Men’s lacrosse stuns Cornell

Coach Bill Tierney said his men’s lacrosse team’s 11–7 victory over No. 3 Cornell April 19 was one of the biggest regular-season wins of his 21-year tenure. Not only did the game give Princeton the inside track for the Ivy League title and the automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs that goes with it (likely the Tigers’ only chance at the postseason this year); it also snapped a four-game losing streak to the Big Red, who won the Ivy title outright in 2005 and 2007 and shared it with Princeton in 2004 and 2006.

Princeton won despite the absence of midfielders Mark Kovler ’09, the team’s third-leading scorer, and Rich Sgalardi ’09. Bob Schneider ’08 picked up the slack, scoring three of the Tigers’ first four goals against Cornell. Tommy Davis ’09 also netted a hat trick, and Peter Striebel ’08 and Jack McBride ’11 each scored twice. Princeton’s offense showed significant improvement from its previous three meetings with Cornell, when the Tigers had managed just 13 goals combined.

Princeton’s defense played as well as it has this year despite the significant edge in time of possession that the Big Red earned by winning 16 of 21 faceoffs. The two key stops came in the first and third quarters. Goalie Alex Hewit ’08 saved a shot from close range to keep Princeton within 2–0 early in the game, and he added two more saves in the middle of the third quarter after Cornell had scored twice in a row and seemed primed to make a run.

David Marcus ’92 is a frequent PAW contributor.