Top-ranked Tigers maul laxers at home

Penn State witnessed a near-perfect performance by No. 1 Princeton on Saturday at Holuba Hall, as the Tigers demonstrated why they are the defending national champions, putting an 18-6 hurting on the 19th-ranked Nittany Lions.

Princeton outshot Penn State, 49-25, for the game and dominated the majority of the play to increase its winning streak to 17 games. The Tigers haven't lost since March 9, 1996, when they dropped a 12-9 decision at Virginia.

After the first quarter with the score tied 1-1, it appeared the Lions would make it interesting for Princeton and coach Bill Tierney, who earned his 100th victory at Princeton. But the second quarter was a different story, as the Tigers went on a six-goal run to make the score 7-1. By halftime, Princeton held an 8-3 lead and seemed to have the game in hand.

"I thought we played a very good first quarter," Penn State coach Glenn Thiel said. "We had a bunch of mistakes early, but we were still in it. We controlled the ball well and had some opportunities and then in the second quarter it just, bang, got out of hand on defense and after that the game was over."

Princeton's powerful attack trio of All-American Jesse Hubbard, Chris Massey and John Hess combined for 15 points in the game. Hubbard, seeing his first significant action of the season after returning from a second-degree shoulder separation, scored four goals and added one assist. Massey had three goals and two assists, and set-up man Hess scored twice while contributing three assists.

"We've got to be able to eliminate those mental mistakes," Thiel said. "You make mistakes against a team like Princeton and you're in trouble. We don't seem to realize that."

Hubbard opened the scoring for the Tigers two minutes, 45 seconds into the game, as he scooped up a dropped pass by Hamilton Pollard and went the other way, firing a shot past Penn State goalie Kevin Keenan, who finished with 12 saves.

The Lions were able to answer back with 5:40 remaining in the first when Chris Killoren took a pass from John Chescavage from behind the cage and tied the score. Killoren led the Penn State offense with three goals.

Princeton's defense did a good job of holding Penn State's chances on the attack to a minimum. Playing a very aggressive style, the defense did not allow Penn State to slow down the offense.

"We just decided that we can't let teams do this (slow the game down) to us," Tierney said. "We've got to start going after people. So we started to take some chances on defense and hope that it works. I think that pressure helped us a lot."

Thiel was very impressed with the way Princeton's defense adjusted to the different style of play.

"They're masterful. They can do anything they want," he said. "They can play any style they want. They get their six guys back, and they believe in what they do on defense. That's why they've won three national championships in the last five years and are favored to win it again this year."

The Penn State defense looked to be on its heels, allowing Princeton to dictate the pace of the game. The Lions did not challenge the attack successfully or keep the shots to the outside. Princeton moved the ball well and was able to find the best man for the shot.

"We're not where we need to be," Lion defenseman Dave Daniecki said. "We knew their talent, and we knew what we had to do we just didn't do it. The first quarter was a good example of us doing what we needed to do. If we could have done that for the next three quarters it would have been a close game."