had two caused turnovers against Rutgers and Dartmouth
• had a caused turnover and four groundballs against Syracuse and Yale
• had five ground balls and a caused turnover against Penn
• had two caused turnovers against Hopkins
• no Hopkins midfielder scored a goal in the game
• had one caused turnover and one ground ball against Hofstra
• scored five goals last season, most ever by a Tiger longstick in a season
• has six career goals, two of which have been assisted on by another longstick, making them the only two goals in the last 23 years at Princeton that were longstick-to-longstick
• started first six games a year ago on defense before moving back to natural position of longstick midfielder
• led team with 54 ground balls
• had 13 caused turnovers
• had a goal in each game against against Cornell
• had six ground balls and two caused turnovers against Hofstra in 2010
Hunter DeButts #47
• playing on the second midfield
• had first extended playing time of his career in the game against Syracuse
• had first career point with an assist against the Orange
Long Ellis #41
• starting on close defense for second year
• second-team All-Ivy League selection in 2010
• had first career goal, which came man-down, in the win over Dartmouth
• caused three turnovers against Harvard
• held UNC All-America Billy Bitter without a goal or assist
• held Hopkins' attackman Chris Boland to one goal, which came in the fourth quarter and the score 8-1 Princeton
• had a caused turnover and five ground balls against Hopkins
• had three caused turnovers against Syracuse
• had two caused turnovers and three ground balls against Villanova
• had two caused turnovers against Brown
• led team with 22 caused turnovers despite missing two games due to injury in 2010
• named to the Ivy League tournament all-tournament team
Mark Feild #25
• plays man-up
• had a goal and assist against Hofstra on the extra-man unit
• had a goal against Villanova
• two points against Hofstra were the first of his career
• was injured most of his first two seasons
Nick Fernandez #24
• suffered a broken arm against Yale but returned against Dartmouth
• had a caused turnover against Harvard
• missed Hofstra game with ankle injury
• had a concussion against Johns Hopkins
• had a caused turnover against Villanova
• made 31 saves while allowing 19 goals in two games against Cornell last year (15 saves in the regular-season, 16 in the Ivy tournament final)
• 2011 preseason second-team All-America
• ranks fourth in Division I with a .605 save percentage and ninth in Division I in goals-against (7.40)
• has made 29 saves in two games against Harvard
• made nine saves while allowing three goals against Johns Hopkins
• made 16 saves against Rutgers, including four in the final seven minutes after Princeton had gone up by one and two in the final 20 seconds
• made 16 saves against Harvard
• made 15 saves against Hofstra
• made 14 saves against Penn
• made 14 saves against North Carolina
• made 10 saves, seven in the second half, against Syracuse
• made 10 saves against Villanova
• made 10 saves, including two in the overtimes,against Brown
• 2010 first-team All-Ivy League selection
• Most Valuable Player of the first Ivy League tournament
• assist against Rutgers last year on a 70-yard pass to Jack McBride was one of two by a Princeton goalie in the last 30 years (Alex Hewit, 2007)
• honorable mention All-America each of his first two years and second-team All-Ivy League last year as a freshman
• started every game of his career
Mike Flanagan #34
• started on close defense against North Carolina and Villanova after the injury to Rob Castelo
• plays primarily on extra man
Jeff Froccaro #18
• tied career high of four points against Dartmouth (4G) and Rutgers (3G, 1A)
• had four of Princeton's eight goals against Dartmouth
• scored Princeton's last two goals against both Dartmouth and Rutgers
• had a goal and two assists while winning 3 of 6 face-offs against Villanova
• had a goal and won 5 of 11 face-offs against Hopkins
• had two goals against Hofstra
• won 5 of 10 face-offs against North Carolina
• had a goal against Brown
• of his 27 career goals, 20 have come in the second half or overtime
• 2010 second-team All-Ivy League selection
• had 15 goals and seven assists as a freshman
• also won 90 of 177 face-offs
• won face-off to start overtime against both Penn and Hopkins last year; Princeton won both without ever giving up possession
• playing on the second midfield or on attack
• had a goal against Harvard
• had a goal against Syracuse
• had a goal against Hopkins
• had a goal against Penn
• had an assist against Brown
• had a goal against Yale in last year's Ivy semifinal
• has started on attack and midfield in his career
Cliff Larkin #19
• playing on attack
• had career highs with three goals, two assists and five points against Villanova
• had an assist against Dartmouth, Rutgers, North Carolina and Yale
Bobby Lucas #17
• playing shortstick defensive midfield
• won nine of 17 face-offs against Harvard
• won both of his face-offs against Hopkins and also played shortstick defensive midfield
• won 1 of 2 face-offs against Hofstra and played shortstick defensive middie
• won 5 of 9 face-offs and had five ground balls against Brown
• won 25 of 48 face-offs (.521) before missing second half of last season due to a back injury
Chris McBride #15
• senior captain
• team leader in career goals (49), assists (20) and points (69) with the season-ending injury to his cousin Jack; has nearly twice as many career goals and points than the next-highest player
• had two goals and an assist against Rutgers and Harvard
• had two goals against Syracuse
• missed Hofstra game due to injury
• returned to start on attack against Hopkins and had two assists
• had a goal against Dartmouth, North Carolina and Brown
• had two goals against Villanova and Yale
• has started most of his career on attack, though he has played some midfield
• had 16 goals and eight assists (24 points) a year ago; had 18 goals and six assists (24 points) in 2009
• his father is Jack McBride's father's brother; his mother is Jack McBride's mother's first cousin
Jack McBride #14
• senior captain
• preseason second-team All-America
• selected by Denver with the 27th pick of the Major League Lacrosse draft
• played the first three quarters against Hofstra before reaggravating a preseason groin injury; missed the next three games completely and most of the Penn game and now will not play for the rest of the season
• goal against Hofstra was the 90th of his career
• a first-team All-Ivy League selection each of the last two years
• honorable mention All-America last year; second-team All-America in 2009
• first Princeton player with back-to-back seasons of at least 30 goals since Jason Doneger in 2003 and 2004
• 15th all-time at Princeton with 90 goals
• has 115 career points, 21st best all-time at Princeton
• had two goals and three assists against Notre Dame in NCAA tournament
• scored game-winning goal in overtime in the Ivy League final agains Cornell
• had six goals and one assist in the Ivy tournament to earn all-tournament team honors
• has three career overtime points (goal against Cornell, assists last year against Penn, this year against Hopkins)
• his father is Chris McBride's father's brother; his mother is Chris McBride's mother's first cousin
Jonathan Meyers #28
• has missed three games - including last week against Harvard - with hamstring injury
• can play close defense or longstick midfield
• caused two turnovers against Yale
• had two ground balls against Hopkins
• had one caused turnover and one ground ball against Hofstra
• played as second longstick middie with John Cunningham after Chad Wiedmaier's return until starting on defense against Rutgers
• had 11 caused turnovers a year gao
• recruited for football by schools such as Florida, Michigan and Oklahoma
Tyler Moni #27
• senior captain
• missed three games with a wrist injury before returning against Dartmouth
• had the first goal of the game less than a minute into the Hopkins game
• had a goal against North Carolina
• had a goal against Villanova
• had a goal and assist against Yale
• moved from second offensive midfield to defensive shortstick for the Penn game last year
• had two goals against both Hofstra and against Hopkins as an offensive middie in 2010
• had 30 ground balls and four caused turnovers
• had a goal against Brown and Harvard as a defensive middie
• 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
Derick Raabe #31
• made first collegiate start in game against Penn and had a caused turnover and two ground balls
• also started on defense against Harvard and had two caused turnovers
• has primarily played longstick midfield
Tom Schreiber #22
• leads team in goals (14), assists (13) and points (27)
• leads Ivy League freshmen in assists and points and is second in goals, one behind Harvard's Daniel Eipp
• three-time Ivy Rookie of the Week, including each of the last two weeks
• ranked sixth by Inside Lacrosse among current freshmen
• had a goal and three assists in win over Dartmouth
• had career-high six points in the win over Rutgers (three goals, three assists)
• had a goal and assist against Syracuse to earn Ivy Rookie of the Week for second time
• returned with a goal and assist against Yale after missing Penn game with rib injury
• earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors after his four-goal, five-point day against Johns Hopkins
• had a goal and two assists against North Carolina
• had a goal and two assists, including on the game-winner in the fourth overtime, against Brown
• had two goals in the first five minutes against Hofstra, including first collegiate goal less than five seconds after he first touched the ball
• No. 2 incoming freshman according to Inside Lacrosse behind UNC's Nicky Galasso
• scored more than 200 points in high school career
• father Doug, who played at Maryland and won an NCAA title there in 1973 and then the 1974 World Championship with the U.S., is a member of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame
• had two goals, including the game-winner in the fourth overtime, against Brown
• two goals against Brown gave him first multi-goal game
• made first career start in game against Syracuse
• scored a goal against Penn
• played against Hofstra and then missed the next three games
Peter Smyth #26
• missed Harvard game with an injury
• one of top shortstick defensive middies
• no Hopkins middie scored a goal against Princeton
• was also 57 for 114 on face-offs and had two goals and four assists a year ago
• won 11 of 21 face-offs against Cornell in Ivy final; won 8 of final 13 after winning 3 of first 8
• father Fran played lacrosse at Princeton, graduating in 1982
• has 10 goals
• had two goals against North Carolina and Yale
• had team-best three goals against Hofstra in first collegiate start
• had one goal against Hopkins, Villanova and Penn
• played mostly on extra-man unit a year ago
Jack Strabo #35
• first-line shortstick defensive middie
• had a caused turnover and two ground balls against Dartmouth and Harvard
• had a caused turnover and ground ball against Penn
• had first caused turnover in game against North Carolina
• had a caused turnover against Villanova
Chris White #29
• has been playing shortstick defensive midfield
• had two goals a year ago
• preseason first-team All-America by Inside Lacrosse
• has held Cornell's Rob Pannell to two goals (and nine assists) on 31 shots in four head-to-head matchups
• leads team in caused turnovers
• held Zach Palmer, Hopkins leading scorer, without a goal, assist or even a shot
• had a caused turnover and two ground balls against Hopkins
• had three caused turnovers and two ground balls against Brown
• had a caused turnover and four ground balls against Dartmouth
• and a caused turnover and ground ball against Hofstra
• had two caused turnovers and four ground balls against Yale
• had two caused turnovers against Villanova
• a second-team All-America and first-team All-Ivy League pick each of his first two seasons
• missed first six games of last season after having off-season knee surgery and was still first-team All-Ivy and second-team All-America
• had 12 caused turnovers in 10 games
Game-By-Game
HOFSTRA (L, 11-9)
GOALS - Sonnenfeldt 3, Schreiber 2, Froccaro 2, J. McBride 1, Feild 1
ASSISTS - Armour 2, Feild 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 11 goals-against, 15 saves)
JOHNS HOPKINS (W, 8-3)
GOALS - Schreiber 4, Sonnenfeldt 1, Froccaro 1, Grossman 1, Moni 1
ASSISTS - Armour 2, C. McBride 2, Schreiber 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 3 goals-against, 9 saves)
NORTH CAROLINA (L, 9-5)
GOALS - Sonnenfeldt 2, Schreiber 1, Moni 1, C. McBride 1
ASSISTS - Schreiber 2, Larkin 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 9 goals-against, 14 saves)
VILLANOVA (L, 10-9)
GOALS - Larkin 3, C. McBride 2, Moni 1, Feild
1, Sonnenfeldt 1,
Froccaro 1
ASSISTS - Larkin 2, Froccaro 2, Capretta 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 10 goals-against, 10 saves)
PENN (L, 8-3)
GOALS - Sonnenfeldt 1, Shanley 1, Grossman 1
ASSISTS - none
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 8 goals-against, 14 saves)
YALE (L, 8-7, OT)
GOALS - C. McBride 2, Sonnenfeldt 2, Moni 1, Schreiber 1, Armour 1
ASSISTS - Schreiber 1, Larkin 1, Moni 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:33 min, 8 goals-against, 7 saves)
BROWN (W, 5-4, 4OT)
GOALS - Shanley 2, C. McBride 1, Schreiber 1, Froccaro 1
ASSISTS - Schreiber 2, Grossman 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (73:04 min, 4 goals-against, 10 saves)
SYRACUSE (L, 7-5)
GOALS - C. McBride 2, Schreiber 1, Grossman 1, Armour 1
ASSISTS - Schreiber 1, DeButts 1, Capretta 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 7 goals-against, 10 saves)
RUTGERS (W, 11-10)
GOALS - Schreiber 3, Froccaro 3, C. McBride 2, Armour 2, Shanley 1
ASSISTS - Schreiber 3, C. McBride 1, Larkin 1, Froccaro 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 10 goals-against, 16 saves)
DARTMOUTH (W, 8-4)
GOALS - Froccaro 4, C. McBride 1, Armour 1, Schreiber 1, Ellis 1
ASSISTS - Schreiber 3, Larkin 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 4 goals-against, 6 saves)
HARVARD (L, 9-8)
GOALS - Capretta 3, Armour 2, C. McBride 2, Grossman 1
ASSISTS - C. McBride 1, Armour 1
GOALIE - Fiorito (60:00 min, 9 goals-against, 16 saves)
Career Scoring
Player G-A-Pts
14 Jack McBride 90-25-115
15 Chris McBride 49-20-69
10 Jeff Froccaro 27-10-37
22 Tom Schreiber 14-13-27
27 Tyler Moni 14-3-17
2 Forest Sonnenfeldt 14-1-15
47 Luke Armour 8-5-13
8 Mike Grossman 8-4-12
19 Cliff Larkin 4-7-11
1 Alex Capretta 8-2-10
3 John Cunningham 6-1-7
26 Peter Smyth 2-4-6
7 Tucker Shanley 5-0-5
25 Mark Feild 2-1-3
21 Connor Reilly 2-1-3
29 Chris White 2-0-2
9 Chad Wiedmaier 1-1-2
6 Tyler Fiorito 0-1-1
47 Hunter DeButts 0-1-1
41 Long Ellis 1-0-1
36 Derek Styer 1-0-1