Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/17/18
From Press Release
On a day where the Princeton offense was carried by two unlikely players for the first 60 minutes, it was the bread-and-butter in the second overtime that ultimately was the difference.
Freshman Chris Brown had two goals and three assists in his college debut and sophomore Phillip Robertson (Duke’s LC) had three goals in his first start. Then, in that second overtime, Princeton went back to more familiar sources, as Michael Sowers (Upper Dublin) set up Riley Thompson perfectly for the game-winning layup as Princeton survived Monmouth 9-8 in the season opener for both.
Monmouth, the defending MAAC champ, threw a program-record 57 shots at Princeton, forcing senior goalie Tyler Blaisdell to make 17 saves. Of those, none was bigger than the one he made on Bryce Wasserman, Monmouth’s all-time leading scorer, in the final 10 seconds of regulation.
Sowers had a goal and three assists for Princeton while freshman defenseman Chris Hervada (Haverford School) had six groundballs and three caused turnovers, defenseman Dillon Smart (Garnet Valley) had six groundballs and one caused turnover and Hunter Jones (Abington) had two goals and an assist to lead Monmouth. Dylan Schulte (Seneca-NJ) addedf a goal and three groundballs while Jake Henze (Central Bucks South) had a groundball and a caused turnover and Brock Ancderson (Ridley) had two groundballs.
Princeton led 5-1 at halftime and 7-2 in the third quarter, but Monmouth stormed back. The Hawks tied it at 7-7 in the fourth and then, after the freshman Brown’s second goal made it 8-7, tied it again on a Dan Bloodgood goal with 3:25 left.
Both teams had chances in the first OT, and both goalies – Blaisdell and Monmouth freshman Noah Lode, made big saves to keep it tied at 8-8.
Sam Bonafede won the face-off for both overtimes, and Brown, who was great all day, kept the possession going in the second OT with a key ground ball. To that point, Thompson, a three-year starter, had not even attempted a shot, while Sowers, who set the program record with 82 points a year ago, had been held in reasonable check by Monmouth’s Garrett Pfeifer.
Still, Thompson is a proven finisher, and Sowers is, well, Sowers. And when Thompson was open on the backside just for an instant, Sowers put it in his stick and Thompson put it in the goal.
* Robertson had three goals his entire freshman year. He now has six career goals on just seven career shots.
* Daniel Winschuh had three caused turnovers and four ground balls for the Princeton defense. Aran Roberts made his first start on D after starting as a freshman and then missing most of the last two years with injuries.
* Monmouth outshot Princeton 57-36. That number was 32-13 in the first half, which nevertheless ended 5-1 Tigers.
