Princeton Tops Binghamton 22-9, Looks Ahead To No. 1 Maryland

Tuesday, February 22

Princeton, N.J.

5:00 PM

Princeton University

Binghamton

Sam English sees the ball in the net for one of his two goals (with three assists and three caused turnovers) in the 22-9 win over Binghamton.

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Princeton Tops Binghamton 22-9, Looks Ahead To No. 1 Maryland

February 22, 2022 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

With its former No. 22 in the broadcast booth, the Princeton men's lacrosse put up 22 goals on 2/22/22.

Come 2/25/22, things get much more serious.

Princeton, reaching 22 goals for the second straight game, defeated Binghamton 22-9 on a warm, rainy evening on Sherrerd Field to improve to 2-0. With this win and Saturday's opening 22-6 win over Monmouth behind them, the Tigers now embark on a treacherous stretch that sees them play five straight games against teams ranked this week in the media Top 10. That run begins Saturday afternoon at No. 1 Maryland.

As for the game against Binghamton, every healthy Tiger played as Princeton ran out to a 14-3 halftime lead. Once again, Chris Brown was the Tigers' leading scorer with seven points (4G, 3A), and Jake Stevens had a four-goal night, giving him seven in two games.

Alex Slusher added three goals to give him eight in two games, or one more than he had in five games of 2020. In all, 12 different Tigers had at least one goal, including two for Sam English (who also had three assists and three caused turnovers) and Luke Crimmins and the first career goals for Sean Cameron, Billy Barnds and longstick midfielder Michael Bath. Christian Ronda, Beau Pederson, Alexander Vardaro and Jack Crockett also had goals for Princeton.

Hat-trick for Alex Slusher! Princeton forces a Binghamton turnover at midfield, leading to a Princeton goal. Assist from Sam English. pic.twitter.com/8v8QvKDSY8
— Princeton Men's Lacrosse (@TigerLacrosse) February 22, 2022

The Princeton defense tied the program record with 15 caused turnovers, equaling a mark set seven times previously, including against Monmouth. Two of the Bearcats first three possessions ended with shot clock violations as the Tigers established their tone for the night, and starting goalie Erik Peters made 12 saves while allowing six goals in 39 minutes before Griffen Rakower and Michael Gianforcaro finished up.

Tyler Sandoval won 14 of his 20 face-offs.

All the while, Princeton's all-time leading scorer, Michael Sowers, was in the Sherrerd Field press box. Instead of wearing his No. 22, he wore a headset, as he made his broadcasting debut.

And now the Tigers attempt to do what they did two years ago with Sowers, which is to turn wins over two unranked teams to start the season into major statement wins against highly ranked teams moving forward. It starts at Maryland and then a trip after that to No. 3 Georgetown, with home games after that against No. 5 Rutgers and No. 10 Penn before a trip to No. 6 Yale. That's on five straight Saturdays.

For Princeton 2/22/22 was a fun day. Now it's time to get back to work.

Michael Bath scores, with an assist from Braedon Saris, to finish off the game 22-9! pic.twitter.com/WM5So2S8Os
— Princeton Men's Lacrosse (@TigerLacrosse) February 23, 2022