Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Syracuse
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Princeton Rallies But Falls Short Of No. 1 Syracuse
April 09, 2011 | Men's Lacrosse
The group of men in their late 20s and early 30s who took to Powers Field at Princeton Stadium at halftime Saturday afternoon would never have won the 2001 NCAA championship had their team been hit by injuries the way the 2011 Princeton men's lacrosse team has been.
In all, the injury list runs 14 deep for the Tigers, almost half of whom are out for the year. On top of that, an unforgiving schedule this time matched Princeton against Syracuse, the No. 1 team in the country.
While the 2001 NCAA champs looked on, the 2011 Tigers played a game they could be proud of, though ultimately they fell short of handing the Orange their first loss.
Syracuse withstood a Princeton rally by scoring twice in the final 7:30 to hold off the Tigers 7-5 in front of 5,401 at Princeton Stadium. The loss dropped Princeton to 2-6 overall, while the Orange are now 9-0.
Both teams play local rivals Tuesday, as the Tigers are at Rutgers and the Orange host Cornell.
"I'm proud of my team today," said Princeton head coach Chris Bates. "There's no quit in this team. But ultimately, the goal is to win the game."
Princeton trailed 3-1 at the end of the first quarter and 5-2 when SU scored with 4:25 to go in the half. From there, the Princeton defense - led by Tyler Fiorito's 10 saves, seven of which came in the second half - wiped out the Orange for 26:55, during which time Princeton scored three of its own to tie it.
"It was the kind of game we expected," SU coach John Desko said. "There were two great goalkeepers and two great defenses. If you look at Princeton's stats, they're losing games by an average of a goal and a half. We figured it'd be low-scoring, and it was."
Princeton got a big lift from freshman Hunter DeButts, who had his first sustained playing time of the season DeButts started the Tiger comeback when he set up Mike Grossman perfectly to make it 5-3, and Chris McBride and Tom Schreiber would score before the end of the third to make it 5-5.
Princeton had two extra-man opportunities in the fourth quarter, including one on a cross-check as time expired in the third that gave the Tigers possession a man up to start the fourth, but could not score. In fact, Princeton was 0 for 5 man up in the game.
"Thanks for the salt in the wound," Bates said when asked about it. "in all seriousness, we needed to get one or two there."
The second one in the fourth came after Stephen Keough's third of the day gave SU a 6-5 lead with 7:30 to play, and Jeff Froccaro took a strong shot that SU goalie John Galloway saved.
That shot by Froccaro would be the last for the Tigers on the day. SU put the game away when Kevin Drew scored into an empty net as Fiorito came out to chase in the final two minutes.
Princeton outshot Syracuse 30-29.
McBride led Princeton with two goals, while Schreiber had a goal and assist.