Box Score March 4, 2006
Final Stats
BALTIMORE, MD - Junior attackman Peter Trombino scored back-to-back goals in a span of less than two minutes late in the third quarter to ignite a game-turning 4-0 run that lifted the 10th-ranked Princeton men's lacrosse team to a 6-4 win over top-ranked Johns Hopkins at blustery Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win improves Princeton's record to 2-0, while the Blue Jays fall to 1-1. The loss also snaps Hopkins' school-record 37-game home winning streak, 17-game overall winning streak and 19-game regular-season winning streak.
The Blue Jays took their only lead of the game (3-2) on a Paul Rabil goal with 9:28 remaining in the third quarter, only to have Trombino's tallies give the Tigers a 4-3 lead they would never relinquish. Both goals were nearly identical as Whitney Hayes assisted on the first and Mark Kovler got the helper on the second with Trombino beating Blue Jay goalie Jesse Schwartzman from 12 yards out both times.
A Trip Cowin goal with 1:19 remaining in the third quarter pushed the lead to 5-3 and Josh Lesko closed the scoring for the Tigers with a goal in transition just 1:22 into the fourth quarter. Cowin worked from behind the goal and beat Schwartzman up high, while an Alex Hewit save at one end was quickly worked to the other and Lesko took a feed from Trombino and fired it home to give Princeton the three-goal lead.
The Blue Jays pulled within 6-4 on a Greg Peyser extra-man goal with 11:22 remaining and had several good scoring chances late in the game and an extra-man opportunity in the final two minutes, but Hewit picked up four of his seven saves in the game in the fourth quarter and the Tigers held on to pick up their first win against the Blue Jays since the 2002 NCAA Semifinals.
A tight first half was controlled by Princeton and Schwartzman as the Tigers outshot the Blue Jays, 20-10, in the opening 30 minutes only to be deadlocked at halftime (2-2). Kovler opened the scoring just 47 seconds into the game after a loose-ball scramble behind the goal gave the Tigers the ball in an unsettled situation. Kovler took a pass 12 yards in front of the goal and made a quick move and shot to give Princeton just its second lead against Hopkins since 2003.
Junior Drew Dabrowski's first career goal and a tally by classmate Jake Byrne were sandwiched around a Mike Gaudio goal for Princeton to account for all the scoring in the first half, but the damage could have been much worse if not for the play of Schwartzman, who made nine of his 14 saves before intermission, including several of the point-blank variety. He added a pair of point-blank saves in the second half to keep the Blue Jays alive, but the four-goal run was more than Hopkins could handle.
Trombino's two goals and one assist led the Tigers, while Kovler added the one goal and one assist. Hewit made seven saves, including six in the second half for the Tigers, who outshot the Blue Jays, 38-32, but lost the ground ball (35-26) and faceoff battles (JHU won 8-of-13).
Peyser, Dabrowski and Byrne all had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jays, while Schwartzman's 14 saves highlighted the defensive effort. Peyser also won 7-of-9 faceoffs.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Tuesday, March 7 when the Blue Jays host UMBC at 6:30 pm. Princeton will host Virginia on Sunday, March 12. UMBC knocked off Air Force, 9-5, Saturday afternoon, while Virginia knocked off Syracuse, 20-15.
#10 Princeton (2-0) 1-1-3-1/6
#1 Johns Hopkins (1-1) 1-1-1-1/4
Goals: P: Trombino-2, Kovler, Lesko, Gaudio, Cowin. J: Peyser, Dabrowski, Rabil, Byrne. Assists: P: Hayes, Kovler, Trombino. J: Huntley, Dabrowski, Byrne, Peyser. Saves: P: Hewit-7. J: Schwarztman-14. EMO: P: 0-for-2. J: 1-for-5. Attendance: 5,636.
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