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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Johns Hopkins
Players Mentioned
Princeton Falls to Johns Hopkins 17-7 Despite 20 Saves From Blaisdell
March 05, 2016 | Men's Lacrosse
Final Stats
The clouds over Homewood Field weren't all dark for the Princeton men's lacrosse team.
Yes, the Tigers lost to Johns Hopkins 17-7 Saturday afternoon in the 86th meeting between the teams.
Always, though, there's a silver lining, or in this case, two of them.
First, Tyler Blaisdell became the first Princeton goalie since Alex Hewit against Virginia in 2006 to reach 20 saves in a game.
The sophomore goalie, who made nine saves in the first two games of the season combined and who had a .391 save percentage prior to the Hopkins game, stood in front of 46 shots from the Blue Jays, and he made tough saves in close look routine at times. Blaisdell also ended Division I's longest consecutive games with at least one goal streak at 37 when he shut out Johns Hopkins' Ryan Brown.
Second, Princeton saw the return of Mark Strabo, who had started every game of 2013 and 2014 but was playing for the first time since missing the final 14 games last year due to injury and then the first two this year to a different injury.
Beyond that, it was a tough day for the Tigers, who were without All-America middie Zach Currier, who served a one-game suspension after being ejected at the conclusion of last weekend's overtime loss to Hofstra.
Princeton can't afford to dwell on this loss too much, not with two more nationally ranked Big Ten teams on the horizon and then the start of the Ivy League season. Princeton is home against Maryland this coming Saturday at noon on ESPNU and then against Rutgers two days later before hosting Penn in the Ivy opener on March 19.
GAME NOTES
* Blaisdell's 20 saves were a career high, beating the 15 he had against Harvard a year ago. His 20 saves came exactly one week shy of 10 years from when Hewit did so against Virginia in a game played on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium.
* Austin Sims had his first career two-goal game and was the only Tiger with more than one goal. Sims, playing mostly defense a year ago as a freshman, did not have any goals in 2015. He already has four in three games this season after having one in each of the first two games.
* In addition to Sims, the other goal scorers for Princeton were Gavin McBride, Riley Thompson, Dawson McKenzie and Adam Hardej.
* Sims, McKenzie and Thompson are the only three Princeton players with at least one goal in each game so far this season.
* McBride's goal ran his streak of consecutive games with at least one point to 18. McBride, a junior, had no points as a freshman but has had at least one in every game since the start of last year.
* Johns Hopkins won 22 of 30 face-offs and had a 32-14 edge in ground balls, which led to a 46-27 edge in shots.
* Hopkins now leads the all-time series 57-29. This was the first time since 2004 that the home team has won in this series, after the visitor won seven straight while four were played at a neutral site. The teams have played every year since 1937 except 1944.