PU Men’s Lax Frustrated by Loss at Syracuse; Focusing on Detail With Critical Stretch Ahead


NICKED UP: Princeton University men’s lacrosse player Nick Fernandez heads up the field in recent action. Last Saturday, sophomore defensive midfielder Fernandez scored his first career goal but it wasn’t enough as the Tigers fell 10-9 at Syracuse. Princeton, which dropped to 6-3 with the defeat, was slated to host Rutgers on April 10 and Dartmouth on April 14. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
Coming off a 13-2 rout of Brown, the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team picked up where it left off as it played at Syracuse last Saturday.
The Tigers jumped off to a 3-0 lead before a crowd of 4,629 in the Carrier Dome on goals by Mike MacDonald, Tucker Shanley, and Tommy Schreiber.
“It was absolutely the way we wanted to start,” said Princeton head coach Chris Bates.
“They started a freshman goalie [Bobby Werdwell] who had never played a college game before and that may have been part of it. They struggled covering us. They jumped into a zone because they weren’t matching up well with us.”
That adjustment helped turn the matchup into the latest classic of the storied series that has seen the programs meet in four NCAA championship games and play a number of regular season thrillers.
With Princeton suddenly having trouble clearing the ball out of its defensive end, the Orange rallied to cut the deficit to 5-4 at halftime.
“We had the ball twice in the second quarter,” lamented Bates. “Clearing was the name of the game. They put pressure on us and we didn’t handle it with poise.”
In the third quarter, Princeton regained its poise, outscoring the Orange 2-1 to take a 7-5 lead. But then the roof fell in on Princeton as Syracuse struck for four straight goals in the waning moments of the quarter to go ahead 9-7.
“The last 1:45 was backbreaking; you want to save a timeout for fourth quarter but maybe should have taken it then to slow them down,” said Bates.
“Syracuse plays the way they play. They go on runs and it is a game of momentum.”
While Princeton regained the momentum early in the fourth quarter with two unanswered goals, Syracuse scored with 4:11 left in regulation and hung on for a 10-9 victory.
“We came back and got two goals to tie it up,” said Bates, whose team fell to 6-3 overall as its four-game winning streak got snapped.
“Then there was a clearing error and they made a transition play for their 10th goal. We didn’t execute well after that. We had it a couple of times and threw the ball away. Our extra man opportunity didn’t generate anything. On the last possession, we didn’t run the play the way we should. We weren’t balanced. We got the ball to Tommy [Schreiber] but we didn’t space it right.”
In Bates’s view, the Tigers gave the Orange attack a little too much space. “We got away from some things defensively in wins over Penn and Brown,” said Bates, whose team was outshot 40-28 on the day and made 19 turnovers with Syracuse only committing eight.
“We have not been riding as much. We need communication and intensity on our rides; we need to get back to basics there.”
In the wake of the Syracuse loss, the Tigers took care of some basics in training as they prepared for a big week which included a home clash with Rutgers for the Meistrell Cup slated for April 10 before an Ivy League contest against visiting Dartmouth (2-7 overall, 0-3 Ivy) on April 14.
“To put a positive spin on things, we had really good practices on Easter night and on Monday,” said Bates, whose team is ranked 13th nationally and 3-0 in league play, locked in a battle atop the Ivies with No. 5 Cornell (8-1 overall, 4-0 Ivy).
“I hope it is eye-opening. This is a loose group; we need an attention to detail and focus on a daily basis.”