Princeton, Rutgers headed to Final Four
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. » The proud Princeton University men’s lacrosse program is headed to the Final Four for the first time in 18 years.
Sam English scored a hat trick and the Tigers beat Ivy League rival Yale, 14-10, on Saturday afternoon at Hofstra University.
Christian Ronda, Alexander Vardaro and Coulter Macksey all tallied twice.
Princeton (11-4) will face the winner of the quarterfinal game between Maryland and Virginia.
Erik Peters saved 17 shots for the Tigers.
Princeton surged in front with a seven-goal run between the first and second quarters and kept the Bulldogs (12-5) at arm’s length the rest of the way.
The Tigers won their first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years when they beat Boston University in the first round and then bettered it by advancing to the Final Four on Saturday.
RUTGERS 11, PENN 9
For the first time in program history, the Scarlet Knights are headed to the Final Four.
Goalie Colin Kirst made seven of his 18 saves in the fourth quarter, Shane Knobloch had a hat trick and Rutgers (15-3) rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Quakers (11-5) and advance out of the quarterfinals for the first time in eight tries.
Kirst was the star of the show, with save after save, particularly in the fourth quarter after Penn went ahead, 8-6, with 12:03 remaining and looked on the verge of delivering the knockout punch.
Instead, the Scarlet Knights ripped off the next five goals to move back in front. Mitch Bartolo tied it at 8-all with 8:08 to go and
Dante Kulas gave Rutgers the lead at the 5:38 mark.
Knobloch and Bryant Boswell then provided some breathing room.
Dylan Gergar scored four goals for the Quakers and goalie Patrick Burkinshaw stopped 14 shots, but Penn’s big start, Tewaartan Award finalist Sam Handley was held without a goal. Handley missed on a oneon-one against Kirst when
the score was tied at 8-all.
Rutgers will face either Cornell or Delaware in one of two national semifinals next weekend in East Hartford, Conn.
Women’s Lacrosse
TCNJ 13, SUNY CORTLAND 8 EWING »Anna Devlin scored five goals, high-flying Ally Tobler added three to bring her season total to 82 and the Lions (17-2) slayed the
Red Dragons (17-5) to reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
TCNJ actually conceded the first two goals and was only ahead, 5-4, in the second quarter before they went on a 5-0 run to take control of the game.
Anna Wright also had three goals and Julia Charest stopped eight shots for the Lions, who face old nemesis Salisbury for a spot in the Final Four.
Baseball
RIDER 12, SAINT PETER'S 7 JERSEY CITY » Socrates Bardatsos went 3-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to nine games and the Broncs (25-24, 12-10) finished up the regular season by salvaging the final contest against the Peacocks (9-41, 6-17).
The victory secured Rider fifth place in the MAAC and a spot at next weekend’s league tournament at Clover Stadium in Pomona, N.Y. The Broncs will take on fourth-seeded Monmouth in the a first-round game. The Hawks took two of three in the regular season, but all three games were decided by one run.
Brendan O’Donnell had a pair of hits and knocked in five for Rider on Sunday.