Men's Lacrosse: Tigers face No. 1 Orange

The currently undefeated, red-hot Orange roll into Princeton having won all eight of their games thus far, including seven victories against top-20 teams. Syracuse is loaded with talent — the roster features seven 2011 Major League Lacrosse draft selections, all of whom were chosen in the first 25 picks — and Princeton head coach Chris Bates said the Tigers know what they are up against.

“We match up okay,” Bates said. “Syracuse has a significant amount of talent. We need to play our tempo and game plan in order to be successful.”

The game looks like a mismatch, with the badly injured Tigers taking on a Syracuse team that is the likely-favorite to win a national title.

Princeton has lost to Ivy League teams like Penn (5-3, 2-1), to which it had not lost since 1989, and Yale (6-2, 1-2), to which it had not lost since 2005. Meanwhile, the Orange are taking out many of the best teams in the country, including former No. 1 Virginia and former No. 3 Duke.

The two teams have split their last four meetings, but, unfortunately, this year’s Princeton team is very different from those of the last four years. The Tigers are in serious danger of finishing with a losing record for the first time since 2005.

The Tigers, who have been plagued by injuries, snapped a four-game losing streak with their 5-4 win against the Bears last weekend. The win against Brown was their first since the Tigers upset then-No. 8 Johns Hopkins in an 8-3 road win.

So far this season, 12 different Princeton players have missed some games due to injuries, and five are out for the entire season. One key player of the five Tigers missing this year is senior attackman and co-captain Jack McBride, who led Princeton with 35 goals last year and played a major role in the Tigers’ offense.

The injuries have had a severe impact on Princeton’s offense, which averages a dismal 6.57 goals per game, the lowest mark in the Ivy League. The Orange, on the other hand, rank second in the Big East with 10.75 goals per game.

Princeton hopes that its junior goalie Tyler Fiorito will be able to hold off the high-powered Syracuse offense. Fiorito ranks second in the Ivy League in goals allowed, holding opponents to 7.33 goals per game.

“Taking away Syracuse’s runs” will be the key to the game for Princeton, Bates said. “They tend to create opportunities in bunches — in transition, off face-off situations, etc. We can’t allow them to go on quick three-or four-goal bursts in two or three minutes.”

Though the Princeton team looks a little weaker than usual, the Princeton-Syracuse rivalry certainly has its place in NCAA lacrosse history. The two teams have dominated college lacrosse in the last few decades, winning a combined 16 of the last 23 national championships — 10 for the Orange and six for the Tigers.

The Tigers have taken down Syracuse in the past and hope to pull off a big upset come game time.