Rough Road: Princeton's Tough Stretch Continues With Trip To No. 3 Georgetown

Saturday, March 5

Washington, D.C.

12:00 PM

Princeton University

Georgetown

Andrew Song and the Tigers are at No. 3 Georgetown Saturday (noon)

Photo by: Brian McWalters

Rough Road: Princeton's Tough Stretch Continues With Trip To No. 3 Georgetown

March 04, 2022 | Men's Lacrosse

PRINCETON VS. GEORGETOWN
March 5, 2022 • noon
Cooper Field • Washington, D.C.

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In the early weeks of the current Division I men's lacrosse season, pretty much anything can be debated. Here, though, is an indisputable fact: No other team is currently facing a more daunting four-week stretch than the Princeton Tigers. Beginning last week and continuing for the next three Saturdays, Princeton will be the only team in the country that plays four straight games against teams ranked in the Top 5 of this week's USILA poll.

Princeton vs. Georgetown
Five Storylines

Strength of Schedule
After opening its season with a 22-6 win over unranked Monmouth and a 22-9 win over unranked Binghamton, the Princeton men's lacrosse team shifted into the start of this run last Saturday with a 15-10 loss at No. 1 Maryland. Princeton returns to the DC area this weekend to take on No. 3 Georgetown, and this game will be followed by home games the next two Saturdays against No. 4 Rutgers and No. 5 Penn.

That's four top five teams in four weeks. Does it get easier after that? Princeton's two following games are on the road at Yale – a preseason Top 10 team – and Brown – who potentially could be a Top 10 team by then.

Maryland and Georgetown were replacements for Virginia and Johns Hopkins. Both Maryland and Georgetown will play on Sherrerd Field next season.

Face-offs
Princeton's Tyler Sandoval has won 63.6 percent of his face-offs this season and 57.5 percent for his career, which consists of six games. Sandoval missed the game last week at Maryland when he was in the Covid protocol, and freshman face-off man Koby Ginder also missed the game (and will miss the next 5-7 weeks) with a dislocated elbow.

Jack-Henry Vara took all 29 face-offs against the Terps after he was released from the Covid protocol that morning and had to drive down to the game separate from the team, who left on Friday.

Georgetown's James Reilly is the No. 5 face-off man in Division I at .642. Sandoval, because he has not played in 75 percent of Princeton's games, is not ranked among the national leaders, but he would be eighth.

National leader
Princeton comes into the game as the Division I leader in three team statistical categories.

First, there is shooting percentage. Princeton is shooting .429 as a team, which includes a .435 afternoon last week against Maryland (10 for 23). Individually, Princeton's Chris Brown, Jake Stevens, Alex Slusher, Sam English, Alexander Vardaro and Christian Ronda are all ranked in the top 54 in the country and top nine in the Ivy League in shooting percentage.

Princeton is also the No. 1 ranked team in opponent clearing percentage at .672, meaning Princeton has forced a turnover on a clear more than 30 percent of the time.

Lastly, Princeton is ranked No. 1 in man-up offense, though at 5 for 6 has a very small sample size.

Scoring defense
Georgetown in the No. 1 scoring defense team in the country at 7.75 goals allowed per game. Part of that is the defense; part of that is goalie Owen McElroy, whose .663 save percentage is second in Division I (trailing only Dartmouth's Daniel Hincks, .673). Princeton's Erik Peters, by the way, is seventh, at .595.

Princeton is tied with Ohio State for second in Division I in scoring offense at 18.0 goals per game. Princeton has reached double figures in 17 straight games, dating to a 9-8 loss to Rutgers in 2019, and 27 of its last 28 games.

Series history
Princeton and Georgetown haven't played since the current players on both teams were starting elementary school or were in day care. In that game, back in 2006, Georgetown defeated Princeton 9-8 in overtime on a goal on the first possession by Brendan Cannon. To give you a sense of how the sport has changed, Georgetown had possession with five minutes to go in a game that was 8-8 in the fourth quarter and tried to hold for the last shot, only to turn it over with two minutes let. Princeton then held for the last shot but could not convert.

In all Princeton and Georgetown have played six times, and that 2007 game is Princeton's only loss in the series. The teams also played games in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996 and 2002 – all Princeton wins. The 2002 game was a 14-13 Tiger win in the NCAA quarterfinals, where Ryan Boyle snapped a tie game with the deciding goal with four seconds left.

What can you say about …

Jamie Atkinson • Sr., M, No. 25
* one of five senior captains (also George Baughan, Chris Brown, Erik Peters, Andrew Song)
* has missed first three games due to injury

Tommy Barnds • So., A, No. 21
* has three goals and two assists
* had a goal against Maryland
* made his first two career starts after having moved from middie to attack
* has one turnover in two games, with seven ground balls

Michael Bath • Fr., LSM, No. 88
* has played LSM and on the face-off wings
* had first career goal in the Binghamton game
* also has two caused turnovers and five ground balls

George Baughan • Sr., D, No. 17
* 2020 Inside Lacrosse first-team All-American
* unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection and honorable mention All-American in 2019
* has three caused turnovers

Pace Billings • So., D, No. 3
* has started all three games on close defense after being an LSM through the fall
* had a caused turnover in each of the first two games

Chris Brown • Sr., A, No. 6
* has at least one goal in all 35 games in his career, the longest active such streak in Division I and the second-longest in Princeton history, trailing only Chris Massey's 46 from 1995-98
* has had back-to-back seven-point games to start the season, with 3G, 4A against Monmouth and 4G, 3A against Binghamton
* had 2G, 1A against Maryland
* has a .600 shooting percentage (nine goals, 15 shots)
* leads the team with 17 points and eight assists and is tied for the team lead with nine goals
* has 124 career points, or 88 more than the next-highest total on the team
* is 28^th all-time in points and 27^th goals at Princeton

Career points
23. Tommy Davis (128)
24. Charles Stillwell/Bill Chaires/Jack McBride (127)
27. Kip Orban (126)
28. Chris Brown (124)

Career goals
22. Jeff Froccaro (86)
23.Mark Kovler (84)
24. Dave Huebeck (83)
25. Jon Hess/Austin Sims (82)
27. Chris Brown (79)

Sean Cameron • Fr., M, No. 11
* second-line midfielder who had his first career goal in win over Binghamton

Luke Crimmins • Sr., SSDM, No. 31
* converted to SSDM in two weeks before season started
* had two goals on two shots against Binghamton

Sam English * Jr., M, No. 15
* has six goals and five assists after moving from SSDM to a first-line midfielder
* second on the team in assists
* had a career-high four goals against Maryland
* had five points (2G, 3A) against Binghamton

Ben Finlay • Jr., D, No. 10
* has started every game of his career
* had a caused turnover and four ground balls against Maryland
* has four caused turnovers through two games, tied for the team lead

Joseph Juengerkes • So., SSDM, No. 13
* has seen considerable time as an SSDM
* has a caused turnover and ground ball

Coulter Mackesy • Fr., M, No. 91
* second-line middie
* has two goals and two assists

Colin Mulshine • Fr., D, No. 43
* has played considerably on D
* has four ground balls

Beau Pederson • Jr., SSDM, No. 23
* Princeton's top shortstick D middie
* had a goal against Binghamton
* had an assist against Maryland
* has a caused turnover and five ground balls
* converted O middie who had 10 goals as a freshman

Erik Peters • Sr., G, No. 9
* has an 11.05 goals-against average and .595 save percentage through three games
* had a career-high 19 saves against Maryland
* Princeton's starting goalie since midway through the 2019 season

Cathal Roberts • Jr., D, No. 26
* can play close D or LSM
* has three caused turnovers and two ground balls

Christian Ronda • Jr, M, No. 12
* has six goals and two assists in three games as a starting middie
* played in one career game prior to this season without taking a shot
* had five goals against Monmouth in his first start
* has six goals on 14 shots

Tyler Sandoval • So., FO, No. 35
* has won 30 of 47 face-offs through two games (.636)
* leads Ivy League in FO percentage
* also leads team with 12 ground balls
* had an assist against Binghamton
* missed the Maryland game in the Covid protocol

Alex Slusher • Jr., A, No. 5
* is tied for the team lead in goals with nine
* has moved to attack from being a starting midfielder in 2020
* also has three assists for 12 points
* member of the U.S. U-21 team for the upcoming World Championships in Ireland

Andrew Song • Sr., LSM, No. 32
* fourth-year starting LSM
* also plays on face-off wings
* has four caused turnovers (tied for the team lead) and also has seven ground balls
* played for China in the 2018 World Championships

Jacob Stoebner • Jr., D, No. 28
* veteran defender who has been either a starter or key reserve
* has one caused turnover

Jake Stevens • Jr., M, No. 14
* do-it-all midfielder who plays offense, defense and face-off wings
* has seven goals in three games
* second on the team with 10 ground balls

Alexander Vardaro • Jr., M, No. 19
* only starting midfielder from 2020 who is starting in midfield this year
* has five goals and an assist
* had two goals against Maryland
* team's second-leading career scorer (28-8-36)

Jack-Henry Vara • Sr., FO, No. 47
* returned from the Covid protocol to take all 29 face-offs against Maryland

Marquez White • So., SSDM, No. 24
* running as a first-line SSDM