Men's Lacrosse: Princeton resumes Ivy slate at home

Opposite the Orange and Black, the Big Green (2-7, 0-3) has accepted three losses in the conference, beginning with a 15-10 fall to Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., on March 24. As it concludes its eighth week, Dartmouth sits in last place in conference standings, tied with Penn.

Despite gaining a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter and scoring five goals in the fourth on April 7, Dartmouth received its third and most recent conference loss to Yale. The Big Green entered the final quarter of the game down 10-6 and made a push to retrieve its initial lead in the game’s final minutes. However, Dartmouth attackman Mike Olentine merely cut the deficit to 13-11 with two minutes remaining. Princeton handed the Bulldogs a 10-9 five-overtime defeat two weeks prior, the longest game in both programs’ histories.

The Tigers return to the field after finding mixed results in nonconference play. Last Saturday, Princeton accepted a 10-9 loss to long-time rival Syracuse, snapping the Tigers’ four-game winning streak. The final goal came on one of Princeton’s 19 turnovers with 4:11 to go in the fourth. Conversely, Syracuse turned the ball over just eight times. Three days later, the Tigers defeated Rutgers 13-4, beating its New Jersey neighbor for the 24th time in 25 years. Senior attackman Alex Capretta scored a career-high four goals in the game, while sophomore midfielder Tom Schreiber extended his impressive season performance, reaching 40 points for the year off three goals and an assist. Schreiber has completed 22 successful shots and made 18 assists overall. On defense against the Scarlet Knights, senior co-captain and defenseman Chad Wiedmaier caused four turnovers, giving him 15 during Princeton’s last four games. Senior tri-captain goalie Tyler Fiorito contributed to the Tigers’ stunning defensive performance as well, making 10 saves against Rutgers.

Fiorito leads the Ivy League with a 6.69 goals against average and a .601 save percentage. Against Dartmouth, Fiorito maintains a slightly higher .645 career save percentage. Fiorito and Dartmouth’s Fergus Campbell have faced each other in the cage four consecutive years, with Campbell preserving a .567 save percentage against Princeton in the first three years.

The Tigers and the Big Green have faced each other for 59 consecutive years, with the first meeting in 1953. Princeton sustains a dramatic lead in the all-time series, 51-8, and has won 29 of its 30 home games against Dartmouth.

This year marks year three of the Ivy League men’s lacrosse tournament. Cornell has earned the home advantage for the past two years, maintaining the title of regular season league champion during both seasons. Princeton failed to earn one of the four spots in 2011 as it suffered an array of injuries and finished the season with a disappointing 2-4 league record and 4-8 overall performance. But in 2010, the Tigers entered the tournament in a four-way tie for first and with the same 4-2 conference record as Cornell, Yale and Brown. In their final against the Big Red, Princeton outlasted host Cornell 10-9 in overtime. All-American attackman Jack McBride ’11 scored the game-winning goal with one second remaining in the first overtime to lift the Tigers to the first Ivy tournament championship and the League’s automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship.

Princeton faces two potential road bumps in the last weeks of its 2011-12 season, but Dartmouth doesn’t appear to be one of them.

The Tigers will trek to Cambridge to play unranked Harvard on Saturday, April 21, and will return to 1952 Stadium to face a final and difficult foe, Cornell, the following weekend on Saturday, April 28.