The men’s lacrosse season is now a month old, and in the Ivy League, there have been few surprises.
Nationally-ranked No. 3 Princeton continued its climb from its 0-2 start this season, defeating No. 9 Rutgers on March 25 before topping No. 16 Yale in the Tigers’ league opener. No. 14 Cornell showed itself to be the Ivies’ next team to beat, winning against Pennsylvania. Brown suffered a pair of losses to No. 5 Syracuse and Fairfield. Meanwhile, the Crimson took a victory from Providence before losing to No. 11 Duke.
Princeton 10, Rutgers 8
Every year, the winner of the Princeton-Rutgers game takes home the Meistrell Cup. The cup stayed in Princeton in 2003, for the 14th consecutive season.
However, the Tigers’ (4-2, 1-0 Ivy) win was anything but a rout against a Scarlet Knights squad that was 2-12 a year ago.
Rutgers leaped out to a 3-0 lead in the first eight minutes. Senior Sean Hartofilis answered for the Tigers with three goals before the end of the first half and Princeton took a 6-4 lead to halftime. Four straight goals by the Scarlet Knights put them ahead 8-7 with ten minutes to play, but Hartofilis struck again. He notched two goals in a span of 12 seconds, and Rutgers’ fate was sealed. Hartofilis finished with six goals in the game.
Fairfield 8, Brown 7
A Fairfield goal with 16 seconds left in regulation doomed the Bears (2-4, 0-0 Ivy) in their game on March 26. Brown had started the game with three straight goals and led 4-2 at halftime. After extending their lead to three again, the Bears fell victim to an offensive spurt from the Stags. Fairfield tied the game with 3:31 left to play. Three minutes later, Rory McCarthy buried the game-winner, his fifth goal of the afternoon. One bright spot for the Bears was Jon Thompson, who scored three goals and added an assist.
Cornell 13, Pennsylvania 7
A 3-0 streak in the second quarter proved vital for Cornell (5-2, 2-0), who topped the Quakers (4-3, 1-1) in Ithaca on Saturday. Taking a 4-2 lead out of the first period, the Big Red kept Penn off the scoreboard for the rest of the half while cushioning its own lead. By the fourth quarter, Cornell had a 13-4 advantage. Though Penn outshot the Big Red 36-22 during the game, Cornell put 13 of its 22 shots on net. Sophomore Sean Greenhalgh scored six goals on six shots for the Red, who snapped Penn’s three-game win streak.
Syracuse 16, Brown 7
Syracuse head coach John Desko earned his 60th career win at Brown’s expense Saturday. Brown’s defense failed to clear the ball eight times, and the Orangemen took advantage of the turnovers. The Bears took a 3-1 lead early, but then watched Syracuse go on a 4-0 run in the second quarter. The Orange continued to dominate in the third period, accumulating a 12-6 lead. Though Thompson tallied a pair of goals for Brown, Syracuse kept adding to its margin of victory through the end of the fourth quarter.
Duke 15, Harvard 7
After an 8-3 win over MAAC opponent Providence on March 25, Harvard (3-4, 0-1 Ivy) faced stiffer competition on Saturday. The Blue Devils took a 6-2 lead to halftime in the game in Durham, N.C. The Crimson countered with a pair of goals to open the second half, but another four goals from Duke put the game nearly out of reach. Harvard would close the gap to 10-6, but came no closer. Anders Johnson scored two goals within 16 seconds of each other.