CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – In both 1996 and 1997, the men's lacrosse team's game against Harvard pitted the last two undefeated teams in the Ivy League in a battle for league supremacy.
Both times, Princeton won.
Entering Saturday's showdown at Ohiri Field in Cambridge, Mass., between the No. 2 Tigers and the No. 18 Crimson, the situation remained the same – both teams were unblemished in Ivy play. Yet again, Princeton (6-1 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) drubbed Harvard (6-3, 3-1), this time by the score of 15-7, to nab the inside track to the league title.
With the win, combined with No. 1 Maryland's 10-6 loss to No. 6 Johns Hopkins Saturday, the Tigers will likely reassume the top spot in the national polls, a position they last held before their 9-7 loss to Virginia March 7.
Missing star
Princeton was able to win its 16th consecutive league game despite the absence of senior attackman Jon Hess, who sat out the game due to a nagging hamstring injury he has had for several weeks.
"We just felt like we'd have to sit (Hess) this week and see if we could get him two weeks' rest," head coach Bill Tierney said. "We were able to get away with it with (senior attackman) John Wynne and a combination of a bunch of other guys."
In Hess' stead, Wynne filled in admirably, scoring two goals while adding an assist. The rest of the Princeton offense was spread out, as six players scored at least two goals, led by senior attackman Chris Massey and freshman midfielder Rob Torti, who each tallied a hat trick.
While the balanced Tiger offense was able to break through the Crimson defense that had been ranked sixth nationally in goals per game allowed, it was the Princeton longsticks that dominated play.
No room to breathe
Harvard's high-scoring Mike Ferrucci, who had put up eight goals in a game against Vermont April 1, was limited to just two shots and no points, thanks to the suffocating defense of senior defenseman Christian Cook, who shadowed Ferrucci all game long.
"It was my matchup; it was my assignment," said Cook, who added an assist on a length-of-the-field run-and-pass to Massey. "I had a lot of help from other guys, though – he was working off picks, and if I ever got picked off, the other guys really helped me out."
Ferrucci stood in the slot above senior goaltender Corey Popham for most of the first half, but there were always several black-uniformed Tiger defenseman surrounding him, ready to collapse if Harvard attempted to sneak a pass in.
Say what?
As good a job as the Princeton defense did of neutralizing Ferrucci's offensive capabilities, Crimson head coach Scott Anderson did an even better job.
Anderson had Ferrucci stand in the corner of the restraining area while Harvard was on offense, in effect taking him (and Cook) out of the game, while making the action in front of Popham 5-on-5.
"It hurt them that they took Ferrucci out of their system, and I think it probably helped us because we have a lot of great defensive players," Cook said. "They may have thought that by taking one component out, it would work well, but I think since we know our system so well, it didn't work to their advantage."
Capitalizing
The Tigers took advantage of the Crimson's decision to exchange offensive for defensive midfielders when Princeton attempted clears. Junior defenseman John Harrington twice used the unsettled situation to run into the Harvard restraining area and fire a shot past goalie Keith Cynar, while Cook's assist developed the same way.
"We noticed that they ran their midfielders off the field to go from offense to defense," Tierney said, "and we told the poles they were going to have some options or some opportunities."
Princeton was one of few top teams to avoid the upset bug this weekend, as the two squads tied for No. 3, Duke and Syracuse, each lost in addition to Maryland. The likely result of Saturday's results will leave the Tigers atop the national polls, but Tierney and his team are more concerned about nabbing one of the four first-round byes in the NCAA tournament.
"If you're not (at No. 1), you can say you should be there; if you are (at No. 1), other people say you shouldn't be," Tierney said.
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