Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/26/13
Ryan Ambler (Abington) started his career by doing something that hadn’t been done at Princeton in 12 seasons and has only been done three times ever in school history. As a result, he’s pulled in the first Ivy League Rookie of the Week honor for 2013.
Ambler had a four-point debut for Princeton, who opened the season with a 10-7 win over Hofstra Saturday in the rain on Long Island.
Ambler had a goal and three assists in the game, of which the goal and two of the assists came in the second quarter as Princeton snapped a 3-3 tie and took the lead for good.
The last Princeton freshman with four points in the first game of his freshman year was Ryan Boyle, who had four assists against Johns Hopkins in 2001. The only other freshmen with four points in Game 1 of the season were Jesse Hubbard (3G, 1A in 1995) and Jason Buttles (2G, 2A in 1993).
Matt O’Connor, who graduated from the Lawrenceville School, made six saves in his first collegiate game in goal for the Tigers. O’Connor became the third goalie ever to start the first game of his freshman year, along with Scott Bacigalupo in 1991 and Tyler Fiorito in 2009. O’Connor takes over for Fiorito, the 2012 Ivy League Player of the Year and four-time All-America.
Haverford School grad Alex Beatty, who played in two games last year as a freshman, is Princeton’s top longstick midfielder this season.
