Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/19/23
From Press Release
For the second time in three games, Penn senior middie Sam Handley provided the knockout punch in overtime, scoring the game-winner to lift the #17 University of Pennsylvania men’s lacrosse team past #18 Princeton Saturday evening at Franklin Field in the Ivy League opener.
The Quakers improve to 1-0 in Ivy play and earn a victory over the Tigers for the first time since 2019. This was the second straight year the two teams went to overtime after Princeton knocked off Penn, 21-20, in OT in 2022.
Quaker Notemeal
*The win marks the Quakers’ first at home this season, improving to 1-2 on the year.
*It’s the second overtime win of the year for Penn and the second in three games after a 14-13 victory at Saint Joseph’s two weeks ago. Sam Handley scored the overtime winner in both games.
*Ben Smith scored four goals to lead the Quaker attack. That number was one short of his career-high five against Richmond in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season.
*Both Gabe Furey (Episcopal Academy) and Sam Handley recorded a pair of goals for Penn, while Handley also tallied four assists for six points, both season highs for the senior.
*Hugh Mullane finished with a goal and an assist.
*Four Quakers finished with a trio of ground balls (Ben Smith, Peter Blake, Chris Arceri and Ethan Costanzo).
*Four players also had one caused turnover (Blake, Handley, Brendan Lavelle and Emmet Carroll).
*Arceri was 10-for-18 on faceoff opportunities on the night, Costanzo was 3-for-3.
*Carroll made 10 saves in net, allowing just eight goals in the victory. He finished with a save percentage of .556.
*Penn led the way in shots, 47-39. Penn also had more shots on goal than Princeton at 26-18 and cleared the ball on 22 of 25 opportunities.
*Princeton was 1-for-6 on EMOs, Penn was 1-for-4.
How It Happened
It took three minutes, but Penn struck first with Ben Smith’s first of the game, off the assist from Hugh Mullane to put the Quakers in front, 1-0.
The Tigers scored two consecutive goals with under three minutes to go in the first quarter, leading 2-1 after the first 15 minutes of play.
Just 41 seconds removed out of the first break, Jake Stevens scored Princeton’s first of the second quarter and third straight to put the Tigers up, 3-1.
With 13:34 to go, Sam Handley scored his first of the game to bring the Quakers back within a goal, down 3-2.
Princeton then scored back-to-back strikes from English and Alexander Vardaro, a man-up goal, to take a 5-2 lead with 11:30 to play in the half.
Penn scored two more goals in a row, both courtesy of Handley passes, with a goal for Smith and another for Gabe Furey as the Quakers trailed Princeton, 5-4 with 5:15 remaining.
Stevens scored his second goal of the game for Princeton with 1:36 left, now up 6-4, when Furey buried his second of the game with just 1:08 on the clock. Cam Rubin had a shot go wide with just one tick remaining as the score went 6-5 heading into the locker room.
It only took two minutes, but it was Vardaro who extended Princeton’s lead to 7-5 with 13:13 to play and Mullane quickly made it a one-goal game again at 7-6 with 12:22 on the clock.
Penn’s defense went to work for the rest of the frame, holding the Tigers without a goal for the final 13 minutes of the stanza, trailing 7-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
After both teams went dry on the offensive end for the good-part of the fourth quarter, Smith provided the equalizer for Penn with 7:27 remaining for his hat trick, making it a 7-7 game.
Princeton’s Ben Finlay was penalized for pushing with 6:18 left and Smith took full advantage of the situation, delivering the man-up goal, his fourth of the game to give the Quakers an 8-7 lead, their first lead since going up 1-0 at the beginning of the contest.
Christian Ronda knotted up the score at 8-8 with 3:20 remaining to bring the Tigers back into the game while Penn attempted four quick shots on its final possession, including two from Handley. Princeton had one final chance to do something big on offense with under 45 seconds remaining in regulation, as Ronda’s shot was blocked with two seconds left, forcing overtime with an 8-8 tie.
There was only one shot attempted (Princeton’s Stevens with 2:17 left) in the overtime period before Handley scored the OT winner—his second in three games—to lift the Quakers past the Tigers, 9-8 and get a victory to open Ivy League play.