Little Tiger boys’ lacrosse avenges regular-season loss
By: Justin Feil
Princeton High played one of its worst games in an 11-4 loss to West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys’ lacrosse team during the regular season.
Given the chance to prove itself better, the Little Tigers delivered one of their finest performances in a complete turnaround, a 12-4 win over WW-P South in the Group III state tournament opener for both Wednesday.
"When we played them the first time, it was the complete opposite of what it was today," said PHS goaltender Sam Finnell, who made 12 saves before taking a curtain call for the final two minutes. "We came in confident. We knew they’re a good team. To beat them by eight goals is a surprise. They beat us and got the (Colonial Valley Conference) championship because of it. We wanted it, and it showed."
With the win over seventh-seeded WW-P South, the 10th-seeded Little Tigers earn a shot at No. 2 West Morris today.
"We understand it’s going to be tough," said PHS captain Mike Vieten, who had a goal and three assists against the Pirates. "We have the No. 2 seed. But none of us are doubting ourselves. We’re trying to reach our goals."
Wednesday’s win was the Little Tigers’ second straight and fourth in six games. It helped them improve to 10-8 this season, a year that has seen them have some ups and downs. The last time they played was a serious downer. PHS entered that game 6-1 overall, only to lose to start a five-game winless stretch.
"I think it was our worst game of the year," Finnell said. "It was definitely one of the worst. It started our slump."
PHS appeared to be a completely different team Wednesday. They jumped out to a 3-1 first-quarter lead, then patiently worked the offensive end for a 6-2 lead by halftime. The Little Tigers kept the Pirates on their heels as Vieten won the majority of the faceoffs, and when he wasn’t winning them, penalties kept giving PHS the ball.
"Possession was definitely a key for us," said Vieten, whose goal 31 seconds into the game gave the Little Tigers the lead for good. "We have a lot of sick guys and we knew we needed to tire (WW-P South’s defense) out. We knew we had to control the game so our guys wouldn’t get tired.
"At halftime, we knew they’d come out fired up," he added. "We pumped in a few more goals and that helped. It took the wind out of them."
In fact, PHS held the Pirates scoreless for a stretch of 19:07 that spanned from less than two minutes into the second quarter when Jason Tosches scored his second goal of the game to just 3:37 remaining in the third quarter when the Pirates scored to cut the lead to 9-3. Mike Moseley, who led the Little Tigers with three goals, answered two minutes later to give the Little Tigers a commanding 10-3 lead going into the final quarter.
"The first time we played them, we had trouble guarding guys," Finnell said. "We gave up a lot of easy goals in transition. We worked on not giving up a lot of goals in transition. We also worked on guarding the crease area better. We didn’t do a good job of guarding that area the first time."
Said Vieten of the difference, "It was definitely the mentality. We came into that last game and we were 6-1 and we thought it was going to be easy for us. This time, we knew they had beaten us. We knew things would come around for us. We knew we had to stay tough mentally and we couldn’t have mistakes."
After South’s early fourth-quarter tally, the PHS defense went back to its stingy ways. It shut out the Pirates the rest of the way while the offense added two more goals of its own. It made for a deadly combination for the Pirates, who were rushed on offense and too slow defensively.
"We don’t have explosive offensive talent so we have to be patient," said PHS head coach Peter Stanton. "We gave us horrible goals the first time. There was a point, late in the (first) game, where we had two guys who didn’t even try to get back in."
Stanton celebrated his 100th career win Wednesday, and is hoping that No. 101 is today. But there’s a bit of uncertainty as to which PHS team will come to play, the one that dominated the Pirates or the one that has struggled at times, sometimes when they’ve come off a top performance.
"It’s funny," Stanton said. "It’s been two steps forward, one step back. Or maybe it’s been one step forward and two back. We keep moving forward, but it seems like every time we get it in stride, then we have a bad game. Hopefully we’ll just keep getting better."
From warm-ups, Stanton had his doubts about how Wednesday’s game would go. Finnell didn’t look like his usual dominant self.
"Truthfully," Stanton began, "he had a very shaky warm-up. He didn’t look great. He was nervous. To be able to snap out of that and make the saves in game time with that pressure is a sign of his mental toughness."
Finnell is the latest in the line of standout PHS goalies. Eric Krieger, who went on to play for the Division III national championship Middlebury College team, was the first. He graduated to open the spot up for Chris Lalli, now the starting goalie and a regular Player of the Week at Washington and Lee. Lalli’s graduation left the goalie reins to Finnell.
"When I was a freshman, coach told me I’d have some big shoes to fill," said Finnell, who is also a standout ice hockey player. "It’s hard to follow those two phenomenal goalies. I’m trying my hardest to keep up the dynasty. When I was a freshman, watching Chris Lalli play helped me."
And understanding what went wrong in their first meeting with the Pirates helped PHS on Wednesday. The Pirates, on the other hand, are left with a solid season, one that finishes with a 12-5 record and a CVC championship in the first year of its contention, but also with the thought that its year ended without its best effort Wednesday. PHS had plenty to do with what ended up being a complete turnabout.