CENTURY CLUB: Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse player Elon Tuckman controls the ball in a 2017 game. Last Wednesday, senior star Tuckman tallied four goals, including the 100th of his career, but it wasn’t enough as PDS fell 10-8 to Hun in its season opener. This past Monday, Tuckman chipped in three goals and three assists to help the Panthers break into the win column as they defeated Princeton High 9-1. In upcoming action, PDS hosts Lawrenceville on April 4 before playing at Springside Chestnut Hill (Pa.) on April 6 and at Pennington on April 10. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Coming off a 14-2 season which saw it win both the Mercer County Tournament and the state Prep B title for a second straight year, the Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse team appeared to pick up where it left off as it hosted Hun in its 2018 opener.

With senior star Elon Tuckman scoring three goals, including the 100th of his career, PDS built a 6-3 lead at half-time last Wednesday in the annual clash between the local rivals.

“We came out and controlled tempo well in the first half in the first and second quarter,” said PDS head coach Rich D’Andrea. “We capitalized on some early opportunities.”

In the second half, though, Hun took control, tallying two answered goals in the third quarter and reeling off three straight goals late in the fourth on the way to a 10-8 win over PDS.

“Give their goalie [Gabe Craven] credit. He came up with a whole bunch of saves in the second half there,” said D’Andrea.

“Hun made some nice in-game adjustments, they came out in a zone in the second half. It is a game of adjustments and we didn’t execute in the way that we could have.”

While D’Andrea was disappointed by the outcome, he saw nice things from his team.

“I think on the whole, most of our guys showed some good things,” said D’Andrea. “All of us collectively need to cut down on mistakes, myself included.”

Senior star and co-captain Tuckman was very good as usual, ending up with four goals on the day.

“Elon just brings talent, poise, and great leadership to us, both as a locker room guy and certainly on the field,” said D’Andrea of Tuckman, who tallied three goals and three assists last Monday to help PDS earn its first win of the year with a 9-1 triumph over Princeton High. “He is one of the smartest kids that I have coached and so, in part, he is out there coaching the offense. He really takes ownership over that.”

The PDS offense also got a spark from scrappy sophomore Cal Caputo, who contributed a pair of goals and an assist against Hun.

“Cal is tough he is a waterbug in there and he has a way to find space,” said D’Andrea.

“He has got a great stick and he catches everything. We are expecting a big year out of Cal. He is one of the hardest working guys; he does all of the morning workouts and he shoots nonstop. Cal is a talented kid so it is great to see him coming into his own.”

Looking forward, D’Andrea is confident that the Panthers can do some great things this spring.

“To our credit, we have not lost a lot of lacrosse games the last couple of years. There is lot of value in learning from losing,” said D’Andrea, whose team Lawrenceville on April 4 before playing at Springside Chestnut Hill (Pa.) on April 6 and at Pennington on April 10.

“We have good core values that we hold true to and I think we have a really good sense of who we are. In reality, this is a lacrosse game at the end of March, there are a lot of things to extract from this. It is a long season. We look at the arc of this thing; we want to be better at the end than we are at the beginning.”