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Princeton University Athletics
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Tigers Host Cornell In 79th Meeting Of Ivy's Best Men's Lacrosse Rivalry
April 28, 2016 | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON VS. CORNELL
Saturday • April 30 • Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium • Noon • ESPNU
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In the entire history of Ivy League athletics, there aren't many rivalries that can match Princeton and Cornell in men's lacrosse.
Princeton-Penn men's basketball? Harvard-Yale football? Okay.
Beyond that, Princeton-Cornell men's lacrosse is up there with any of them.
Including co-championships, Princeton and Cornell have combined to win 56 titles in the 59 years of Ivy League men's lacrosse. Cornell leads the Ivy League with 29 championships. Princeton has 27. Brown is next, with this year's being the 10th for the Bears. No other team has won more than six.
In pretty much any year, the Princeton-Cornell game has had a major impact on the Ivy League championship. After all of that success, there was bound to be a year where neither team would be in championship contention as the regular season ends.
Such is the case for 2016. Princeton and Cornell were both eliminated from contention for the Ivy League tournament a week ago with Princeton's loss to Harvard. As such, this is the last game of the season for both.
Still, they'll be back. Both will. It's always been that way.
* * *
Princeton and Cornell meet for the first time in a game in which neither is ranked for the first time since 1988.
* * *
Princeton and Cornell split two games a year ago, as the Big Red won the regular season finale 15-10 in Ithaca to force a three-way to for the championship between the Tigers, Big Red and Brown before Princeton won in the Ivy semifinals 11-7.
Princeton scored 21 goals against Cornell a year ago, 12 of which were scored by either Mike MacDonald or Kip Orban, both of whom gradauted. Cornell scored 22 goals against Princeton last year, of which 16 were scored by players who graduated.
* * *
Cornell has been ranked at various times this season, most recently two weeks ago.
The Big Red will be the 10th team that Princeton will play this year who has been ranked at some point this season. Princeton has played four teams currently ranked in the top eight - Maryland, Brown, Yale and Johns Hopkins.
* * *
The Ivy League tournament will be held at Brown next weekend. Harvard, Yale and Penn will join the host Bears in the field, regardless of this weekend's games.
* * *
Princeton ranks ninth in Division I in shooting percentage at .333.
* * *
Gavin McBride had his streak of scoring three goals in three straight games stopped last week against Harvard - by scoring four.
The four goals matched McBride's career high, set last year against Lehigh.
Should McBride get at least one point against Cornell, then he would have gone from having no points as a freshman to having at least one point in every game as a sophomore and a junior. McBride's current streak is at 28 straight games with at least one point.
McBride's streak of four straight games with at least three goals has been equalled only by Mike MacDonald, Tom Schreiber and Jason Doneger in the last 15 seasons.
And who was the last player at Princeton to have more than four straight games of three or more goals?
You have to go back to 2001, when Sean Hartofilis did it six straight times.
* * *
Austin Sims and Gavin McBride are tied for the team lead with 23 goals.
McBride scored 24 goals last year, which were the most ever by a Princeton sophomore who did not have any as a freshman. Sims is a sophomore who did not have any goals as a freshman.
* * *
Ryan Ambler will be playing his final game as a Princeton Tiger today.
Ambler has been a four-year starter, except for two games as a freshman when he was hurt. He enters today's game with 166 career points (75G, 91A), 10th all-time at Princeton. His 91 assists also rank seventh all-time in program history.
The only players in Princeton men's lacrosse history with at least 75 career goals and 90 career assists are Jon Hess, Tom Schreiber, Dave Heubeck and Ryan Ambler.
* * *
Ryan Ambler ranks third in the Ivy League in assists per game and fifth in points per game.
* * *
The 2016 season will be the first since 1994 in which neither Princeton nor Cornell will win at least a share of the Ivy title.
Brown was the outright 1994 Ivy champion. Princeton went on to defeat Brown in the 1994 NCAA semifinals and then won the second of the program's six NCAA championships.
* * *
Gavin McBride and Austin Sims are tied for eighth in the league in goals per game.
Sims is second in the league among middies in goals per game, behind Yale's Michael Keasey. McBride has played more attack than midfield.
* * *
Cornell's Domenic Massimilian is second in the league and seventh in Division I in face-off percentage. Massimilian has won 151 of 237 this year (.637), and the junior has won 403 of 623 (.647) for his career.
Sam Bonafede is 90 for 174 for Princeton this season and 199 for 406 for his career.
* * *
Cornell's Domenic Massimilian leads Division I in ground balls per game at 9.91. Zach Currier is 10th, at 6.55 per game.
Currier had his latest remarkable game a week ago against Harvard. Here was his stat line: two goals, one assist, nine ground balls, a caused turnover and three face-off wins in six attempts.
He also played on the face-off wings and in the first and second midfields.
Currier leads the team with 72 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers.
* * *
Princeton has three players in double figures in goals and assists: Ryan Ambler (18G, 26A), Zach Currier (13G, 16A) and Riley Thompson (11G, 11A).
Cornell has one: John Edmonds (14G, 12A).
* * *
Bear Goldstein is the only current Princeton player to start every game of his career.
ONE LINERS
Bear Altemus – junior with a year of experience on the second midfield line who has only played in two games this year due to injuries
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; leads team in assists and points and has 166 career points, 99 more than the next-highest total on the team and more than the second, third and fourth players combined
Alistair Berven – veteran who can play defense or longstick midfield and has played a lot of both last year and this year
Tyler Blaisdell – has a .689 save percentage and 5.22 goals-against average in wins
Sam Bonafede – has won 49 of 87 face-offs the last four games to move above .500 for the year
Matt Brophy – cleared to return after missing first half of the season due to injury
Luke Brugger – senior who can play longstick midfield
J.T. Caputo – middie who had a goal and assist against NJIT for his first two career points
Sean Connors – started two games on attack, scoring once in each; has also played middie
Emmet Cordrey – freshman high school All-America who had two goals in his first collegiate game
Zach Currier – averages 6.55 ground balls, 1.36 caused turnovers, 1.56 assists and 2.64 points per game; had a stat line of two goals, one assist, one caused turnover, nine ground balls and 6 of 10 face-off wins against Harvard last week while playing in the first and second midfields
Austin deButts – captain and top shortstick defensive middie; is second on the team in caused turnovers with 10, behind fellow shortstick Zach Currier (15)
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; had first career multi-goal game at Brown and a goal against Lehigh
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 and who has the highest GPA on the team
Sam Gravitte – has three career goals - two with a longstick and one with a shortstick; started the first six games on close D and has been a SSDM the last six
Adam Hardej – middie who has three goals
Gavin McBride – has four straight games of at least three goals, joining only Tom Schreiber, Mike MacDonald and Jason Doneger as Princeton players who have done so in the last 15 years; tied for team lead with 23 goals and has at least one point in 27 straight games
Dawson McKenzie – freshman who has five goals and two assists
Greg Merrill – has missed the season due to injury
Mike Morean – freshman shortstick D middie who has also played well on the wings on face-offs and is third on the team with 21 GB
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 out for the year due to injury
Matt O'Connor – senior captain who has started 16 games in goal in his career; played the final 54:08 against Brown
Will Reynolds – starter on close D who has also played LSM
Oliver Schmickel – freshman goalie who played 4:58 against NJIT
Austin Sims – sophomore who made the U.S. U-19 team; tied for the team lead with 23 goals, 18 of which have come in the last seven games, after he switched from two-way midfield to just offense
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 who made his first career start on D in the game against Dartmouth; has also played a lot of LSM
Riley Thompson – has 11G and 11A while starting every game either on attack or in the midfield
Strib Walker – freshman who plays shortstick D middie
Bobby Weaver - had career-high of three goals against Harvard, giving him 11 for the year after having none for his career prior to this season
Dylan White – senior defenseman who is in his first year with the lacrosse team after playing four years of football
Daniel Winschuh – plays 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)
PENN (L, 20-10)
GOALS - Sims 3, Ambler 2, McBride 2, Thompson 1, Weaver 1,
Connors 1
ASSISTS - Sims 2, Thompson 2, Currier 2, Ambler 1, Thompson 1, Weaver 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (60 min, 20 goals-against, 4 saves)
YALE (L, 11-10)
GOALS - Sims 4, McBride 2, Currier 2, Ambler 1, McKenzie 1
ASSISTS - Thompson 2, Weaver 2, Ambler 1, McBride 1, Flaig 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (60 min, 11 goals-against, 5 saves)
BROWN (L, 19-8)
GOALS - Sims 3, Flaig 2, Weaver 1, McBride 1, Thompson 1
ASSISTS - Currier 4, Ambler 3
GOALIES - Blaisdell (5:52 min, 4 goals-against, 3 saves), O'Connor (54:08 min, 15 goals-against, 7 saves)
STONY BROOK (L, 13-10)
GOALS - McBride 3, Sims 2, Currier 2, Ambler 1, Bonafede 1,
Thompson 1.
ASSISTS - Ambler 2, Currier 1, McBride 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (60:00 min, 13 goals-against, 5 saves)
LEHIGH (W, 13-6)
GOALS - Ambler 4, McBride 3, Sims 3, Currier 1, Thompson 1,
Flaig 1.
ASSISTS - Ambler 3, Currier 2, Weaver 1, Connors 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (60:00 min, 6 goals-against, 10 saves)
DARTMOUTH (W, 7-3)
GOALS - McBride 3, Sims 1, Gravitte 1, Weaver 1, Connors 1
ASSISTS - Ambler 1, Currier 1, McBride 1, Thompson 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (60:00 min, 3 goals-against, 15 saves)
HARVARD (L, 16-12)
GOALS - McBride 4, Weaver 3, Currier 2, Sims 2, Ambler 1
ASSISTS - Ambler 4, Currier 1, Thompson 1
GOALIES - Blaisdell (59:38 min, 16 goals-against, 12 saves), O'Connor (00:22 min, 0 goals-against, 0 saves)