Victory over Syracuse is fifth straight for men’s lax
By: Justin Feil
The Princeton University men’s lacrosse team really needed its 12-8 win over Syracuse University on Saturday, not just because it snapped a 60-year home drought against the Orange.
Princeton didn’t feel like a team riding a four-game winning streak before taking on the Orange. The Tigers’ last win was a frustrating one at the offensive end, a 5-3 clunker at Yale the week before.
"We’ve been up and down," said PU head coach Bill Tierney. "We haven’t known who we are. We thought that before last week’s game we were coming out of this thing, that we were really doing a good job offensively. It’s hard to say what happened last week other than Yale just playing great defense and doing a good job.
"We worked hard this week. It wasn’t a pleasant week in practice. I give the guys a lot of credit for fighting through my tantrums and coming out today with some confidence and doing what we asked them to do and using their skills and heart."
The Tigers atoned for a pair of tight nonconference losses early in the year by topping the Orange at home for the first time since 1947. Princeton jumped to a 9-4 lead and weathered a short-lived Syracuse comeback before pulling away again late behind career-high goal-scoring days from Peter Trombino and Mark Kovler. Princeton improved to 6-2 with its fifth straight win while Syracuse dropped its second straight to slip to 3-5 overall.
"We haven’t gotten one of these big wins in a few years," said Trombino, who scored five goals and added two assists. "Just getting it, no matter what their record is, beating Syracuse is always a great win for us. We’re going to keep the momentum going."
Kovler had four goals, his first two sandwiched around Trombino’s first two as the Tigers took a 4-0 first-quarter lead in the second quarter. The Tigers saw a difficult week of practice pay off before almost 6,000 fans at Princeton Stadium.
"We picked up the intensity on ground-ball work," said defenseman Dan Cocoziello. "Guys were hitting each other in practice. Spirits were up. We came out today and got the two early goals and from that point on, guys were feeling good and hopefully we’ll go on a nice run now."
Added Tierney: "That bus ride home from New Haven last week was not a pleasant one for me, just thinking about looking up at a big mountain here. We haven’t beaten Syracuse in the regular season here since 1947, not that those guys are still playing. We really felt like this was a do-or-die situation for us."
Kovler’s final goal gave the Tigers a 9-4 lead going into the fourth quarter, but that’s when the Orange played like a top-flight Syracuse of past years rather than the No. 15 team in the country. The Orange scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter to cut the Princeton lead to 9-7.
"I was really proud of the way the defense played," Tierney said. "Of course, you don’t hold a team like this down. You know they’re going to get their goals. Just to be able to get ours and to be able to hold them down for as long as we did, we knew the dam was going to break a little bit, but I’m proud of how the kids did."
He was prouder still of the way the Tigers answered the Syracuse run with one of their own. Tommy Davis delivered back-to-back goals before Trombino delivered his fifth goal of the game.
"I thought the most telling part of the game," Tierney said, "was when the inevitable comeback began, and you knew it was going to happen, we got a couple of big goals. Tommy Davis and Peter scored a couple of big goals to say, we’re not going to quit, we’re not going to die on this thing.
"They are what they were," he added of Syracuse. "They’re just hitting some tough times. This is a really talented lacrosse team we played today."
The Tigers were able to find the back of the cage when they needed to. Syracuse’s Peter Coluccini, who made 19 saves in last year’s Orange win, had just four saves Saturday. Trombino had success finding the net several times coming from the right wing.
"It’s kind of where I’ve moved to this year so I’ve been working on it a lot," Trombino said. "I’m shooting those shots a lot in practice and they were just falling today, for whatever reason."
Syracuse also allowed Kovler to get comfortable with his left. It’s a mistake few future opponents figure to make.
"I’m surprised any team lets me go to my left," Kovler said. "We were trying to open it up and dodge as hard as we can. We worked on it all week one-on-ones, two-on-twos, four-on-fours just sprinting through your dodges. It’s really hard to guard someone one-on-one if they’re dodging as hard as they can."
The Tigers were happy to see their two leading scorers break out against a big-name team like Syracuse. It couldn’t have come at a more opportune time as the Tigers were hoping to put behind their offensive struggles.
"I mean this with a lot of love: it’s about time," Tierney said. "Both of them, we’re not going to win without Peter and Mark. I think they will both tell you that the guy that makes the engine run is No. 5 (Scott Sowonick). He’s the guy that gets this thing kicking, in a higher speed, at a higher level. Sowonick is the kid that takes on the pole all the time, he’s the one that creates things. He’s taking on a new role this year. He’s got four goals on the year, but he makes the engine run.
"If he does that, and other attackmen and middies start moving the ball, then Pete and Mark are going to get their shots. Today, they shot it really well. They put shots in that we know they can, but they hadn’t up until this point. We’re just hoping it continues."

