The Princeton men’s lacrosse team fell to a strong Cornell team Saturday 10-15, splitting the Ivy League title with Cornell and Brown. With the loss, Brown took possession of first place and will host the Ivy League Tournament this weekend. Cornell took second place and Yale rounds out the group in fourth.
The Tigers opened the game quickly, dominating time of possession and going up 5-0 with goals from senior attackMike MacDonald, senior midfielder Kip Orban, junior attack Ryan Ambler and sophomore attack Gavin McBride. The offense was clicking on all levels, moving the ball and getting open looks, going 50% on face-offs and holding Cornell to only three offensive possessions, all of which ended in saves by freshman standout Tyler Blaisdell. It was one of Princeton’s better quarters, close to a perfect one.
However, Cornell somehow upped the Tigers in the second quarter, playing some of the best lacrosse I have ever seen. Cornell won 9-10 face-offs as face-off specialist Matt Schattner dominated, flipping the game. Cornell rattled off nine goals in a row, all coming from its first line. It was Princeton’s longest scoring draught of the season, lasting 19 minutes from the first quarter to the third. Cornell outshot Princeton 25-4 in the quarter, and none of the Tigers’ shots were on the cage.
Princeton rallied with gritty play in the third quarter, closing the face-off gap with hard wing play on groundballs created by sophomore midfielder Zach Currier at the X, as he took over from freshman face-off man midfielder Sam Bonafede. Orban and MacDonald powered the comeback, with hard shots from Kip and some classic Canadian plays by MacDonald, including an underhanded scoop shot and a one-handed bounce pass assist while falling to the ground. It was a show of two great seniors continuing to do what they have done all season for the Tigers. The two highest scoring players on the team have shattered records this season, and play off of each other, as MacDonald has assisted a third of Orban’s goals this season.
The comeback fell short as Cornell rallied in the fourth, but it bodes well for this Friday when Princeton will face Cornell again in a rematch of 2013’s OT victory in the semifinals. Cornell remains a tough matchup for Princeton, perhaps the worst out of all three remaining teams, but Princeton has shown that it can outplay Cornell, at least in short intervals. The difficulty with Cornell is its face-off unit, as midfielder Domenic Massimilian is having the best season of his career. He ranks sixth in the nation and broke the Ivy League Record for face-off percentage this year.
Cornell also runs hard with its first midfielders and gets most of its production from first string players, similar to how Princeton plays. If Princeton can run with its first line and compete on face-offs, the game should be an incredible one. Look for the defense to key in on midfielder Connor Buczek, who put up four goals this weekend and led the Cornell charge.
The matchup will take place at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 1 in Providence, R.I. and will be shown on ESPNU.
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