(Photo Courtesy of Princeton Athletics)
Despite having an edge at the faceoff dot, in the clearing game, putting a higher percentage of their shots on cage through the first two quarters, the Princeton Tigers found themselves trailing the Manhattan Jaspers 5-4 at the half.
The Jaspers came into Tuesday night’s contest riding high off an upset of Navy over the weekend in a contest that saw first year starting goalie Joseph Persico steal the show with 22 saves. Much of the same could be said about the Jaspers’ performance against the Tigers with Perisco making 17 saves to help the Jaspers start strong and stifle the Tigers’ offense throughout, and especially early.
Perisco had 11 saves at the halftime break. That included seven in the second quarter alone as he faced a Princeton offense that fired 12 shots and put nine of them on cage during that final frame of the first half.
Manhattan had gotten out to a quick 3-0 lead early in the contest and a man-up score from James McCoy late in the second frame helped them remain ahead at the break. However, the Jaspers’ lead wouldn’t hold for much longer as the Tigers settled in and got rolling.
Alexander Vardaro put home the final score of the half to pull Princeton within one. After a successful penalty kill early in the third, Alex Slusher put home his first of the day to give the Tigers’ their first lead of the day. Tyler Sandavol won the ensuing faceoff, set his sights up field, and dished the rock to Braedon Saris for his first score of the day. Following another successful penalty kill on the other end, Christian Ronda converted a Tiger goal off a Sam English.
That run early in the third pushed Princeton ahead 7-5 and they never looked back. Manhattan scored twice in the third quarter, making it a 7-6 game and then an 8-7 game, but those would be as close to a comeback effort seen from the Jaspers during the second half as Princeton was able to pull ahead and stay ahead.
Princeton ended the third frame on a four-goal run that included two consecutive scores from Coulter Mackesy to make it a 12-7 game entering the fourth. Vardaro and Weston Carpenter added two more scores in the final frame to secure the 14-9 victory.
Vardaro led the way for the Tigers with four goals on the day while Mackesy had a hat trick. Slusher had two goals and one assist. Sharing time at the dot, Tyler Sandavol went 8-for-14 (57%) while Koby Ginder went 8-for-12 (66%).
Griffen Rakower got the start in cage for the Tigers and made eight saves while Michael Gianforcaro played the second half and made five saves.
Brown 13, Providence 7
Following a season-opening upset loss to Quinnipiac over the weekend, the Brown Bears earned themselves their first win of the season on Tuesday night and did so against crosstown rival Providence.
A Jack Horrigan man-up score off a Ryan Bell assist got the Friars offense started and they would follow up with three more scores, including two from Michael Chabra, to pull themselves ahead 4-2 early in the second quarter of play. That lead, however, would be the only one in which the Friars enjoyed all day and quickly dissolved.
Going 82% as a team at the faceoff dot between the efforts of Matt Gunty (15-for-18) and Dash Sachs (4-for-5), the Bears were able to ride behind that success at the faceoff dot and get their offense going. Brown ended the first half on a 4-1 run and added five scores to it in the second half, outscoring the Friars 4-0 in the third quarter before also getting on the board first in fourth and final frame.
Devon McLane (2G/3A) led the way for the Bears in the victory while Logan Paff (2G/1A) and Matteo Corsi (2G) also had two goals on the day as well. Brown saw 10 different goal-scorers and 12 players overall record points in the win.
Connor Theriault made eight saves in cage for the Bears. On the other end, James Corasaniti made 16 stops for Providence.
Chabra led the way for Providence with four goals.
Drexel 16, Lafayette 14
The Drexel Dragons outscored the Lafayette Leopards 6-2 in the final period of play and scored each of the final four goals to earn a comeback, 16-14, victory at home on Tuesday night.
Max Semple led the Dragons with five goals on the day. That includes a pair coming within a minute of each other to knot things up at 14-14 before the Dragons added two more to take the lead and secure the win. Additionally, Sean Donnelly had four goals and one assist.
Justin Joseph went 22-for-33 (66%) at the faceoff dot for the Dragons.
Hofstra 13, LIU 7
Following one-goal losses to Navy and Michigan in subsequent weeks, the Hofstra Pride earned their first win of the season on Tuesday night as they beat LIU.
Gerard Kane recorded six points (3G/3A) to lead the way for the Pride. Chase Patterson went 19-for-23 (83%) at the faceoff dot.
Other Midweek Notes
- Josh Zawada passed the century mark in career goals as Michigan rolled passed Canisius 19-8.
- Paul Johnson had seven points (2G/5A) and Will Coletti went 20-for-23 (87%) at the dot to lead Army West Point past Wagner 20-6.
- Cade Stratton put up five points (4G/1A) to help Monmouth past NJIT 14-9.
- Robert Morris beat St. Bonaventure 15-6 in a game where the Colonials had 10 different goal-scorers.
- VMI defeated Hampton 20-10.
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