Princeton Men's Lacrosse - 2019 Season Outlook - Princeton University Athletics

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Princeton Men's Lacrosse - 2019 Season Outlook

February 01, 2019 | Men's Lacrosse

The Princeton men's lacrosse team enters the 2019 season with the longest winning streak in Division I, a spot in the teens of basically every national preseason Top 20, a lineup that suggests the team is capable of competing on the highest level and a schedule that will give the Tigers every opportunity to prove it.

Everyone knows about junior attackman Michael Sowers, whose first two years have been absolutely spectacular. Sowers, though, is not the only weapon this team has, as it returns one of the highest scoring attack units in Division I, a defense that is settled in a place it hasn't been in years and an army of freshmen middies who will team with the veterans to offset the loss of a pair of 100-point scorers.

The Tigers need to replace a four-year starting goalie and a four-year face-off man, and there are three candidates for each of those spots.

As for the schedule, well, it starts tough and never lets up. By the time the Ivy season rolls around, Princeton will have opened with Monmouth and then taken on, in order Virginia, Johns Hopkins, Navy and Rutgers. Oh, and then there's that little stretch the follows immediately, with Penn, defending NCAA champ Yale, preseason No. 2 Denver (coached by former Princeton head coach Bill Tierney just to add to the event) and then Brown, followed by Stony Brook, Siena, Dartmouth, Harvard and finally Cornell.

Princeton tied for third in the Ivy League last year but excruciatingly lost out on the tiebreakers for the league tournament to Penn and Brown. Despite that, Princeton won its last five games of the year, giving it the longest winning streak in the country heading into this season.

A position-by-position look at the 2019 Tigers:

Attack
Starters returning – Chris Brown (23-15-38), Phillip Robertson (33-3-36, led Division I with .635 shooting percentage), Michael Sowers (27-56-83; school records for assists and points; led Division I in assists per game and points per game)
Starters lost – none
Other letterwinners returning – Andrew Bowman (1-1-2), Emmet Cordrey (7-1-8), Dawson McKenzie (7-0-7)
Other letterwinners lost – Greg Merrill (missed season due to injury)
Newcomers – Jack Crockett

Any conversation on the 2019 Princeton men's lacrosse season starts with the remarkable Michael Sowers, who led Division I in points per game and assists per game, both by a wide margin. Sowers began his career with a school-record 82 points as a freshman and then bettered that last year with 83 more. At his current pace, he'd break Kevin Lowe's 25-year-old school record of 247 career points in the 13^th game of the regular season, or his 41^st game. Lowe, a member of the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame, needed 60 games to get to 247. Sowers, a junior now, is one of three returning starters on attack, none of whom are seniors yet. In his first year, Sowers teamed with Gavin McBride as McBride broke Jesse Hubbard's single-season goals record. Last year he teamed with Phillip Robertson as Robertson led Division I shooting percentage. Robertson, also a junior, went from three goals as a freshman to 33 as a sophomore. Chris Brown started on attack from Day 1 and became the second Princeton player ever with at least one goal in every game of his freshman year (along with Peter Trombino in 2004). Brown, a sophomore, finished fourth all-time among Princeton freshmen with 38 points and, along with Sowers, is one of two Princeton freshmen ever with at least 20 goals and 15 assists. Dawson McKenzie, a senior, has been a reliable scorer, especially in man up situations, while senior Emmet Cordrey had some big moments last year, including a three-goal effort at Virginia

Offensive Midfield
Starters returning – Connor McCarthy (14-5-19)
Starters lost – Austin Sims (32-16-48), Riley Thompson 14-19-33)
Other letterwinners returning – Jasper Arnold (0-1-1), Jamie Atkinson (1-0-1), Luke Crimmins (8-2-10), Charlie Durbin (missed 2018 due to injury, 18-4-22 in 2017), Mike Morean (2CT, 3GB), Zack Struckman, Strib Walker (2-0-2), Chase Williams (3CT, 14GB), Carter Zavitz
Other letterwinners lost – J.T. Caputo, Braedon Gait, Jeffers Guthrie
Newcomers – Luc Anderson, Nicholas Bond, Will Kusnierek, Beau Pederson, Jake Stevens, Alexander Vardaro

Princeton has a lot of options to choose from here, even without the graduated Austin Sims and Riley Thompson, both of whom scored more than 100 career points as Tigers and are now playing professionally. Connor McCarthy started every game last year and had 14 goals and five assists, and Charlie Durbin is back for his senior year after a knee injury wiped out his 2018 season. Carter Zavitz did not score last year as a freshman, but he was probably Princeton's most improved player in the fall., while sophomore Luke Crimmins scored eight goals in only seven games last year after being hurt for the beginning of the year. And then there are the freshmen – a group of six athletic middies who all figure to make an impact, some from Day 1.

Shortstick Defensive Midfield
Starters returning – Chase Williams (3CT, 14GB)
Starters lost – J.T. Caputo (2CT, 7GB)
Other letterwinners returning – Jasper Arnold (0-1-1), Mike Morean (2CT, 3GB), Zack Struckman, Strib Walker (2-0-2)
Other letterwinners lost - none
Newcomers – none

Princeton has a very strong, very experienced group of shorties, all three of whom can defend and get out in transition. Senior co-captain Strib Walker has battled injuries for much of his career, but he is healthy now and had a great fall. Junior Chase Williams had an ever better fall, as it were, as a defensive back on the 10-0 Princeton football team. Williams, a one-time lacrosse walk-on, has logged a ton of minutes as an SSDM in his first two seasons. Senior Mike Morean might have been Princeton's best at this position before his junior year ended after five games due to an injury, but like Williams he has played a lot in his career.

Longstick midfield
Starters returning – Andrew Song (2-0-2, 14CT, 48GB; moving to close D this year),
Starters lost – none
Other letterwinners returning – Nick Bauer (1CT, 8GB), Terrell Seabrooks, Charlie Tarry (1-0-1, 4CT, 12GB)
Other letterwinners lost – none
Newcomers – Luciano Lazzaretto

Andrew Song had a huge freshman year as the No. 1 LSM, including goals in transition against Virginia and Brown and the emergence as a fierce ground ball man, especially on the face-off wings. Song, who had a great summer with China at the World Championships, is an excellent one-on-one defender who could be a close defende, but his ability in transition makes him more suited to be an LSM. Behind Song will be veteran Charlie Tarry, who has been a starter on defense and a longstick midfielder and who had a goal in the win over Cornell (actually the last goal of the 2018 season), while Nick Bauer, a junior, is a veteran LSM as well. Freshman Luciano Lazzaretto had a very good fall and could see immediate playing time.

Defense
Starters returning – George Baughan (1-0-1, 16CT, 24GB), Arman Medghalchi (5CT, 21GB)
Starters lost – Daniel Winschuh (7CT, 6GB)
Other letterwinners returning – Owen Engel, Aran Roberts (6CT, 17GB), David Sturtz, Mick Upchurch
Other letterwinners lost – none
Newcomers – Cathal Roberts, Jacob Stoebner

There is a lot of reason to be optimistic about the Princeton defense. For starters, Princeton will have the same defensive coordinator – Jeremy Hirsch – for the second straight season for the first time in seven years. Then there's George Baughan, an unheralded freshman a year ago who nevertheless established himself as one of the best players in the country in almost no time. Baughan led the Ivy League in caused turnovers per game and had sterling performances against some of the best attackmen in the country, including shutting out Cornell's Jeff Teat while scoring a goal himself and causing four turnovers to earn national Player of the Week honors. Junior Arman Medghalchi missed the first two games of his freshman year but has started every game since, and he has established himself as a top cover man in his first two years. Senior Aran Roberts has been a starter throughout his career, and he also has considerable experience on the man-down unit; he and junior David Sturtz figure to battle for the third starting spot, while freshman Jacob Stoebner will push for immediate playing time.

Goalie
Starters returning – none
Starters lost – Tyler Blaisdell (733:58 min played, 11.53 GAA, .530 S%)
Other letterwinners returning – Ben Churchill, Jon Levine (63:11 min played,16.14 GAA, .414 S%), Erik Peters
Other letterwinners lost – Oliver Schmickel
Newcomers – none

Tyler Blaisdell became the starter midway through his freshman year and started every game since before graduating last year. Without Blaisdell, Princeton has three returning goalies, none of whom has started, only one of whom has played in a game and none of whom has the advantage heading into the spring practices. Junior Jon Levine, who has played 110:56 in his career and made 23 saves while allowing 25 goals, did have a huge moment last year at Harvard, with two saves on a man-down situation after Blaisdell drew a penalty in what was probably the turning point of that game. The other two goalies are sophomores Erik Peters and Ben Churchill, and all three looked good in the fall.

Face-off
Starters returning – none
Starters lost – Sam Bonafede (1-1-2, 126x245)
Other letterwinners returning – Ralph Chrappa (13x24), Philip Thompson (5x16), Jack-Henry Vara (33x76)
Other letterwinners lost – none
Newcomers – none

Sam Bonafede, who graduated, took 245 face-offs last year, while the three returning players combined took 116. Those three – Ralph Chrappa, Philip Thompson and Jack-Henry Vara – were a combined 51 for 116, or 44 percent. The number of total face-offs between them will go way up, and with a year of experience, hopefully the percentage will as well.