Men's Lacrosse: Princeton defeated at home

During Saturday’s final home game at Class of 1952 Stadium, Princeton (4-7 overall, 2-3 Ivy League) struggled during the first half of the match before going on a late fourth-quarter rally. The Tigers drew to within one point of the Crimson (8-5, 2-3) in the last few minutes of play before running out of time.

The loss leaves Princeton without complete control of its postseason destiny.

“Momentum shifted often from them to us,” sophomore attackman Luke Armour said. “When we had the opportunity in the fourth quarter to finish off [the game], we gained some momentum back but it was too late.”

Princeton started quickly in the first quarter, with senior attackman and co-captain Chris McBride drawing first blood after scoring an unassisted goal 11 minutes into the first half. Junior attackman Alex Capretta followed McBride’s goal with two of his own to make the margin 3-0 with six minutes left in the half.

The Crimson offense responded quickly, though, putting together an unanswered, six-goal assault which lasted until the beginning of the second half.

Attackman Dean Gibbons started the Crimson with a goal with four minutes left in the first period and continued to find the the back of the Tiger net throughout the entire match. He tallied a total of three goals before time was finally called.

After the devastating first half, Princeton was down 6-3 and in an extremely tough position.

Things only got worse as Harvard continued to attack junior goalie Tyler Fioritio and the rest of the Tiger defense. Though McBride narrowed the gap with a goal early in the third period, the Crimson responded with scores from midfielders Jack Doyle and Kevin Vaughn to widen Harvard’s lead to 8-4.

Armour broke Princeton’s scoring drought at the end of the third quarter to keep the Tigers in contention. The goal — his sixth of the season — was followed three minutes later by one from junior attackman Mike Grossman that made the score 8-6 at the start of the fourth period.

The final quarter started off slowly, with the first goal coming from Harvard’s Gibbons with eight minutes left in the game.

After Princeton won the ensuing faceoff, Capretta responded to Gibbons’ score with one of his own. Armour tallied his second goal of the game, bringing Princeton within one point of a tie game with four minutes left to play.

With time running out, the Tigers maintained a strong offensive presence and pressured the Crimson defense; however, Princeton could not capitalize on any of its three shot attempts and found itself on the losing side of a closely fought game.

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“[The loss was] pretty disappointing,” Armour said. “All week we were feeling pretty confident about [the matchup] and to come out and have it not go as planned was really difficult and a little discouraging.”

“Clearly we knew what was on the line with the playoffs,” he added.

The loss leaves Princeton with an uncertain postseason fate that hinges on the outcome of its final match of the year at Cornell. Should the Tigers win on the road next week and the Crimson fall to Yale, Princeton will enter the Ivy League tournament as the fourth seed.

If both Princeton and Harvard win next week, Princeton will be knocked out of playoff contention; if both teams lose, then Princeton, Harvard and the winner of the Brown-Dartmouth game next week will enter a three-way tie.

The final spot would go to Harvard with a Brown victory, but a Dartmouth win would force a three-way coin flip.

“All season we thought we were in control of our destiny and in control of what we wanted to do,” Armour said. “And it’s not out of our hands, [but] now it’s just a waiting game to see what happens.”

Despite the injuries the team faced early in the season, Princeton is a competitive team and its potential to compete in the playoffs should be taken seriously.

“We finally in the past few weeks have felt a little more cohesive and have more team chemistry and continuity,” Armour said. “It’s just unfortunate that it’s coming to us a bit late.”