Princeton University Athletics
Aran Roberts and the Tigers host Penn Saturday (4) in the Ivy opener for both.
Photo by: Brian McWalters
Princeton Hosts Penn In Ivy Opener
March 15, 2018 | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON VS. PENN
Saturday, March 17, 2018 • 4 pm • Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium • Princeton, N.J. • ESPNU
WATCHESPN
Live Stats
Listen Live
@tigerlacrosse In-Game Twitter Updates
Penn Website
Tickets
Princeton Probable Starters
Career Highs
Career Scoring/Pronunciations
If you're interested in really misleading numbers, there this little fact: In the last two years, Penn has outscored Princeton by one goal, 28-27.
Of course, basically neither of the last two meetings have been remotely competitive. Back in 2016 on Sherrerd Field, it was Penn 20, Princeton 10. A year ago on Franklin Field, it was Princeton 17, Penn 8.
Both games were 5-1 after the first quarter. Penn led 9-3 at the half two years ago; Princeton led 8-3 at the half last year.
Penn's two leading scorers this year - Simon Mathias and Kevin McGeary - had five goals each in the Quaker win two years ago.
On the other hand, Princeton's Michael Sowers had a career high nine points against Penn last year, with five goals and four assists. He's since equaled that career high twice, including in Princeton's last game, last Saturday against Rutgers. Riley Thompson had three goals and two assists against Penn last year as well.
Princeton and Penn meet for the 86th time, in a series that dates to 1928. Princeton leads all-time 66-19.
Princeton vs. Penn
Five Storylines
* Ivy opener
This is the first weekend of Ivy League games, and there are three of them. Princeton hosts Penn, while Brown is at Harvard and Yale is at Cornell. All six of those teams are either ranked or receiving votes in the major national polls.
The Ivy League men's lacrosse tournament in 2018, unlike in past years, will be held at a predetermined site - Columbia University's Wien Stadium. With a league that has no gimmes, every game will be crucial in terms of figuring out which four will reach New York City in May.
The Penn game has been a barometer for every current Princeton player. Princeton defeated Penn and then made the Ivy tournament last year and in 2015. Princeton lost to Penn and then did not make the Ivy tournament in 2016.
* 15, 9 and 8.67
In another statistical oddity, Princeton has played five games and scored either 15 or nine goals in all five. That's 15 three times - against Virginia, NJIT and Rutgers - and nine twice - against Monmouth and Johns Hopkins.
Penn, on the other hand, has scored and allowed 8.67 goals per game. Duke has averaged 16.2 goals per game and scored at least 13 in all six of its wins; Penn held then No. 1 Duke to nine in its 10-9 win at Franklin Field.
A week ago Princeton became the first team to reach double figures against Rutgers in the 15-14 overtime win.
There have been an average of 70.2 shots in Penn's first six games. There have been an average of 81.6 shots per game in Princeton's first five games. Princeton averages 39.2 shots per game, more than five more per game than Penn, who averages 34.0
* Possessions
Princeton leads the Ivy League in causing turnovers, forcing 7.80 per game. Penn turns the ball over fewer times per game than any team in the league, at 10 times per game. Actually, that's the second-best number in Division I, behind only Maryland.
Princeton's leader in caused turnovers last year was Zach Currier, who had 21 for 15 games, or 1.4 per game. The leader this year is freshman longstick midfielder Andrew Song, who had eight in five games or 1.6 per game.
Song also leads Princeton in ground balls with 18, or 3.6 per game. At that rate, Song would need 36 games to match the 130 ground balls that Currier had a year ago.
That notwithstanding, Song had six ground balls last week against Rutgers, including five that came on face-offs. With strong wing play and a solid performance by Sam Bonafede, Princeton won 19 of 33 face-offs against Rutgers.
Princeton won 38 of 50 face-offs in its last two games after winning 28 of 94 in the first three games.
Added together and Princeton is 66 for 144, or .458, for the year.
Penn has won 52 of 123, or .423, for the season.
* Back comes Sims
Austin Sims started the season with three goals in three games, on 36 shots.
Since then? He has eight in the last two games.
His game against Rutgers was vintage Austin Sims, with five goals, including three during the 5-0 run as Princeton rallied from a 14-10 deficit to win 15-14 in overtime. Sims had the tying goal with 49.7 seconds left and then the game-winner in OT, with one righthanded and one lefthanded, neither of which was savable.
The senior tri-captain has been playing on all three midfield lines for the Tigers, matching with three groups of two other mids. Sims has 61 career goals, more than any other active Princeton player. He has twice had six goals in a game, last year against Johns Hopkins and Quinnipiac.
Sims had a goal and assist against Penn last year before he suffered a rib injury that kept him out of four games.
* Moving up the charts
In the entire history of Princeton men's lacrosse prior to when Michael Sowers arrived, there had been 17 occasions where a player had scored at least nine points in a game. That's 17 times in 1,156 games.
Sowers has done it three times in his first 20 colege games.
He did it for the first time against Penn a year ago, with five goals and four assists. He also did it against Brown last year and most recently against Rutgers last weekend, with three goals and a career high six assists.
Sowers now has 114 career points on 52 goals and 62 assists. Just five games ito his sophomore year, he ranks 29th all-time at Princeton in points and 16th all-time at Princeton in assists.
Sowers leads Division I in assists per game (4.20) and is third in points per game (6.40). At his current season pace, he would finish the regular season with 47 assists and 83 points, which would leave him eighth all-time in career assists and 10th in career points.
Other Princeton notes
* Junior Emmet Cordrey has six goals in the last four games, including at least one in each, after having three total for his career prior to that.
* Phillip Robertson leads the Ivy League and is third in Division I in shooting percentage at .667 (10 goals, 15 shots). Of his 10 goals this season, half have come on assists from Michael Sowers.
* Riley Thompson scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Monmouth and assisted on the game-winning goal from Austin Sims in overtime against Rutgers last week. Thompson also assisted on the OT goal fro Gavin McBride in 2015 against Johns Hopkins, giving him three career overtime points.
* Chris Brown is second on the team in assists (11), points (17) and ground balls (17). Brown also has at least one goal and at least one assist in all five of Princeton's games, making him and Michael Sowers the only two Princeton players ever to have at least one of each in the first five games freshman year.
* Defenseman George Baughan has made his first two career starts in Princeton's last two games. Arman Medghalci has started each of the last 18 games on defense, and he is the only Princeton defenseman to have started all five games this season
* Tyler Blaisdell allowed 10 goals and made five saves (.333 save percentage) in the first 32 minutes against Rutgers last week before being pulled for Jon Levine, who made three saves and allowed three goals. Blaisdell then returned for the fourth quarter and overtime, where her made four saves while allowing one goals (.800 save percentage). Blaisdell made a huge one-on-one save on the first possession of the overtime.
Saturday, March 17, 2018 • 4 pm • Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium • Princeton, N.J. • ESPNU
WATCHESPN
Live Stats
Listen Live
@tigerlacrosse In-Game Twitter Updates
Penn Website
Tickets
Princeton Probable Starters
Career Highs
Career Scoring/Pronunciations
If you're interested in really misleading numbers, there this little fact: In the last two years, Penn has outscored Princeton by one goal, 28-27.
Of course, basically neither of the last two meetings have been remotely competitive. Back in 2016 on Sherrerd Field, it was Penn 20, Princeton 10. A year ago on Franklin Field, it was Princeton 17, Penn 8.
Both games were 5-1 after the first quarter. Penn led 9-3 at the half two years ago; Princeton led 8-3 at the half last year.
Penn's two leading scorers this year - Simon Mathias and Kevin McGeary - had five goals each in the Quaker win two years ago.
On the other hand, Princeton's Michael Sowers had a career high nine points against Penn last year, with five goals and four assists. He's since equaled that career high twice, including in Princeton's last game, last Saturday against Rutgers. Riley Thompson had three goals and two assists against Penn last year as well.
Princeton and Penn meet for the 86th time, in a series that dates to 1928. Princeton leads all-time 66-19.
Princeton vs. Penn
Five Storylines
* Ivy opener
This is the first weekend of Ivy League games, and there are three of them. Princeton hosts Penn, while Brown is at Harvard and Yale is at Cornell. All six of those teams are either ranked or receiving votes in the major national polls.
The Ivy League men's lacrosse tournament in 2018, unlike in past years, will be held at a predetermined site - Columbia University's Wien Stadium. With a league that has no gimmes, every game will be crucial in terms of figuring out which four will reach New York City in May.
The Penn game has been a barometer for every current Princeton player. Princeton defeated Penn and then made the Ivy tournament last year and in 2015. Princeton lost to Penn and then did not make the Ivy tournament in 2016.
* 15, 9 and 8.67
In another statistical oddity, Princeton has played five games and scored either 15 or nine goals in all five. That's 15 three times - against Virginia, NJIT and Rutgers - and nine twice - against Monmouth and Johns Hopkins.
Penn, on the other hand, has scored and allowed 8.67 goals per game. Duke has averaged 16.2 goals per game and scored at least 13 in all six of its wins; Penn held then No. 1 Duke to nine in its 10-9 win at Franklin Field.
A week ago Princeton became the first team to reach double figures against Rutgers in the 15-14 overtime win.
There have been an average of 70.2 shots in Penn's first six games. There have been an average of 81.6 shots per game in Princeton's first five games. Princeton averages 39.2 shots per game, more than five more per game than Penn, who averages 34.0
* Possessions
Princeton leads the Ivy League in causing turnovers, forcing 7.80 per game. Penn turns the ball over fewer times per game than any team in the league, at 10 times per game. Actually, that's the second-best number in Division I, behind only Maryland.
Princeton's leader in caused turnovers last year was Zach Currier, who had 21 for 15 games, or 1.4 per game. The leader this year is freshman longstick midfielder Andrew Song, who had eight in five games or 1.6 per game.
Song also leads Princeton in ground balls with 18, or 3.6 per game. At that rate, Song would need 36 games to match the 130 ground balls that Currier had a year ago.
That notwithstanding, Song had six ground balls last week against Rutgers, including five that came on face-offs. With strong wing play and a solid performance by Sam Bonafede, Princeton won 19 of 33 face-offs against Rutgers.
Princeton won 38 of 50 face-offs in its last two games after winning 28 of 94 in the first three games.
Added together and Princeton is 66 for 144, or .458, for the year.
Penn has won 52 of 123, or .423, for the season.
* Back comes Sims
Austin Sims started the season with three goals in three games, on 36 shots.
Since then? He has eight in the last two games.
His game against Rutgers was vintage Austin Sims, with five goals, including three during the 5-0 run as Princeton rallied from a 14-10 deficit to win 15-14 in overtime. Sims had the tying goal with 49.7 seconds left and then the game-winner in OT, with one righthanded and one lefthanded, neither of which was savable.
The senior tri-captain has been playing on all three midfield lines for the Tigers, matching with three groups of two other mids. Sims has 61 career goals, more than any other active Princeton player. He has twice had six goals in a game, last year against Johns Hopkins and Quinnipiac.
Sims had a goal and assist against Penn last year before he suffered a rib injury that kept him out of four games.
* Moving up the charts
In the entire history of Princeton men's lacrosse prior to when Michael Sowers arrived, there had been 17 occasions where a player had scored at least nine points in a game. That's 17 times in 1,156 games.
Sowers has done it three times in his first 20 colege games.
He did it for the first time against Penn a year ago, with five goals and four assists. He also did it against Brown last year and most recently against Rutgers last weekend, with three goals and a career high six assists.
Sowers now has 114 career points on 52 goals and 62 assists. Just five games ito his sophomore year, he ranks 29th all-time at Princeton in points and 16th all-time at Princeton in assists.
Sowers leads Division I in assists per game (4.20) and is third in points per game (6.40). At his current season pace, he would finish the regular season with 47 assists and 83 points, which would leave him eighth all-time in career assists and 10th in career points.
Other Princeton notes
* Junior Emmet Cordrey has six goals in the last four games, including at least one in each, after having three total for his career prior to that.
* Phillip Robertson leads the Ivy League and is third in Division I in shooting percentage at .667 (10 goals, 15 shots). Of his 10 goals this season, half have come on assists from Michael Sowers.
* Riley Thompson scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Monmouth and assisted on the game-winning goal from Austin Sims in overtime against Rutgers last week. Thompson also assisted on the OT goal fro Gavin McBride in 2015 against Johns Hopkins, giving him three career overtime points.
* Chris Brown is second on the team in assists (11), points (17) and ground balls (17). Brown also has at least one goal and at least one assist in all five of Princeton's games, making him and Michael Sowers the only two Princeton players ever to have at least one of each in the first five games freshman year.
* Defenseman George Baughan has made his first two career starts in Princeton's last two games. Arman Medghalci has started each of the last 18 games on defense, and he is the only Princeton defenseman to have started all five games this season
* Tyler Blaisdell allowed 10 goals and made five saves (.333 save percentage) in the first 32 minutes against Rutgers last week before being pulled for Jon Levine, who made three saves and allowed three goals. Blaisdell then returned for the fourth quarter and overtime, where her made four saves while allowing one goals (.800 save percentage). Blaisdell made a huge one-on-one save on the first possession of the overtime.
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