Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Princeton Opens Ivy League Season By Hosting Penn In The 84th Meeting
March 17, 2016 | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON vs. PENN
Saturday, March 19 • 1 p.m.
Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium
GAME LINKS
Princeton stats
Penn stats
Ivy League Digital Network (subscription required)
Live stats
Full Princeton notes
Penn notes
It's not exactly a must win for Princeton and Penn as they open the Ivy League season this weekend.
No, it's more like an acknowledgement that in the Ivy League of 2016, basically every game is going to have the feel of a must-win, from Week 1 in mid-March through the end of April.
To say the Ivy League is loaded this year is a bit of an understatement. The Ivy League this week alone has teams ranked fourth, fifth and 14th, with two others receiving votes.
Of the seven Ivy men's lacrosse teams, six already have a win over a team that was ranked at the time of the game. Yes, this is a very good, very deep league.
Each of the next seven weekends will have three Ivy League games, beginning this weekend with this game, as well as Yale at Cornell and Brown at Harvard. The Ivy League tournament will be held the first weekend of May, by which time any number of possible storylines will have played out.
* * *
Princeton and Penn meet for the 84th time, with the Tigers ahead in the all-time series 65-18.
Princeton and Penn first met in 1928 and have played every year since, except for the World War II seasons of 1943-45 and then the post-war year of 1946.
* * *
Princeton defeated Penn 17-11 a year ago as Kip Orban (seven), Ryan Ambler (five) and Mike MacDonald (three) combined for 15 of the Tigers' goals.
Ambler, in fact, tied his career highs in goals in that game. He also had three assists, giving him his career high in points with eight.
* * *
Princeton enters the game after having beaten No. 18 Rutgers 10-7 Monday night on Sherrerd Field.
Tyler Blaisdell made 14 saves while allowing seven goals, for a .667 save percentage. Blaisdell was coming off a tough game against Maryland, where he allowed 17 goals and made eight saves. A week before that, at Johns Hopkins, Blaisdell had also allowed 17 goals - but also made 20 saves, making him the first Princeton goalie since Alex Hewit in 2006 to reach 20 saves in a game.
Blaisdell shut out Rutgers in the first quarter while making five saves, and he made eight saves while allowing two goals in the first half.
* * *
Zach Currier had another impressive outing in Princeton's win over Rutgers. In fact, Currier continues to be one of the most unique players in the country, with his ability to impact so many different parts of the game.
Currier's line against Rutgers was this: two goals, one assist, eight ground balls, two caused turnovers. He also took all 21 face-offs for the Tigers.
Currier ranks sixth in Division I in ground balls per game with 7.50. The five players ahead of him on the list are FOGOs who have combined for three goals and three assists. That's all five of them combined.
Those five also have combined for three caused turnovers.
Currier? He can face-off, but he also can be a first-line middie. By himself he has six goals and five assists. He also has eight caused turnovers.
Currier leads Princeton with 33 ground balls. The next two-highest totals on the team combined come to 23 (Riley Thompson with 13, Gavin McBride with 10).
Currier had 81 ground balls a year ago, which was the most since James Mitchell had 95 in 1997. This year, Currier is on pace for 90 ground balls for the regular season.
* * *
Princeton and Penn are both below .500 on face-offs this season.
Princeton has won 42.6 percent of its face-offs through five games. Penn has won 36.9% of its face-offs.
* * *
Mark Strabo started every game of the 2013 and 2014 seasons. He then was hurt in the opener last year and missed the rest of the season.
He also missed the first two games this year due to a different injury, but he returned to the starting lineup against Johns Hopkins.
* * *
Riley Thompson is the only Princeton player who has at least one goal in each of the first five games. Thompson has 12 points in five games (7G, 5A). That's twice as many as he had a year ago in 15 games (2G, 4A).
Gavin McBride has at least one point in 20 straight games, the longest current streak on the team. McBride did not have any goals or assists as a freshman, but he has at least one point in every game since.
* * *
Bobby Weaver and Austin Sims, neither of whom had a career goal prior to this year, both have five goals in the first five games this season.
Bear Goldstein is the only current Princeton player to have started every game of his career.
* * *
Princeton and Penn both average 10.6 goals per game.
* * *
With three goals and an assist against Rutgers, Ryan Ambler moved past Rob Polumbo and Josh Sims into 16th place all-time in points at Princeton with 142. He needs six to move into 14th, past two players from the 1950s, Don Hahn and Bo Willis.
Ambler also is tied with Mike MacDonald for eighth all-time at Princeton in assists with 76. He needs eight to tie Willis for seventh.
* * *
Freshman shortstick defensive middie Mike Morean had five ground balls against Rutgers after having three in the first four games combined.
* * *
Sean Connors had his first start on attack this season in the game against Rutgers, in which he scored a goal. Connors had been playing in the midfield prior to the Rutgers game.
Gavin McBride started the first four games on attack before moving back to midfield for the Rutgers game. McBride started every game at midfield a year ago.
Sam Gravitte has started all five games on defense this year after playing all 15 games last year as a longstick midfielder.
* * *
Austin Sims is a member of the U.S. U19 team for the World Championships in British Columbia this coming summer.
* * *
ONE LINERS
Bear Altemus – junior with a year of experience on the second midfield line who missed the first two games but returned to play against Johns Hopkins
John Alvarez – freshman backup goalie who played final 4:51 against NJIT with no saves or goals-against
Ryan Ambler - senior captain, fourth-year starter on attack, MLL draftee and Tewaaraton watchlist selection who is Princeton's leading scorer this season (9-11-20); needs four goals to become the seventh player in program history with at least 70 goals and 70 assists
Alistair Berven – veteran who can play defense or longstick midfield after starting nine games on D a year ago and starting on D the first two games this year
Tyler Blaisdell – had 20 saves against Johns Hopkins, making him the first Princeton goalie in 10 years to reach 20 in a game, and made 14 saves while allowing seven goals in the win over Rutgers
Sam Bonafede – has taken 278 career face-offs; did not face-off but played as an offensive middie against Rutgers
Matt Brophy – will miss the season due to injury
Luke Brugger – senior who can play longstick midfield
J.T. Caputo – two-way middie who had a goal and assist against NJIT for his first two career points
Sean Connors – scored his first goal of the year against Rutgers in a game he started on attack after playing middie for the first four games; started 10 games on attack last year, when he scored 10 goals
Emmet Cordrey – freshman high school All-America who had two goals in his first collegiate game
Zach Currier – insane stat line against Rutgers - 2G, 1A, 8GB, 2CT, took all 21 face-offs
Austin deButts – captain and top shortstick defensive middie; had two caused turnovers and two ground balls against Rutgers
Charlie Durbin – freshman who has faced-off and played as an offensive middie and who scored two goals in the season opener against NJIT; had first career assist against Rutgers
Alexander Fish – offensive middie who walked on a year ago
Carter Flaig – leading scorer all-time at St. Paul's has four points in five college games
Braedon Gait – sophomore middie who had his first career goal against NJIT
Bear Goldstein – junior captain who is the only player on the team who has started every game of his career
Sam Gravitte – had two caused turnovers and two ground balls against Rutgers and is second on the team with six caused turnovers
Adam Hardej – middie who had one goal against Maryland and one against NJIT
Gavin McBride – has at least one point in 20 straight games, the longest current streak on the team
Dawson McKenzie – freshman who has four goals and two assists
Greg Merrill – will miss the season due to injury
Mike Morean – freshman shortstick D middie had five ground balls against Rutgers
Jack O'Brien – face-off man who won the gray T-shirt with the Spartan Shield after the preseason conditioning program
Drew O'Connell – offensive middie who has worked through injuries
Matt O'Connor – senior captain who has started 16 games in goal in his career and had four saves without allowing a goal in 10:17 against NJIT
Will Reynolds – returned as LSM after missing the final 14 games a year ago due to injury and starting as a freshman on D; has three caused turnovers and eight ground balls
Aran Roberts – started 13 games on D a year ago but will miss 2016 due to injury
Oliver Schmickel – freshman backup goalie who played 4:58 against NJIT
Austin Sims – sophomore who made the U.S. U-19 team, has five goals in five games after not having any a year ago
Mark Strabo – made his return to the starting defense against Hopkins after starting every game on D his first two years and then missing almost all of last year after getting injured in the opener
Charlie Tarry – freshman longstick
Riley Thompson – is the only player with at least one goal in every game and has 12 points in five games (7G, 5A) after having six points all of last year
Strib Walker – freshman who plays shortstick D middie and had two ground balls against NJIT
Bobby Weaver - two-way middie who was one of the top shortstick D middies a year ago; has multi-goal games against Hofstra and Rutgers
Dylan White – senior defenseman who is in his first year with the lacrosse team after playing four years of football
Daniel Winschuh – sees time as a longstick midfielder and on man-down D
GAME BY GAME
NJIT (W, 21-4)
GOALS - Currier 4, Thompson 3, Ambler 2, McKenzie 2, Durbin 2, Cordrey 2, Sims 1, Bonafede 1, Flaig 1, Caputo 1, Gait 1, Hardej 1
ASSISTS - Ambler 3, Currier 3, Thompson 2, McBride 1, Morean 1, Gravitte 1, deButts 1, McKenzie 1, Flaig 1, Caputo 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (39:54 min, 3 goals-against, 3 saves),
O'Connor (10:17, 0 goals-against, 4 saves), Schmickel (4:58, 1 goal-against, 0 saves, Alvarez 4:51, 0 goals-against, 0 saves)
HOFSTRA (L, 11-10 OT)
GOALS - McBride 3, Weaver 2, Ambler 2, McKenzie 1, Thompson 1, Sims 1
ASSISTS - Ambler 4, Flaig 2, McBride 1, McKenzie 1, Thompson 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (60 min, 11 goals-against, 6 saves)
JOHNS HOPKINS (L, 17-7)
GOALS - Sims 2, McBride 1, Thompson 1, Hardej 1, McKenzie 1, Weaver 1
ASSISTS - Ambler 2, Connors 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (60 min, 17 goals-against, 20 saves)
MARYLAND (L, 17-5)
GOALS - Ambler 2, Sims 1, Thompson 1, Hardej 1
ASSISTS - Ambler 1, McBride 1, Currier 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (60 min, 17 goals-against, 8 saves)
RUTGERS (W, 10-7)
GOALS - Ambler 3, Currier 2 Weaver 2, Thompson 1, McBride 1,
Connors 1
ASSISTS - Thompson 2, Durbin 1, Ambler 1, Currier 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (60 min, 7 goals-against, 14 saves)
Career Points
247 Kevin Lowe (73G, 174A) 1991-94
232 Ryan Boyle (70G, 162A) 2001-04
215 Jon Hess, (82G, 133A) 1995-98
211 Jesse Hubbard (163G, 48A) 1995-98
208 Mike MacDonald (132G, 76A) 2012-16
200 Tom Schreiber (106G, 94A)......... 2011-14
192 Chris Massey (146G, 46A) 1995-98
182 Dave Heubeck (83G, 99A) 1977-80
174 Wick Sollers (114G, 60A) 1975-77
164 Justin Tortolani (120G, 44A) 1989-82
163 Dave Tickner (94G, 69A) 1975-77
153 Gerald Ronon (97G, 56A) 1980-83
152 Peter Trombino (98G, 54A) 2004-07
147 Bo Willis (63G, 84A) 1951-53
146 Don Hahn (50G, 96A) 1949-51
142 Ryan Ambler (65G, 76A) 2013-present
Career Assists
174 Kevin Lowe 1991-94
162 Ryan Boyle 2001-04
133 Jon Hess 1995-98
99 Dave Heubeck 1977-80
96 Don Hahn 1982-85
94 Tom Schreiber 2011-15
89 Charles Stillwell 1982-85
84 Bo Willis 1951-53
76 Mike MacDonald 2012-15
76 Ryan Ambler 2013-present