Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Spring Is Here, Sort Of: Princeton Hosts Manhattan In Men's Lax Opener
February 12, 2015 | Men's Lacrosse
| Princeton vs. Manhattan • Sherrerd Field at 52 • Princeton, N.J. |
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| Gametime | Saturday, Feb. 14 • 1:00 p.m. |
| TV/Video/Live Stats |
Ivy League Digital Network l Live Stats |
| Coverage | Twitter: @PUTigers l @GoJaspers l Radio - WPRB FM 103.3 |
| Series Info | Princeton leads 5-0 |
| Records |
Princeton 0-0; Manhattan 0-1 |
| Game Notes |
Princeton l |
| Princeton | Roster l Schedule l Stats l @TigerLacrosse |
| Manhattan |
Roster l Schedule l Stats l @ManhattanMLax |
If you add the temperature of last year's Princeton-Manhattan game to what the temperature for this year's game is expected to be, it still doesn't add up to a nice day. Hey, that's what happens when the lacrosse season starts in February.
Remember 10 years ago? The 2005 Princeton men's lacrosse season began on March 5. This year? It's a Valentines' Day opener, 19 days earlier than it was in 2005 and the earliest opener in program history, unless you go back to the earliest days in the 1880s, when Princeton would play some games in the fall.
Princeton and Manhattan played last Feb. 25 in New York City. According to the official stats, the weather was listed as “cold and 28 degrees,” and that doesn't really begin to cover it. This year's forecast has changed a bit, and gametime temperature figures to be in the 20s again. At least it'll be daylight, so it might feel warmer.
Either way, it's opening day for the 2015 Princeton men's lacrosse season. The Tigers return nine of their 10 starters from a year ago, though there is a rather glaring hole left by the graduation of the one starter.
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The lone graduation loss for Princeton was Tom Schreiber, a three-time first-team All-America midfielder and the team's leading scorer each of the last four years. There's no point in running down all of Schreiber's Princeton accomplishments, especially since it would take awhile.
Princeton does return four players - Ryan Ambler and Mike MacDonald on attack and Kip Orban and Jake Froccaro in the midfield - who all have at least 71 career points, led by MacDonald with 130. Every other player on the team combined enters 2015 with a total of 57 career points.
Ambler, MacDonald, Orban and Froccaro have all been starters since freshman year.
Even with nine returning starters, the lineup will look a little different than it did in 2014. Eric Sanschagrin will start in goal after starting the final five games a year ago, when Princeton had three goalies start at least three games each. Will Reynolds will move from close defense to longstick midfield, and sophomore Alistair Berven and freshman Aran Roberts will play in his spot alongside returnees Bear Goldstein and Mark Strabo, who are the only two current players to have started every game of their careers.
Will Rotatori started eight games on attack last year; he will begin his senior year in the second midfield group. In his place on attack will be sophomore Adam Hardej. The first offensive midfield spot vacated by Schreiber will be taken by sophomore Zach Currier.
* * *
Princeton's 2005 opener against Johns Hopkins came on March 5. By this March 5, Princeton will be two games away from its fourth game of the year.
* * *
Princeton hosts Manhattan in the season opener and then returns to Sherrerd Field six days later to take on Hofstra. When that game ends, on Feb. 25 at approximately 5:00, Princeton will have played 40% of its home schedule.
Princeton will play two home games to start the year and then have eight of its final 11 games on the road.
* * *
Princeton's 2015 schedule has two new additions to it. Gone are Villanova, whom Princeton has played the last four years, and North Carolina, whom Princeton played the last five.
In their place are Maryland (the Big 10, not the ACC), whom Princeton plast played in the 2006 NCAA quarterfinals (a loss) and before that the 1997 and 1998 NCAA championship games and 2000 and 2004 NCAA quarterfinals (all wins). Princeton and Maryland are hardly strangers; this year's game will be the 43rd between the two, and the first meeting dates to 1927.
Princeton also plays Stony Book, for the third time. The other two games were in 1992 and 1993.
* * *
Speaking of Stony Brook, Manhattan opened its season with a 19-3 loss to Stony Brook last Saturday. The Jaspers did get two of their goals from Jimmy Rogers.
Princeton is 5-0 all-time against Manhattan, including a 14-8 win a year ago at Gaelic Park in a game that was 5-0 at the end of the first quarter and 13-3 at the end of the third.
* * *
Princeton is 11-0 all-time against teams that currently make up the MAAC, including Manhattan. In 10 of those 11 games, Princeton has reached double figures and the MAAC school has been held to single digits. The only exception was a 19-10 win over Quinnipiac in 2004.
* * *
Kip Orban has the longest current streak in Division I of consecutive games with at least one goal with a goal in 26 straight. In 2014 he became the first player since Peter Trombino 10 years earlier to have at least one goal in every game of a season.
The Princeton record for consecutive games with at least one goal is 46, held by Chris Massey. The maximum number of games that Princeton could play in 2015 is 20 (13 regular season, two Ivy tournament, one NCAA play-in, four NCAA touranment), so Orban technically still has a chance to tie Massey. If he can stretch his streak four more games, he'd join Massey, B.J. Prager and Jason Doneger as the only Princeton players ever to have at least one goal in 30 straight games.
* * *
Mike MacDonald enters his senior year ranked 19th all-time in points at Princeton with 130 and 18th all-time in goals with 84 (tied with Mark Kovler).
MacDonald had 43 goals as a sophomore but only 19 a year ago (though he did lead the team with 22 assists) after being slowed by injuries. He had surgery on both hips in the off-season to repair torn labrums, and he missed the entire fall during his six-month recovery. He is healthy now for his senior year.
* * *
Princeton had two players selected in the Major League Lacrosse draft. Kip Orban was selected in the third round by Charlotte, while Mike MacDonald went in the sixth round to Rochester.
* * *
Jack Strabo started basically every game as a shortstick defensive midfielder for the last four years. Nick Fernandez played alongside Strabo as a freshman, sophomore and senior while starting on close defense as a junior.
Both of them graduated, as did Hunter deButts, who played as the third SSDM a year ago.
The most experienced SSDM that Princeton has is junior Austin deButts, Hunter's brother, who played in seven games a year ago and had five ground balls and four caused turnovers.
Princeton will be relying heavily on freshmen at the key position, as Austin Sims and Sam Bonafede should play considerably while a third freshman, J.T. Caputo, is also in the mix.
* * *
Justin Murphy has been Princeton's top face-off man the last two years, but his career ended due to multiple concussions. He is now working with the team as an undergraduate assistant coach.
Murphy won 106 of 192 face-offs last year (55.2%), while every other face-off man Princeton used went 54 for 156 (34.6%). Princeton will use Jake Froccaro, Sam Bonafede and Jack O'Brien as its primary face-off men this year.
* * *
What Can You Say About ...
Ryan Ambler #14
• team's leading returning point scorer with 43 a year ago (24G, 19A)
• was second on the team in goals and third on the team in assists in 2014
• more than doubled goal total from freshman year to sophomore year (11 to 24)
• had a career-high seven points against Dartmouth (3G, 4A)
• started 13 of 15 games as a freshman, missing games against Rutgers and Dartmouth due to injury
• second-team All-Ivy League in 2014
• father Bob is the all-time leading scorer at Drexel
Alistair Berven #40
• figures to start on defense
• played in two games a year ago
• a native of San Francisco who attended Lawrenceville Prep
Sam Bonafede #12
• will face-off and play shortstick defensive midfield
• won 68% of his face-offs during his high school career
• claims to be able to correctly identify the flag of every country on Earth
Zach Currier #25
• starting in the first midfield
• had seven points in the last three games a year ago after having three in the first 10
• had career highs with three goals, four points and five ground balls in the win over Dartmouth
• named Ivy League Rookie of the Week after the win over Dartmouth
Jake Froccaro #10
• preseason third-team All-America by Inside Lacrosse
• second-team All-Ivy League in 2014
• first midfielder in program history to reach at least 50 goals by the end of sophomre year
• is the only midfielder at Princeton ever with at least 20 goals as a freshman and sophomore
• leading returning goal scorer after scoring 27 a year ago
• had 10 goals against Yale to tie 63-year-old school single-game record
• will play midfield and face-off
• 2013 Ivy League Rookie of the Year
• 2013 honorable mention All-Ivy League
• had 24 goals and 10 assists as a freshman
Bear Goldstein #34
• started every game on defense as a freshman
• one of two current Princeton players who has started every game of his career (Mark Strabo)
• had 11 ground ball and six caused turnovers
Mike MacDonald #8
• selected in the sixth round of the Major League Lacrosse draft by Rochester
• has 130 career points (84G, 46A), 19th all-time at Princeton
• needs one point to tie Tommy Davis for 19th
• tied for 18th all-time at Princeton with 84 career goals; needs two to tie Jeff Froccaro for 17th
• led the team in assists in 2015
• has at least one point in 28 straight games
• missed the fall after having arthroscopic surgery on both hips to repair bi-lateral torn labrums; recovery took six months
• 2014 second-team All-Ivy League
• 2014 Tewaaraton Trophy watchlist
• 2013 first-team All-Ivy League
• 2013 honorable mention All-America
• had 43 goals in 2013, the sixth-best single-season total in school history and the most by a Princeton player since Chris Massey had 45 in 1997
Kip Orban #13
• team captain
• drafted in the third round of the Major League Lacrosse draft by Charlotte
• has at least one goal in 26 straight games, the longest current streak in Division I
• has at least one point in 28 straight games
• tied the Lehigh game on a goal with 2.7 seconds left and the assisted on Tom Schreiber's game-winner in overtime
• 2013 second-team All-Ivy League selection
• Ivy League all-tournament team selection
• had 27 goals and eight assists in 2013, including the game-winning goal in the Ivy League semifinal against Cornell in overtime
Will Reynolds #7
• preaseason third-team All-America by Inside Lacrosse
• starter on close defense
• had his first career goal in the game against Yale
• had three caused turnovers against Lehigh
• had a caused turnover and two ground balls against Rutgers
Aran Roberts #35
• will play on close defense
• grew up in Ireland (sounds like it) before attending high school in California (doesn't sound like it)
Will Rotatori #27
• started first eight games on attack
• now playing in the second midfield
• had five goals and an assist a year ago
Eric Sanschagrin #31
• will be the starter in goal
• started the last five games of the 2014 season
• made 10 saves, including one in OT, against Lehigh
• played the entire game against Rutgers, making a career-high 14 saves
• had 13 saves against Harvard
• started the last four games of the 2013 season
Austin Sims #4
• freshman who will play shortstick defensive midfield
• was a high school All-America
Mark Strabo #3
• has started every game of his career
• had 22 ground balls and seven caused turnovers a year ago
PRINCETON RECORDS
Career Points
247 Kevin E. Lowe,(73G, 174A) 1991-94
232 Ryan J. Boyle (70G, 162A) 2001-04
215 Jonathan A. Hess, (82G, 133A) 1995-98
211 Jesse H. Hubbard (163G, 48A) 1995-98
200 Thomas M. Schreiber (106G, 94A)......... 2011-14
192 Christopher G. Massey (146G, 46A) 1995-98
182 David J. Heubeck (83G, 99A) 1977-80
174 Joseph S. (Wick) Sollers (114G, 60A) 1975-77
164 P. Justin Tortolani (120G, 44A) 1989-92
163 David H. Tickner (94G, 69A) 1975-77
153 Gerald P. Ronon (97G, 56A0 1980-83
152 Peter J. Trombino (98G, 54A) 2004-07
148 Sean P. Hartofilis (127G, 21A) 2000-03
147 Ralph N. (Bo) Willis (63G, 84A) 1951-53
146 Donald P. Hahn (50G, 96A) 1949-51
141 Joshua S. Sims (103G, 38A) 1997-2000
139 Robert A. Palumbo (74G, 65A) 1985-88
137 Taylor W. Simmers (72G, 65A) 1991-94
130 Michael S. MacDonald (84G, 46A) 2012-present
Career Goals
163 Jesse H. Hubbard 1995-98
146 Christopher G. Massey 1995-98
126 Sean P. Hartofilis 2000-03
120 Justin P. Tortolani 1989-92
118 William J. Prager 1999-2002
114 Joseph S. (Wick) Sollers 1975-77
106 Thomas M. Schreiber 2011-14
105 Jason M. Doneger 2001-05
103 Joshua S. Sims 1997-2000
98 Peter Trombino 2004-07
97 Scott R. Conklin 1992-95
97 Gerald A. Ronan 1980-83
94 William M. Chaires 1973-75
94 David H. Tickner 1975-77
94 Lorne D. Smith 1996-99
90 Joseph P. McBride 2008-11
86 Jeff J. Froccaro 2010-13
84 Michael S. MacDonald 2012-present
84 Mark L. Kovler 2006-09