Princeton Handles Syracuse With Relative Ease
from press reports
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - No. 5 Princeton (8-1) was
efficient on offense and played solid defense in a 12-8 defeat of
second-ranked Syracuse (7-2) in the inaugural Big City Classic at
Giants Stadium on Saturday, April 4. The game was the centerpiece
of a tripleheader and the loss ended SU's five-game winning
streak.
The Tigers never trailed and scored on 38.7 percent (12-31) of
their shots Saturday. Defensively, they held the Orange scoreless
for stretches of 10 minutes, 12:50 and 14:59 in the contest. The
Tigers also got a career performance from freshman goalie Tyler
Fiorito, who made a personal-best 15 saves.
When the Orange offense did get going, it was seniors Kenny Nims,
Pat Perritt and sophomore Stephen Keogh that led the way. They each
scored twice in the contest. Senior Matt Abbott also contributed a
goal and an assist for Syracuse. In addition, Abbott collected a
career-best 10 ground balls in the game.
Despite the offensive struggles, the Orange held the advantage in
shots (39-31), ground balls (40-25) and faceoffs (15-8). Sophomore
Josh Knight had a career day in the faceoff circle, winning a
personal-best 13 draws on 18 attempts (.722).
The two teams traded goals to start the game with Jack McBride
scoring twice for the Tigers and Abbott having a hand in SU's first
two tallies. Abbott answered McBride's opening goal with an
unassisted score at the five-minute mark of the first quarter to
tie the game and get the Orange on the board. After another McBride
goal pushed Princeton in front, 2-1, Abbott dished to Keogh for a
goal at the 1:17 mark to tie the game at 2-2.
A 3-0 run by the Tigers gave them a 5-2 margin with 3:38 to go in
the first half. Syracuse stopped the run with an extra-man goal by
Nims to cut the Princeton lead to 5-3 at the break.
The Orange looked to be gaining momentum, tying the game at 5-5 on
back-to-back unassisted goals by Perritt and Nims to begin the
third quarter, but Princeton answered right back with two scores to
reclaim a two-goal margin, 7-5. Perritt cut the lead to one with
5:43 left in the third period on his second goal of the
afternoon.
After a man-down goal by Brendan Reilly gave the Tigers an 8-6
advantage, the Orange stayed within striking distance when Hardy
fed Keogh for a goal to make it 8-7 Princeton at the 2:11 mark of
the third quarter.
Keogh's goal proved to be SU's last for more than 14 minutes and
Tigers outscored the Orange, 4-0, during that time to put the game
away. Mark Kovler and Rich Sgalardi combined for all four goals in
the run with each player scoring twice.
Kovler's second goal in the spurt gave the Tigers its largest lead,
12-7, with 2:26 left in regulation. Freshman Kevin Drew found the
cage 13 seconds later to end the SU scoring drought, but Princeton
held the Orange without a score the rest of the way to earn the
four-goal win.
Sgalardi (2g, 2a) and Kovler (3g, 1a) led the Tigers with four
points apiece. McBride also had three goals for Princeton and Scott
MacKenzie contributed a goal and two assists.
Syracuse returns to action on Tuesday, April 7 against another Ivy
League opponent. The Orange hosts Cornell at 7 p.m.in the Carrier
Dome. The game will be televised live on Time Warner 26 in the
Syracuse area.
Game Notes: Sgalardi was named the player of the game in a vote by
the media ... The Orange's 7-5 halftime deficit marked the first
time this season SU trailed at the half ... Nims extended his
consecutive point streak to 25 games ... Fifteen of Perritt's 16
points this season have come in the last five games ... Abbott has
18 ground balls in the last two games (9.0 per game).
