Men's Lacrosse: Ivy League play begins as Princeton hosts Quakers

The No. 14 Tigers (3-2) will host unranked Penn (1-3) at Class of 1952 Stadium. A pair of top-10 opponents, No. 2 Johns Hopkins and No. 8 North Carolina, have been the only teams capable of dealing Princeton a loss thus far, neither coming by more than two goals.

The Tigers have triumphed by a six-goal margin in each of their three victories this season. They captured their most recent win, snapping a two-game losing streak, at No. 13 Villanova on Tuesday, when junior midfielder Jeff Froccaro and sophomore midfielder Tom Schreiber both had sizzling showings, scoring five goals apiece. Froccaro picked up two assists for a career-high seven points, and the two were a combined 10-for-18 on shot attempts.

Penn was not quite as lucky against the Wildcats just three days earlier, as it gave up a 6-2 third-quarter lead on its home turf and lost on a last-second goal from near midfield. The two Ivy teams’ performances against Villanova may be good indicators as to who will come out on top this weekend.

Conference play begins around the Ivy League on Saturday, with six of the seven teams within the league competing. One game takes place in Ithaca, N.Y., where Ivy League favorite No. 3 Cornell hosts Yale; the other will be in Cambridge, Mass., where No. 20 Harvard takes on Brown. Dartmouth has the Ancient Eight bye this week, traveling to Durham to play No. 9 Duke.

The Quakers won the 2011 meeting 8-3, conquering the Tigers for the first time in 21 years. Some of Princeton’s vital players had been battling injuries, including Jack McBride ’11. Schreiber also sat out the 2011 league opener at Franklin Field after leading the team in scoring early in the season as a freshman.

Perhaps unexpectedly, the Quakers’ only win this season came at home on March 6, when it topped the Tar Heels 10-6. Attackman John Conneely added a pair of goals — one of which he made after North Carolina almost inched back to tie the game — for Penn, along with two assists. Conneely appears to be senior goalie Tyler Fiorito and the Princeton defense’s biggest threat, as he was named Ivy League Player of the Week after the Quakers’ win against the Tar Heels. UNC bounced back for more success the following weekend, beating Princeton 9-8 in the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic.

However, Schreiber has navigated his way to a healthy 2011-12 season, and enters the weekend ranked fifth in points per game in Division I men’s lacrosse with an average of 4.50. Schreiber has scored 13 of the Tigers’ 55 goals. Froccaro and junior midfielder Tucker Shanley have scored ten and eight goals so far this season, respectively, while none of Penn’s top scorers can boast as many.

Princeton is ranked 12th nationally in defense, allowing eight goals per game, and 21st in faceoff win percentage after finishing last in that category last season. Fiorito, who was the preseason favorite to be named the first-team All-America goalie, is looking to get back to his top form. He was ready for the task of solid goaltending against Villanova, making 11 saves and boasting a 58 percent save rate.