Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/18/17
From Press Release
For the second time in seven games this year, the Princeton men’s lacrosse team turned a 10-goal loss from last year into a game that was never in doubt after halftime.
First time it was Johns Hopkins. Now it was Penn.
Princeton, looking sharp from start to finish, defeated Penn 17-8 in the Ivy opener for both on Franklin Field Saturday afternoon, 52 weeks after the Quakers had beaten Princeton 20-10 in Princeton. If this looked familiar, it came 15 days after Princeton defeated Hopkins 18-7 after a 17-7 loss one year before.
So what’s the difference in a year? There are lots of correct answers. What is foremost? The extraordinary talent of Michael Sowers (Upper Dublin).
The Princeton freshman had his best game to date, with five goals, four assists and a series of “wow” plays one after the other. The best of them was probably his lookaway pass to Gavin McBride (Haverford School), who threw one in behind-the-back in the second quarter, for one of McBride’s career-high five goals on the day.
Sowers now has an astonishing 40 points, with 19 goals and 21 assists, in just seven games. He is currently third among Princeton freshmen all-time in both assists and points, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Kevin Lowe and one-day Hall-of-Fame Ryan Boyle.
If Princeton was tired after a quick turnaround from its game Wednesday night at Rutgers, it didn’t show, as McBride scored his first less than a minute in and Princeton built a 4-1 lead in little more than five minutes. It was 8-3 Tigers at the half and then 9-3 32 seconds into the third quarter, as Princeton refused to allow the Quakers to get back into the game.
NOTES
* Connor Keating (Haverford School) and Simon Mathias each had two goals for Penn while Kevin McGeary (Malvern Prep) and Reilly Hupfeldt (Haverford School) each had a goal and an assist.
* McBride’s five were a career high after having two four-goal games prior to this. McBride, who has at least two goals in 11 of his last 12 games, now has 99 career points (69G, 30A). Riley Thompson also had a career day, or at least a career-high-tying one, with three goals and five points.
* As for Sowers, he leads the team in assists and points and is tied with McBride for the team lead with 19 goals. He has at least four points in every game, and he needs one goal to become the sixth Princeton freshman to each 20. His 40 points trail only Lowe (55) and Boyle (53). His five goals and nine points were his high games for the year, and his four assists were one off his best total.
* Zach Currier’s stat line: two assists, seven ground balls, four caused turnovers, including three after won Penn face-offs, 3 for 4 facing off himself.
* Arman Medghalchi had his best game, with three caused turnovers. Medghalchi and fellow defensemen Bear Goldstein and Daniel Winschuh helped hold Penn under double figures for the first time this season.
* Tyler Blaisdell made 12 saves and allowed seven saves against the Quakers.
* Charlie Durbin had a pair of goals and now has nine in the last five games after having three for his career prior to that.
* Princeton hosts Yale Friday at 2, in a game that can be seen on ESPNU.