No. 13 Penn men's lacrosse falls to No. 17 Princeton

You never want to be on the wrong side of a rivalry game. Unfortunately for No. 13 Penn men's lacrosse, that’s just where it found itself yesterday.

Penn traveled across the Delaware River to face off against longtime rival No. 17 Princeton. But, in the latest installment of the Penn-Princeton series, Penn could not pull off a comeback, losing 15-10 after falling behind in the second quarter.

The day started off with all eyes on the goalie matchup: senior Michael Gianforcaro of Princeton (8-4, 3-2 Ivy) vs. senior Emmet Carroll of Penn (8-5, 4-2). The game served as a battleground as they both build their resumes for first team All-Ivy honors. Carroll came in with a strong case, touting a 0.601 save percentage along with being a Tewaaraton Award nominee. He finished the game with 17 saves.

The game started off slow, with no team scoring until over 10 minutes had passed. Princeton drew first blood, but senior midfielder James Shipley fired off a rocket, and sophomore midfielder Griffin Scane dropped his defender to score to give Penn a brief lead. But back-to-back scores by Princeton within one minute put the home team up 3-2 at the end of the first.

Everything started going the Tigers’ way in the second quarter.

While junior attacker Tynan Walsh secured a goal to tie the game up 3-3, Princeton went on a five-goal scoring run that lasted nearly over seven minutes. During the run, not once, but twice, Princeton face-off specialist Andrew McMeekin won the face-off and used his forward motion to score two goals that sailed right past Carroll’s head. Additionally, attacker Coulter Mackesy — Princeton’s own Tewaaraton Award nominee — logged his name into the stats sheet after being thwarted by senior defender Brendan Lavelle for much of the day.

The scoring run gave Princeton all the momentum and put Penn in a hole that it struggled to dig itself out of for the rest of the game. Not only was Princeton outshooting Penn, but the Tigers were also outdoing them in the assist department. Of the 15 total goals Princeton scored, seven were assisted, compared to Penn’s four.

A goal by junior attacker Luke DiNola cut the deficit to just four goals heading into the halftime break. Penn had previously shined in the third quarter, outscoring opponents 41-22 across the team's previous matchups.

But today, the Tigers matched every Quaker goal with one of their own. For every great goal for the Quakers — including a no-look pass from Walsh to Scane, who camped out in the corner of the crease — there was an equally great one from the Tigers. 

The Quakers trailed by as much as five in that third quarter and could only cut it to a 11-7 deficit heading into the fourth thanks to a goal from Scane; the goal was Scane’s third, making it his first career hat trick. 

In the fourth quarter, freshman attacker Davis Provost also logged his first career hat trick after scoring not one, but two goals. Each of his goals in the fourth quarter helped to cut the deficit to only three, but Princeton, like it had all day, had an answer.

Much of Penn’s struggles can be attributed to Gianforcaro’s play. Gianforcaro went toe-to-toe with Carroll in the cage, finishing with 15 saves that kept Penn from making a full comeback attempt. After one of Provost’s goals cut the lead to just three, Gianforcaro decided that he wanted to end his senior day with an exclamation point and ran the ball the length of the field. He met Carroll right at the crease and converted to secure his first career goal on his senior day.

A win for Princeton gives the Tigers the chance to sneak into the final remaining spot. On the opposite end, the loss complicates Penn’s path to hosting the conference tournament.

The Quakers will return to action on May 3 in the Ivy League Tournament — where and against whom remain to be seen.