By: Justin Feil
Chris Lalli doesn’t want to take full credit for the shutout he posted in the Princeton High boys’ lacrosse team’s 13-0 state tournament opening win over Seton Hall Prep on Friday. Instead, the Little Tigers’ goaltender says he owes much of it to his defense.
"Alex Hobson, Misha (Mintz-Roth), Brian Cohen, Dan Krauss, Skipper Sweener, Mike Brennan. I have trouble remembering because there are so many guys," said Lalli, a junior from Cranbury in his second full season as the starting varsity goaltender. "This is all due to our aggressive defense.
"Those guys are great at pushing (the offense) down the side and giving them tough angles," he added. "Without them, it wouldn’t be anything like this."
Behind the goaltending of Lalli, the Little Tigers pushed out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter as he made six saves and they extended their lead to 8-0 at halftime. By the fourth quarter, PHS reserves were in, yet Seton Hall still couldn’t solve the Little Tiger defense or Lalli, who finished with 14 saves, with three assists from his goalposts that helped keep Seton Hall off the board.
"It’s definitely part of how I set up," Lalli explained. "You have to look at it as getting lucky. If they had gone an inch one way or the other, it goes in.
"I have to look at it as just stopping the one that helps the team win. You can make two saves and win, 14-13, so it doesn’t matter how many you make. You can make one save and it’s still big. You can’t get it in your head that you’re going to shut them out or you’ll lose focus and let in an easy one."
Friday’s win sends the 12th seeded Little Tigers into a 4 p.m. game today with a difficult opponent, fifth-seeded Mountain Lakes, a team that holds a Top 20 national ranking and improved to 16-2 with a 19-2 win over Immaculata on Friday. They also knocked off the state tournament’s No. 1 seed Delbarton, 5-4, on Thursday in the Morris County Tournament final.
"They’re unbelievable," said Lalli. "I played with most of them when we played for the Tri-State All-Stars. They’re unbelievable. We have to come in ready. We know they’re going to be good. Hopefully, we’ll come out and play our hardest."
So far, PHS has proven able to do that as it improved to 14-4 with Friday’s win that came despite a bit of a slow start. The only losses the Little Tigers have suffered have come at the hands of top of the line teams like Lawrenceville, Peddie and Moorestown.
"We scheduled Peddie, Lawrenceville and Moorestown for a reason," said PHS head coach Peter Stanton, whose team is seeking a fourth straight state quarterfinals appearance. "We wanted to get experience. In all those games we came up short, but we took something out of them. Now we hope that pays off."
Princeton will need another game out of Lalli like he came up with Friday. One of the area’s top goaltenders, he’s continued to improve each season with experience, and comes into his second state tournament prepared to do his part after finishing the regular season up against state tournament caliber competition.
"Coach even said that in the past we’ve always played team like Peddie and Lawrenceville in the middle of the season," Lalli said. "Then we’ve sort of died off as the year went on Our main focus was not to have a roller coaster ride this year. We wanted to peak out at the end of the season and use that to our advantage."
Lalli looked like a goalie peaking at the right time as he made several point-blank saves to get the Little Tigers going Friday.
"When Chris gets off to that good start," Stanton said, "and he’s emotional and plays as a leader, he gets stronger and stronger as the game goes on."
Against Mountain Lakes, that’s a must, but Lalli knows he won’t be alone in stopping their attack.
"It’s not just me," he said. "I have three other people sharing the pressure (at the defensive end). We just have to remember that it’s never anyone’s fault. It’s everybody’s if they score. You have to play as a team."
And the Little Tigers are adamant about winning or losing as a team. Friday, they had the usual balance on offense with the big three of Alex Goodman scoring four times and assisting on two scores, Whitney Hayes adding three goals and two assists and Bennett Murphy chipping in two goals and an assist. As dominant as they were at the offensive end and in winning ground balls (they held a 49-33 edge), they were even better at the defensive end.
"I didn’t expect a shut out," Stanton said. "We’ve had a lot of time since we played last and we tried to work on some things. We talked about our team defense and we wanted to play settled offense. We did all those things today."
The result is a Princeton team with just five seniors gets to try to do it again against one of the state’s best teams. The Little Tigers want to show that they’re up there as well.
"We’re a very young team," Lalli said. "In the beginning we weren’t used to playing against such strong players, but we played Hunterdon Central, Lawrenceville and Peddie. That helps you get better. Everyone has the desire to win. It shows in the end of the season."
Friday, it didn’t get any brighter than in the play of Chris Lalli and his surrounding defense.
