No. 5 Princeton And No. 4 Yale Meet In NCAA Quarterfinals At Hofstra

PRINCETON (10-4) vs. YALE 12-4)
NCAA TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS
Saturday, May 21, 2022 • 2:30 pm
Shuart Stadium • Hofstra University • Hempstead, N.Y.
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Hello Hofstra. It's good to see you again. For the sixth time in its history but first since 2009, the Princeton men's lacrosse team will be playing in the NCAA quarterfinals at Hofstra. Princeton is making its 16^th appearance in the quarterfinal round, and more of those games have been played at Shuart Stadium than anywhere else.

Though Princeton is 10-5 all-time in NCAA quarterfinal games, its last appearance on Championship Weekend came in 2004. Princeton has reached the quarterfinal round for the first time since 2009.

Waiting for fifth-seeded Princeton is the No. 4 seed, Yale, the team that Princeton has played more times than any other (this will be the 107^th meeting between the teams). Princeton's first quarterfinal ever was back in 1990, when the Tigers lost to Yale 17-8. Much more recently, Yale defeated Princeton 14-12 in New Haven on March 26 of this year.

The winner of the Princeton-Yale game will meet the winner of the game between top-seeded Maryland and unseeded Virginia in the semifinals next Saturday in Hartford.

Princeton vs. Yale
Five Storylines

Game 2
For the second-straight week, Princeton has a regular-season rematch in the NCAA tournament.

Princeton and Yale met on March 26 in New Haven in a game the Bulldogs won 14-12. Matt Brandau led Yale with five goals and three assists, and goalie Jared Paquette made 19 saves.

There were three moments that decided the game. The first was an 11:17 stretch of the second quarter, when Yale went on a 5-0 run to erase a 4-2 Tiger edge. Next, with Princeton up 10-9 late in the third, Alex Slusher ripped a shot off the pipe that would have made it a two-goal Tiger lead. Instead, Yale scored twice before the ends of the quarter, going up 11-10. Lastly, with Yale up one late in the fourth, there was a possession on which the Bulldogs took seven shots without scoring — before getting the insurance goal on the eighth.

There were 106 shots in the game between the two teams (54-52 in favor of Yale). Princeton had a 44-31 edge in ground balls and Tyler Sandoval won 18 of 28 face-offs, but the Tiger were hurt by 23 turnovers and seven failed clears, in addition to the 19 saves Paquette made.

Princeton got four goals and two assists from Alexander Vardaro and two goals each from Jake Stevens, Coulter Mackesy, Chris Brown and Alex Slusher. The Yale game was the only game this year in which Sam English did not have a point.

Rematches
Princeton defeated Boston University 12-7 during the regular season and then 12-5 in the NCAA tournament. Chris Brown tied the Princeton record for assists in an NCAA tournament game with five, joining Kevin Lowe and Jon Hess as Princeton players with five in an NCAA game .

Princeton will be playing a team in an NCAA game that it played during the regular season for the 18^th time. The team that won the regular season game is 8-9 in the rematch in the first 17 such games, and Princeton is 7-3 in the NCAA tournament against teams it lost to during the regular season.

Offense
Princeton and Yale rank 5-6 in Division I and first and second in the Ivy League in scoring offense. Between them, they average more than 30 goals per game (Princeton 15.36; Yale 15.19).

Also, between the two teams, they have scored at least 15 goals in a game on 16 different occasions.

Defense
Princeton allowed BU five goals in last week's NCAA opening round win. This came after Princeton had given up 37 goals in its final two regular season games, both of which were losses. Princeton's performance against BU saw the Tigers hold the Terrier attack unit, which came into the game as the highest-scoring group in Division I with 214 points, to a combined 0 goals and 0 assists.

The five goals Princeton allowed were tied for the second-fewest the team has allowed in an NCAA game, even with the 15-5 win over Maryland in the 1998 championship game, behind only a 12-4 win over Rutgers in the 2004 opening round.

In its 14 games this season, Princeton has allowed fewer than 10 goals seven times but at least 18 three others.

The middle of the field
Princeton leads Division I in ground balls per game at 38.93; Yale is in eighth at 35.44. Boston University, Princeton's opponent last week, is fourth at 36.35, and Princeton had a 50-29 edge in ground balls in the game.

Princeton has won 209 face-offs and lost 207; no Princeton team since 2012 has finished a season over .500 since 2012. Princeton's Tyler Sandoval won 15 of 18 against BU last week and 18 of 28 against Yale in the regular season game, which marked only the second time in 21 meetings between the teams that Princeton had the face-off advantage.

Yale has the best statistical ride in Division I, as teams clear the ball at a .763 rate against the Bulldogs. Princeton had seven failed clears against Yale in the regular season game.

Princeton is second in Division I in caused turnovers per game, at 10.71. The Tigers have at least 15 caused turnovers in five different games, including a program-record 18 against Dartmouth. Princeton had only six caused turnovers in its game at Yale in March.

Other Notes
* Princeton and Yale meet for the 107^th time, and Princeton leads the all-time series at 74-30-2. Princeton has played Yale more than any other team (Rutgers is next, at 99 times)

Princeton and Yale first met on Oct. 14, 1882, and the teams met three times in the 1882-83 season, with scores of 2-1, 2-0 and 3-0, all Princeton wins. The teams met six times in the 1880s and have met at least one every year since 1923 other than 1943-46 and 2020-21. They've met four times in Ivy League tournament games and once in the NCAA tournament.

Princeton and Yale played eight straight one-goal games until 2017. Yale has won the last four since that streak ended by three, eight, five and two goals.

Yale has won the last six games between the teams. The last time Princeton lost as many as six straight to the same team was when there were longer streaks against Penn, Cornell and Hopkins that all ended in 1990.

* Princeton is 31-14 all-time in NCAA tournament games after its win over Boston University last week. The margin of victory marked the fifth time that Princeton has won an NCAA game by at least seven goals.

On the other hand, more than half of those games, 24 of them, have been one-goal games, and the Tigers are 19-5 in those games. Four of Princeton's six NCAA titles were won in overtime.

Princeton did not play in any NCAA tournament from its inception in 1971 until making its first appearance in 1990. From that point, Princeton appeared in every NCAA tournament through 2004, winning the championship in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2001, reaching the final in 2000 and 2002 and reaching the Final Four in 1993 and 2004.

Since then, Princeton has been in the tournament in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2022 reaching the quarterfinal in 2006 and 2009 and now this year.

* Christian Ronda had three goals against Boston University last week after having two goals in the prior four games combined.

Ronda's three goals gave him 20 for the season (after he had no goals and one shot for his career prior to this season). Ronda became the seventh Princeton player to reach the 20-goal mark for the year, making this the first time Princeton has ever had seven players reach 20 goals in the same season.

The seven players are: Alex Slusher (44), Chris Brown (29), Sam English (27), Coulter Mackesy (25), Alexander Vardaro (22), Jake Stevens (21) and Ronda (20).

* Princeton has scored 215 goals this season, making this the fifth highest-scoring team in program history. Ahead of the 2022 team are:

1. 1996 (235 goals)
2. 1997 (223 goals)
3. 2017 (220 goals)
4. 1998 (217 goals)

The current team ranks second in program history at 15.36 goals per game, trailing only the 1996 team (15.67).

* Princeton had more wins over the eight NCAA tournament seeds than any other (four: Georgetown, Rutgers, Penn and Brown). The Tigers are 2-3 against the other seven quarterfinal teams, with wins over Penn and Rutgers and losses to Maryland, Yale and Cornell. The Tigers did not play Virginia or Delaware.
* Princeton did not reach the Ivy League tournament after tying for fourth in the league but missing out due to the fourth tiebreaker. Yale reached the final of the Ivy tournament.

As a result, Princeton will have played one game in 21 days when it takes on Yale, who will have played three games in that same stretch.

* Chris Brown comes into the game needing one goal to reach 100 for his career and become the 14^th Tiger player to do so. He is the second Princeton player to have at least 29 goals and 39 assists in a season (Michael Sowers did it twice).

* Princeton set a program record with 18 caused turnovers in the win over Dartmouth. It was the fourth time this year Princeton has had at least 15 in a game; the program single-game record prior to this year was 15.

* Princeton averages 46.7 shots per game. The last time Princeton had at least that many per game for a full season was 1982, when the Tigers averaged 47.3.

* Princeton goalie Erik Peters was named as one of 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Award. The senior is one of three goalies on the list, along with Owen McElroy of Georgetown and C.J. Kirst of Rutgers.

* Princeton is 15-4 in its last 19 games and 19-5 in its last 24 games.

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)
* had a career-high three goals against Marist
* missed the first four games due to injury before returning to play against Rutgers

Tommy Barnds • So., A, No. 21
* has five goals and two assists
* had a goal during Princeton's 6-0 run to take control against Brown in the third quarter
* had a goal against Penn
* had a goal against Maryland
* made his first three career starts after having moved from middie to attack and has now moved back to middie

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

George Baughan • Sr., D, No. 17
* 2022 first-team All-Ivy League selection
* 2022 Inside Lacrosse third-team All-American
* 2022 Academic All-Ivy League and Senior Class Award finalist
* 2020 Inside Lacrosse first-team All-American
* unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection and honorable mention All-American in 2019
* Tewaaraton Award watchlist
* has at least one caused turnover in every game he's played this season and in 16 straight dating to the 2020 season
* held BU's Louis Perfetto without a point in both of the games between the teams this year; Perfetto has at least one point in every other game of his career
* named to USILA Team of the Week after having four caused turnovers and 11 ground balls in wins over Marist and Boston University; also shut out BU's Louis Perfetto, who had a point in all 27 games of his career prior to that
* has 17 caused turnovers, tying for the team lead
* leads the Ivy League with 1.5 caused turnovers per game
* had a goal and two caused turnovers against Harvard
* had an assist, a caused turnover and four ground balls against Yale
* missed the Georgetown and Rutgers games due to injury
* returned to play against Penn and had two caused turnovers

Pace Billings • So., D/LSM, No. 3
* started on close defense for first seven games after being an LSM through the fall; moved back to LSM against Brown
* has 15 caused turnovers
* has 11 caused turnovers in the last six games after having four in the first eight
* had his first career goal, with two caused turnovers, in the NCAA win over BU
* had first career assist against Georgetown
* held Georgetown's Conor Morin without a goal or assist
* missed the Rutgers game due to injury
* returned from injury with a CT against Penn
* had two caused turnovers against Harvard, Dartmouth and Marist

Chris Brown • Sr., A, No. 6
* 2022 Inside Lacrosse honorable mention All-American
* has at least one point in all 46 games in his career
* is one of four Princeton players to play at least 45 career games and have at least one point in every career game (Kevin Lowe, Ryan Boyle, Michael Sowers are the others)
* had a 35-game streak with at least one goal to start his career, which was the longest streak to start a career and second longest overall in program history (next longest streak to start a career was 14 games)
* has 29 goals (second on the team) and 39 assists and 68 points (both leading the team)
* is the sixth Princeton player to have at least 25 goals and 30 assists in a season (Michael Sowers, Mike MacDonald, Jon Hess, David Tickner and Tom Schreiber are the others); only three (Sowers twice, MacDonald and Tickner) ever reached at least 30 goals and 30 assists in a season
* tied the program record for assists in an NCAA game with five against Boston University (Kevin Lowe, Jon Hess also had five)
* has 99 career goals
* has at least five points in nine of 14 games this season
* had six goals and three assists, including the game-winning goal, in a 21-20 overtime win over Penn; six goals and nine points were career highs
* named USA Lacrosse Magazine Division I Player of the Week and to the USILA Team of the Week after the Penn game
* had seven assists against Boston University in the regular season
* is one of two players in program history (Michael Sowers is the other) with one career game with at least six goals and another career game with at least seven assists
* had two goals and three assists against Brown
* had back-to-back seven-point games to start the season, with 3G, 4A against Monmouth and 4G, 3A against Binghamton
* had two goals and three assists against Harvard
* had 2G, 3A against Dartmouth; both goals came in the fourth quarter when Princeton turned a 10-9 deficit into a 12-10 win
* had 3G, 1A against Rutgers
* had 2G, 1A against Maryland
* had two goals and four assists against Marist

Career points
8. Chris Massey (192)
9. Dave Heubeck (182)
10. Chris Brown (175)

Career goals

11. Gavin McBride (104)
12. Josh Sims (103)
13. Kip Orban (101)
14. Chris Brown (99)

Career assists
10. Charlie Stillwell (89)
11. Bo Willis (84)
12. Chris Brown/Mike MacDonald (76)

Sean Cameron • Fr., M, No. 11
* second-line midfielder
* had a goal against Penn
* had first career two-goal game against Marist
* had his first career goal in win over Binghamton

Luke Crimmins • Sr., SSDM, No. 31
* converted to SSDM just two weeks before season started
* has eight caused turnovers and 26 ground balls
* had three caused turnovers in NCAA win over BU
* had a goal, two caused turnovers and five ground balls against Georgetown
* had a goal against Boston University in regular season
* had three ground balls against Rutgers and Brown
* had two goals on two shots against Binghamton

Sam English • Jr., M, No. 15
* 2022 second-team All-Ivy League selection
* 2022 Inside Lacrosse honorable mention All-American
* has 27 goals and 17 assists after moving from SSDM to a first-line midfielder
* with three more assists, he would become the fourth Princeton middie in the last 30 years to reach at least 20 of each in a season (Zach Currier, Tom Schreiber three times and Rich Sgalardi are the other three)
* third on the team in goals and points and second in assists
* scored Princeton's first goal of a game seven different times
* had three goals in NCAA win over BU
* had career highs of five goals and six points against Cornell
* had three goals and an assist against Georgetown
* had four goals against Maryland
* had three goals and two assists against Dartmouth
* had two goals and two assists against Penn
* had a goal and three assists against Harvard
* had two goals and an assist against Marist
* had five points (2G, 3A) against Binghamton

Ben Finlay • Jr., D, No. 10
* has started every game of his career
* has 16 caused turnovers, third on the team
* had two caused turnovers in the NCAA win over BU
* had a caused turnover and four ground balls against Maryland
* had four caused turnovers against Georgetown
* had two caused turnovers against Yale

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

Coulter Mackesy • Fr., M, No. 91
* began the year as a middie and made first career start on attack against Georgetown
* has 25 goals and 14 assists; he and Michael Sowers are the only two Princeton freshmen ever to reach at least 25G/14A
* is fourth in points by a Princeton freshman
* had two goals and two assists in the first four games; has 22 goals and 12 assists in the last nine
* is Princeton's leading scorer in the last four games with 14 goals and 17 points
* had a career-high five goals and six points against Cornell
* had four goals and two assists in second career start, against Rutgers, to earn Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors
* had four goals against Harvard
* had three goals and an assist against Boston University
* had three assists against Marist

Freshman point scorers
1. Michael Sowers (82)
2. Kevin Lowe (55)
3. Ryan Boyle (53)
4. Coulter Mackesy (39)

Colin Mulshine • Fr., D, No. 43
* has started eight games
* has six caused turnovers and 14 ground balls
* helped hold the Hoya attack to two goals on 13 shots
* had two caused turnovers against Rutgers and Brown

Beau Pederson • Jr., SSDM, No. 23
* 2022 second-team All-Ivy League
* Inside Lacrosse honorable mention All-American
* Princeton's top shortstick D middie
* has eight caused turnovers and 21 ground balls
* had three caused turnovers and four ground balls in the win over Dartmouth to earn USILA Team of the Week honors
* had a goal against Boston University in the regular season
* had five ground balls against BU in NCAA win
* had a goal against Binghamton
* had an assist against Maryland and Penn
* had a caused turnover and three ground balls against Georgetown
* had an assist, caused turnover and two ground balls against Yale
* converted O middie who had 10 goals as a freshman

Erik Peters • Sr., G, No. 9
* 2022 Inside Lacrosse mid-season honorable mention All-American
* has a 11.39 goals-against average and .553 save percentage
* one of 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Award
* has at least 14 saves in six of 14 games
* had 15 saves with five goals against (.750 save percentage) in the NCAA win over BU; also had an assist
* made 57 saves in his three-game stretch against Maryland, Georgetown, Rutgers
* had a career-high 21 saves against Rutgers to earn Ivy Player of the Week award for second straight week; also named to the USILA Team of the Week after the Rutgers game
* had 17 saves while allowing eight goals against Georgetown to earn Ivy Player of the Week honors; made 10 saves in the second half and six in the fourth quarter
* made 19 saves against Maryland
* made 15 saves in 12-10 win over Dartmouth
* had 14 saves and seven goals-against in regular season win over Boston University
* Princeton's starting goalie since midway through the 2019 season

Cathal Roberts • Jr., D, No. 26
* can play close D or LSM
* caused turnover at midfield led to key second-quarter goal against Georgetown
* has four caused turnovers and five ground balls

Christian Ronda • Jr, M, No. 12
* has 20 goals and two assists as a starting middie
* played in one career game prior to this season without taking a shot
* had three goals in NCAA win over BU
* had two goals against Penn
* had two goals against Rutgers
* had four goals against Marist
* had five goals against Monmouth in his first start

Tyler Sandoval • So., FO, No. 35
* has won 185 of 339 face-offs (.546)
* leads team with 83 ground balls
* won 15 of 18 face-offs with six ground balls in the NCAA win over BU
* won 19 of 31 face-offs against Rutgers
* was 18 for 28 with 11 ground balls against Yale
* was 17 for 32 with 10 ground balls against Cornell
* won three straight fourth-quarter face-offs against Dartmouth; all three led to Princeton goals as the Tigers went from down 10-9 to up 12-10
* scored a goal against Brown five seconds after a Bears' goal; it's the fastest a Princeton player has ever scored a goal following an opponent's goal
* was 17 for 36 against Penn but won the face-off to start the overtime
* had an assist against Binghamton
* missed the Maryland game in the Covid protocol

Alex Slusher • Jr., A, No. 5
* 2022 honorable mention All-Ivy League selection
* leads team with 44 goals and is second with 53 points
* is the third Princeton player ever to reach 40 career goals in 15 or fewer games (Bill Chaires did so in 14 in 1973 and Michael Sowers did it in 15 in 2017)
* has at least two goals in 11 games and at least three goals in seven
* had three goals and an assist in the NCAA win over BU
* had a career-high six goals against Brown to earn Ivy League Player of the Week honors
* had five of Princeton's 10 goals against Georgetown
* had four goals and two assists against Rutgers
* had four goals against Harvard
* had three goals against Penn and Dartmouth
* also had five goals against Monmouth
* has moved to attack from being a starting midfielder in 2020
* member of the U.S. U-21 team for the upcoming World Championships in Ireland

Goals in a season
1. Gavin McBride (54 in 2017)
2. Jesse Hubbard (53 in 1996)
3. Wick Sollers (49 in 1979)
4. Mike MacDonald (48 in 2015)
5. Chris Massey (46 in 1996)
6. Chris Massey (45 in 1997), Scott Conklin (45 in 1994), Kip Orban (45 in 2015)
9. Alex Slusher (44 in 2022)

Andrew Song • Sr., LSM, No. 32
* 2022 second-team All-Ivy League selection
* 2022 Inside Lacrosse honorable mention All-American
* fourth-year starting LSM
* also plays on face-off wings
* named to USILA Team of the Week after a four-caused turnover, three-ground ball performance against Georgetown
* has 17 caused turnovers, tied for the team lead, and 28 ground balls, most by a Princeton longstick
* had three caused turnovers and three ground balls against Dartmouth
* had two caused turnovers and five ground balls against Penn, including a ground ball on the overtime face-off
* played for China in the 2018 World Championships

Jake Stevens • Jr., M, No. 14
* 2022 second-team All-Ivy League
* 2022 Inside Lacrosse third-team All-American
* do-it-all midfielder who plays offense, defense and face-off wings
* has 21 goals and one assist
* second on team with 64 ground balls
* leads all Ivy League non-face-off specialists in ground balls
* one of two Princeton players since 1996 with at least 21 goals and 64 ground balls in a season (Zach Currier in 2017 was the other)
* had two goals against Yale, the third-straight game with two goals
* had two goals, one assist and seven ground balls against Penn
* had two goals and three ground balls against Rutgers
* had two goals and with five ground balls against both Boston University and Brown
* had a goal and five ground balls against Georgetown
* had three goals against Monmouth and four goals against Binghamton
* had seven ground balls against Marist
* had five ground balls against BU in NCAA win

Jacob Stoebner • Jr., D, No. 28
* veteran defender who has been either a starter or key reserve
* started against Rutgers and had a caused turnover and three ground balls
* had three ground balls against Georgetown
* has two caused turnovers and six ground balls
* had two ground balls in NCAA win over BU

Alexander Vardaro • Jr., M, No. 19
* 2022 honorable mention All-Ivy League selection
* only starting midfielder from 2020 who is starting in midfield this year
* has 22 goals and 15 assists
* tied career high with four goals against Yale and also had two assists for career-high six points
* had three goals and two assists against Brown
* had three goals and two assists against Penn
* had two goals and two assists against Cornell
* had two goals against Maryland
* had a goal and two assists against Harvard
* had two assists against Georgetown
* team's second-leading career scorer (44-20-64)

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 an SSDM
* had first career goal against Harvard
* had caused turnover against Georgetown

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