Princeton Downs Cold-Shooting Rutgers
from press release
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Sophomore Kory
Kelly (Princeton, N.J.) tallied his third hat trick of the season,
but No. 5 Princeton used a big second half run en route to
defeating the Rutgers men’s lacrosse team, 13-6, at Yurcak
Field on Tuesday evening.
Kelly has registered a team-high 15 goals on the year and has five
games in which he has scored at least two goals. The
sophomore’s effort wasn’t enough though as the Tigers
used an 8-2 second half spurt to claim their second straight
victory.
Princeton's Mark Kovler scored all of his game-high four goals
in the second half as the Tigers outscored Rutgers 8-2 after
intermission.
“We turned the ball over an awful lot in the second
half,” said head coach Jim Stagnitta. “It was a
one-goal game at the half and we came out and gave them the ball
three of the first five possessions. This was a snapshot of our
season, six goals on 42 shots. We dominated aspects of the game,
but when they had the ball, they were able to do things.”
After Princeton sprinted out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals from
Rich Sgalardi, Rutgers was able to tie the game with back-to-back
strikes from Gerhard Buehning (Essex Fells, N.J.) and Mike Dugan
(Summit, N.J.). The Tigers reclaimed their two-goal advantage with
two scores in the final four minutes of the opening quarter.
Kelly netted his first goal of the day off a pass from Justin
Pennington (Flemington, N.J.) to cut the Princeton advantage to 4-3
at the 6:08 mark of the second quarter. The teams traded goals to
end the half and the Tigers held a 5-4 edge at the
intermission.
Although being outshot for the entire game, Princeton took
advantage of its opportunities. The Tigers netted eight goals in
the second half on only 11 shots. A Kelly goal in the third quarter
would cut the Princeton lead to 7-5, but back-to-back Tigers
strikes would build the Princeton advantage to 9-5 entering the
final quarter.
Pennington netted his seventh goal of the season three minutes into
the fourth, but RU would get no closer than three goals the
remainder of the game. The Tigers ended the game on a 4-0 run to
seal the win.
Junior goalkeeper Billy Olin (Horseheads, N.Y.), the current ECAC
Co-Defensive Player of the Week, left the game early in the second
period with an injury.
Rutgers outshot Princeton 42-23 and sophomore Chris Mattes
(Westfield, N.J.) won 16 of 23 face-offs.
