[Lax] Cornell at Princeton

Anyone know how to find the field where the game will be? I've been to Princeton a couple of times for hockey, but otherwise don't know the area or the campus (and my recollection was that you had to somewhat know where the rink was to have any chance of finding it so I fear the same is true for their lacrosse field).

Ok, I think I answered my own question. I found a good map of the campus at their website in pdf format: [www.princeton.edu]
The Class of 1952 Stadium is at the corner of Washington Rd and Faculty Rd.

BTW, I'm assuming that I can just walk up and buy a ticket without any problem. No?

4-2 Tigers currently

Greenhalgh makes it 4-3.

Cornell needs to be more aggressive on offense. Right now they're playing Princeton's deliberate style.

4-3 at the half

Princeton owned the 3rd -- they lead Cornell 9-3. Nasty.

Cornell scores on 3 of 4 shots to narrow the gap -- Princeton leads, 10-6 (middle of 4th).

(Big Red has scored last 3 after 6-goal Tiger run.)

FINAL: Princeton 12 - Cornell 7.

(Tough to win when you get out-ground-balled by a 2-to-1 ratio!)

(Pointless lament: Take away the 5-0 Princeton 3rd quarter, and it's a 7-7 tie... sigh...)

I think it was all my fault, as I tuned in at the 2nd half faceoff. Frustration abound, as this was not a good game to lose.

I'm disappointed, but not distressed. Cornell punched their ticket to the postseason last week. A win and a solo Ivy championship would have been great, but Cornell is still likely to be Ivy co-champs. (Knock on wood)

Princeton needed this game to save their season, and it sounds like they played like it. We'll get them back in the postseason.

Losing 15 of 22 faceoffs didn't help the cause either.

I had heard, a while back (a few weeks ago??), that Sollog (our face-off guy) was battling a "sore back". I wonder if he's still being hampered by that... With Cornell entering the game #5 in f-o's, and Princeton not even in the top 20, you have to wonder what happened. Sollog's performance is going to be vital down the stretch (duh).

Of course, if you pair the f-o stat (15-7, Princeton) with the ground-ball stat (31-19, Princeton), then you get the picture that the Tigers just WANTED it more (maybe bacause they NEEDED it more! (...but not by much...)).

I had feared (as I'm sure many of us did) that the Tigers would realize that shutting down Greenhalgh would disrupt our offense. Well, guess what?! With our freshman sensation in a virtual lock-down, the others needed to step up. We've depended so much on Sean lately that, with him unavailable, our feeders (Schalk, Fort, Collins (heh-heh: "Fort Collins" ) were forced to try to find new targets -- to no avail.

Telling stat: only 2 assists for Cornell in the game. With non-snipers (i.e., not Sean) taking the shots, our overall shot selection was less than brilliant. Princeton's goalie ain't THAT good. It was nice to see, err--hear, Lee in the game. It's too bad that he wasn't able to provide some magical spark, but it's not fair to expect him to save the day (we never did establish if it was a BIG toe or not, did we??).

On the other side of the coin, our defense was so focused on shutting down Princeton's feared offensive unit that it allowed their middies to get into the action -- and so they did (scoring 6 of the Tigers' 12). Furthermore, defensive miscommunications (apparently often involving double-team efforts) led to the availability of Tiger targets on the crease. And Princeton DID capitalize, making Cynar look bad.

Since I was not there, I will not pick on Justin. But, my gut tells me he did not have the kind of BIG GAME performance that we desperately needed. I'll leave it to an eyewitness to evaluate his performance. (Note: shots were even, 32-32).

Game story at C.U. athletics:

[cornellbigred.fansonly.com]


I wish I could share b.r.a.'s confidence about Cornell's presence in the post-season (I'd feel a little better if we'd lost in OT, and not by 5). If the Ivy schedule plays out like it "should", with Cornell and Princeton both winning out (and each finishing 5-1), then Princeton gets the auto-bid. There is incredibly intense competition for the paltry handful of at-large bids, and even with Cornell finishing at 11-2, it's no sure thing...

The tourney outlook is discussed ad nauseum at LaxPower, so I won't try to muddle through it here. Instead, check out this thread (@LaxPower):

[forums.laxpower.com]


Shake it off, Red, and POUND BROWN NEXT WEEK!!! (Uhhh... so to speak...)

Brown beats Dartmouth, 11-8, to remain in the hunt for an Ivy title.

That game was eerily similar to the C.U.-Princeton game. Check it out:

The game got off to a slow start, with Dartmouth (Cornell) scoring first. A 2nd-Q surge by Brown (Princeton) gave them a 4-3 lead at the half. Brown (Princeton) dominated the 3rd-Q by a 5-0 margin, giving them a 9-3 lead going into the final Q. A Dartmouth (Cornell) rally gave some hope (big difference being that Dartmouth's rally brought them to within 2 -- Cornell only got within 4), but that hope was dashed by a pair of late Brown (Princeton) goals. The final, inconsequential, goal was scored by Dartmouth (Cornell) in the final minute.

Shots were exactly even (Brown/Dartmouth AND Princeton/Cornell), but face-offs and ground-balls were dominated by Brown (Princeton).

Weird. (Or am I weird??)

I don't see us as a lock for a bid at all.

We've got to win out, and that will not be easy. Brown can still get the Ivy autobid by beating Cornell and Princeton. While it may be too much to expect that they win both, the problem is that they play Cornell first (next Saturday), so it will be a make-or-break game for them--just as it was for Princeton yesterday. And I still have nightmares from last year's blown 6-2 halftime lead at Brown.

Not time for chicken-counting just yet, IMHO.

Two important results went against Cornell's chances for an at-large bid this weekend:

(1) Georgetown lost to UMass. The Minutemen have clinched the ECAC autobid. That throws another viable team into the at-large mix.

(2) Fairfield beat Notre Dame today. They clinch the GWLL title and autobid. However, another team from the GWLL will go, because of the "regional representation" rule in selection, that says there has to be a team from the Western Region, which is comprised only of the five GWLL schools besides Fairfield. Hopefully, the committee will get rid of this rule before next year's tournament.

Bottom line: Cornell is by no means a lock to go. A loss in either of these final two games could do in their chances for postseason play.

(I did indeed mean "at large-bid" above, and thus corrected myself.)

Two important results went against Cornell's chances for an autobid this weekend:

Matt, you mean "at-large" bid, right?

There are about seven schools, including Cornell, vying for what amounts to a measly two available at-large spots (Virginia, Hopkins, and Syracuse are locks for three, leaving only two (thanks to this "western" crap!!!)).

It's absurd to have a separate "western bid" just because the "western league" is sending (via AQ) their one school that happens to be technically not from the "western region". Would it be too much to ask that the committee grow a pair and override that stupid, out-dated regionalization rule so that the "Fairfield technicality" doesn't shrink an already outrageously skimpy at-large pool?!

The AQ from the WESTERN league should be the WESTERN region's representative. Period! If ya ain't from the west, you don't belong in the western league! And if yer somehow(?!?!) allowed to be in there ANYWAY, then you should be counted as WESTERN!!! AAAAAARRRRGGGHH...

OK... I feel better now... (momentarily, at least...)

There is some chance the NCAA committee will decide the Great Western league's champion is the "western" team. Selection committees sometimes just do what they have to do to make it come out right.

Al DeFlorio wrote:

Selection committees sometimes just do what they have to do to make it come out right.

Like, say, ignore the tournament bracket laid out in the championships manual?

...Or, change the manual itself! ...Which is apparently what they've just done! In a stunning stroke of common sense (albeit sneaky and a little late in the game), "the committee" has dumped the obsolete regional bids. It's just too bad that they had to wait until people were tearing their hair out over it to act. Why couldn't they have asked themselves, before the season even began, "Uh-oh, what if Fairfield wins the GWLL?!" 'Tards.

The bottom line is that this gives 6 at-large spots instead of 5, thus improving the Big Red's chances of making the tournament.

Common sense prevails!!

Seems to me with just 12 slots there were too many "interests" being served by AQs, regional bids, and at-large bids. Score one for the NCAA in making this right.

Incidentally, Jason N '95 introduced himself to Lowell and me at the game. He arrived at halftime, so we're pretty sure it's all his fault.

Beeeej

I'd refute Beeeej's claim if I didn't feel it was true. A doctor's appointment that ran long and a slower than expected drive due to the heavy rain kept me from seeing the "give-n-take" first half. Found seats just in time for the third quarter --which was just awful to watch. Thankfully the fourth had some nice scoring by Cornell, albeit in vain. At least I got to introduce myself to some of the other ELFers. Beeeej, it was good to meet you and hopefully our next cornell sporting event in which we cross paths will be a "W" for the Big Red.

FWIW, lax.com has posted a play-by-play game story (with 25 pics):

[www.lax.com]