Princeton Falls To Penn In OT In Ivy Opener

Saturday, March 18

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

2-4, 0-1

Penn

3-3, 1-0

Princeton

Penn

Photo by: Nick Ierardi

March 18, 2023 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

You can't have a game that is more mirror imaged from the one that preceded it than the one that Princeton and Penn played Saturday night at Franklin Field.

Sam Handley snuck a shot just inside the pipe with 19 seconds left in overtime to give Penn a 9-8 win over Princeton on a night when everything was reversed from 52 weeks earlier. Whatever you could say about the game last year, the opposite pretty much held true on this night.

The only thing the same was overtime. Everything else flipped, including, unfortunately for the Tigers, the winner.

A year ago, it was Princeton 21, Penn 20 in overtime. A year ago, goals came at a staggering rate. A year ago, Princeton was the one who was celebrating.

This time, nothing came easily for anyone on offense. Both defenses seemed to have waited a year to turn the tables on the 2022 matchup, and both did just that. It was a physical battle from start to finish, with neither offense able to get much that came easily.

This was especially true in the second half, after the Tigers led 6-5 at the break. In the final 30 minutes of regulation, Penn outscored Princeton 3-2. That's five goals in the second half. A year ago? There were 21 goals scored in the second half.

Princeton scored the first goal of the second half, on Alexander Vardaro's second of the night, but Penn scored the next three, taking an 8-7 lead on a Ben Smith goal with 6:06 to go. Christian Ronda tied it for Princeton with 3:20 to play, and neither team could break the tie through the rest of regulation and through the first two overtime possessions.

Despite the loss, Michael Gianforcaro had an outstanding night in goal for Princeton, with a career-best 17 saves while standing in against 47 Penn shots. Cathal Roberts did a great job on Handley, with three caused turnovers and three ground balls. Beau Pederson had two caused turnovers as well.

Offensively, Vardaro, Jake Stevens and Sam English had two goals each, while Coulter Mackesy and Ronda had one apiece.

Princeton, which also lost in OT to Rutgers a week ago, hosts Yale and Brown the next two Saturdays.