Middle Men: PU's Kovler, Sgalardi Snipe UMass
by Justin Feil | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
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Princeton midfielder Mark Kovler celebrates one of his career- and game-high five goals Sunday in the Tigers' 10-7 NCAA tournament first-round victory over Massachusetts. © Kevin P. Tucker |
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The Princeton University
men's lacrosse team missed the NCAA tournament last year after Mark
Kovler and Rich Sgalardi suffered season-ending injuries.
It wasn't a coincidence.
The two midfielders proved their value Sunday, as they led the
fourth-seeded Tigers (13-2) to a 10-7 win over Massachusetts (9-6)
before a standing room only crowd at Class of 1952 Stadium.
Kovler notched a career-high five goals and added and assist for a
career-high six points. Sgalardi added three goals and one assist.
The midfield accounted for every point of the Tigers' first eight
goals.
"To go out and do what we had to do to beat a really good team,
that's what it's all about," Kovler said, "especially after last
year when Rich and I weren't able to finish the season. We're just
trying to make this one last as long as we can."
Princeton advances to take on fifth-seeded Cornell noon Saturday
in the NCAA quarterfinals at Hempstead, N.Y. Cornell advanced with
an 11-7 win over Hofstra Saturday.
Sgalardi got Princeton on the board first when he beat Doc
Schneider, the senior goalie who led UMass to the 2006 national
title game.
"If something is working for us, we try to stay with it," Sgalardi
said. "Everybody is unselfish. If it's someone else's day, everyone
is willing to hand it off to that guy and let him do his best."
What worked for the Tigers was feeding the midfield and letting
them find some shooting space. Schneider finished with 13 saves,
but Princeton freshman Tyler Fiorito was almost equal with 12 saves
in his NCAA tournament debut.
"Doc, if he's not the best goalie in the country, maybe our guy
is, or the one we faced last week (Brown's Jordan Burke)," said
Princeton head coach Bill Tierney. "It's tough scoring on that guy.
To get double figures on him, and to be up 6-1 at the half, we
really felt good about that."
UMass' Jim Connolly scored just over four minutes after Sgalardi
for the only tie of the game, 1-1, but Kovler scored four of the
next five Princeton goals to build a 6-1 halftime lead. Connolly's
goal is the only first-half goal allowed by Princeton in the last
three games.
"I really didn't expect that today," Tierney said. "I thought we
executed as well as we could. That was a really good team with some
really good offensive players, especially Jimmy Connolly. That kid
is a heck of a player. Nobody has gone after us that hard."
The Minuteman came out of the locker room strong with back-to-back
goals from Tim Balise and Connolly less than two minutes into the
second half to trim the edge to 6-3, but Kovler followed with a
rocket from the right side and Sgalardi added another which was all
that Fiorito would need.
"These guys have been doing it all year long," Tierney said. "They
keep plugging and getting big goals. I'm proud of them for where
they're at."
UMass wouldn't go away, with Evan Blum and Connolly answering the
goals to put themselves in range again at 8-5 with five minutes to
play in the third quarter.
Tommy Davis took a pass from Kovler and scored the first goal by a
Princeton player not on the first midfield to give the Tigers a 9-5
lead after three quarters. UMass held a 19-5 edge in ground balls
in the quarter.
"I can't say enough about how hard these guys worked in the second
half, and the effort they gave today, and throughout the year,"
said UMass head coach Greg Cannella.
Connolly kept it close with his team-high fourth goal six minutes
into the fourth quarter, but Sgalardi's third goal with 2:07 left
sealed the Tigers' win.
"Ending last year not being able to play and watching our team
miss the playoffs, it was tough for the team as well as me and
Mark," Sgalardi said. "Not going back to the quarterfinals since
our freshman year, we've learned a lot. It doesn't come every year.
We're not taking anything for granted at this point. It means a lot
to us."
Scott Mackenzie, the third player on Princeton's first midfield,
had the only other Tiger goal to open the second-quarter
scoring.
Now, Princeton faces a rematch of one of its two losses this year
when it takes on Cornell, with whom it shared the Ivy League
championship. The Big Red won the regular-season matchup, 10-7. The
Tigers won last year's meeting. Princeton is looking for its first
final four berth since 2004.
"I didn't get to play in the game last year, so I've never beaten
Cornell," Kovler said. "This would be a great opportunity. It
couldn't be better to do it with the final four on the line in our
last opportunity."
