lax @ princeton

[Hillel Hoffmann]

That game made me plotz.

Three in a row against Princeton, baby. And two in a row in New Jersey.

Cornell's ride was ferocious. A beautiful thing to see. No slackers out there on the ride -- not one. It's becoming a trademark. So satisfying to watch Princeton's body language as they were forced into turnover after turnover near the midfield stripe. There's a bonkers, croaky old lady who attends all the Princeton home games and cheers for the Princeton defense from goal-line extended. She was having a COW in the third quarter as she watched them throw the ball away on four clears in a row. Life is good.

The third quarter, when Hewit made a bushel of point-blank saves, illustrated the cost of losing Greenhalgh and Nee. Yeah, Hewit was spectacular. But Pittard, Haswell, and even Mitchell just aren't the cold-blooded finishers that Greenhalgh and Nee were. Tierney was quoted somewhere (The Daily Princetonian?) saying that Cornell, unlike other opponents, was dangerous because could finish their shots. Not today.

I was surprised that Princeton didn't use their explosive freshman middie Mark Kovler more. On Princeton's go-ahead third goal, he easily lost the defensive middie assigned to him, much as Syracuse's Pat Perritt did. Thought there would be a lot more of that.

The play of the game, I thought, was a fourth-quarter ground ball by David Mitchell. Cornell had taken the lead and possession, and Princeton had forced a loose ball behind Hewit near the end line. Mitchell ran to the ball without hesitation, turned so that the scrum was to his back, and calmly scooped.

Can anyone explain the call that allowed Cornell to maintain possession after Schmicker won the faceoff, then lost his shoe?

[peterg]

[quote DeltaOne81][quote billhoward]Princeton's goalie-out defense was pretty good the last two minutes when Cornell was on attack. And Cornell showed class with an open net in the last 10 seconds and just kept passing around the box rather than roll up the score to 5-3. [/quote]

While it may have been class in part, its also good strategy. The shot could always freakishly go wide or slip out of your stick and go to the other team, giving them the chance with 10 seconds left. So while it is indeed nice not to run up the score, its also good strategy.

Other than that one nitpick, great post.[/quote]

Possession with a one goal lead, the opponent man down and less than two minutes left, is probably better than a two goal lead and a face off.  Two years ago Princeton scored 3 times in the last 2 minutes to tie it up before Cornell won in OT.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Just got back into the office here in Taiwan and had a chance to read the game thread.  Amazing how your emotions can roller-coaster just reading everyones' posts.

Wish I could have been there, though it almost felt like I was.

No let downs for Brown, please.

LGR!!!