Laxers Travel to No. 16 Princeton :: Elis Coming Off Tuesday Night Win

March 26, 2008

The Yale men's lacrosse team (2-4, 0-2 Ivy) faces its second nationally ranked opponent in a week with a noon game Saturday at No. 16 Princeton (3-3, 0-0 Ivy) that airs live on CBS College Sports (DirecTV 610). Both teams are coming off Tuesday night home wins.

Series

Princeton has a 65-20-2 record against Yale, including wins in four of the last six. The series began in 1882 with a 2-0 Princeton win that is believed to be the first intercollegiate lacrosse game. Yale last won 9-8 in 2005 at Reese Stadium while the Blue's last win (15-13) at Old Nassau came in 2002. Last year's 5-3 Princeton win marked the 15th time the Tigers had held Yale to three goals or less. It was the first time since a 1969 win (6-4) by Yale that the Bulldogs held the Tigers to five or less.

Last Meeting

Yale had plenty of chances to knock off No. 8 Princeton at Reese Stadium last March, but the Bulldogs could not get enough of an offensive run and fell 5-3.The difference was Princeton goalie Alex Hewit, who made 14 saves and seemed to be all over the defensive end frustrating Yale's shooters. He stopped five shots in a wild third period and had three each in the others. Yale also had an excellent performance in goal by George Carafides, who made seven stops. Gregory DuBoff's (8-for-12) stellar outing on faceoffs also kep the Blue in the game. Yale had more shots (30-29) and ground balls (30-27) than the Tigers. Chris Kempner, Brendan Gibson and Kyle Washabaugh had the Yale goals.

Bulldogs Pull Away From Hawks

Tyler Casertano (2-2-4), Matt Fuchs and Brendan Gibson (2-2-4) each had two goals as Yale cruised to an 11-3 win over Hartford before 350 at Reese Stadium Tuesday night. The Bulldogs outshot the Hawks 48-19 and had a 37-19 edge in ground balls. Gregory DuBoff kept the ball in Yale's possession by winning 14 of 16 faceoffs and taking five ground balls. George Carafides made six saves and picked up the win in goal before being replaced by Joe Costa (0 saves) and then Johnathan Falcone (1 save) for the last five minutes.

Tigers Hold On For Win over Rutgers

Alex Hewit stopped a point-blank shot from Rutgers' Justin Pennington with six seconds remaining to preserve Princeton's 7-6 Tuesday night win in front of 1,221 fans at the Class of 1952 Stadium. Hewit finished with 10 saves, Tommy Davis led Princeton with two goals and Alex Berg won 10 of 16 face-offs.

Coaches

Yale head coach Andy Shay (28-31, 5th), who is 1-4 against the Tigers, was a junior at Cortland High School when Bill Tierney (255-87, 25th) took over as head coach there. The Princeton head coach is 15-2 vs. Yale.

Casertano Moves Into Top 20

Tyler Casertano leads the Blue with 11 goals and 20 points and has moved into the No. 16 spot (tied with Simon Duxbury '94) on Yale's career points list with 116. Jon Reese '90 is the all-time leader with 200. Casertano, the only Eli with a point in every game, has a point in each of his last 33 games, which is sixth-best among active Division I players. The senior from Millbrook, N.Y., is nationally ranked in points (31st) and assists (36th) per game.

DuBoff Drawing Attention

Gregory DuBoff, who won 12 of 18 faceoffs at Cornell and then went 14-for-16 Tuesday against the Hawks, has won 64.8 percent overall this season and was 11th among Division I players heading into the week. He was also 11th in ground balls with 5.7 per game.

Streak in Goal at 43 Games

Heading into Tuesday George Carafides (Drexel Hill, Pa) ranks 11th among Division I goalies with a .610 save percentage while he was 15th with a 7.72 GAA. The Bulldog senior had a season-high 17 saves in a 7-6 loss to Holy Cross on Feb. 24 at home. Carafides, who has started all 43 games since he arrived at Yale, has 436 career saves (5th best at Yale). His 18 saves at Maryland in 2007 were a career-best.

Grimm is Lowe's Award Candidate

Yale captain Pat Grimm (Annapolis, Md.) has been named one of the 20 candidates for the 2008 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award, presented annually to NCAA Division I student-athletes in eight sports, focuses on classroom, character, community and competition. Grimm, a defenseman and three-year lettermen for the Bulldogs, was second-team All-New England and honorable mention All-Ivy last spring. He owns a 3.43 GPA in history and plans to attend medical school, but his best work may have come in outreach activities. Grimm, who began as a REMEDY volunteer a year ago and has helped recover surgical supplies for hospitals in developing worlds, has been a hospital emergency room volunteer as well. He traveled to Honduras last summer to help repair medical equipment and study Spanish as part of the Duke Engineering World Health Summer Institute. The summer before he helped raise money to fund eye surgeries for people in Ghana as a member of Unite for Sight Volunteers. In Ghana, he also volunteered at an eye clinic, screening patients for operable diseases and distributing donated eye glasses.

Bulldog Bites

The Elis rank fifth in team faceoffs (.609) and are 19th in scoring defense (7.80)... Junior Colin Ford (Spring Lake, N.J.) is fourth on the team with four goals. His father, Jack Ford '72, is a former Bulldog football star who became a famous TV lawyer, morning TV talkshow host and sports commentator (ESPN Sports Reporters)... Junior Bryce Pyle's (Alexandria, Va.) uncle, Mike Pyle '61, played football at Yale and then for the Chicago Bears... There are two sets of Bulldog brothers this season: Matt and Lucas Aronson (Medfield, Mass.) and Joe and Alfonso Costa (Pittsburgh, Pa.)... Yale juniors Michael Karwoski (Greenlawn, N.Y.) and Francis Johnson (Charlottesville, Va.) just finished winter seasons for other Yale varsity teams. Karwoski's (11 career goals) hockey team advanced to the conference quarterfinals, while Johnson's squash squad finished third in the country this winter.

Reese Stadium

The official game debut of the Field Turf (Phase I renovation) at Reese Stadium was 3/24/07. Formerly known as Yale's Soccer-Lacrosse Stadium, Reese will have other improvements over the next few years thanks to the gift from former Yale players Jason and Jon Reese. A gift from former soccer players Jamie and Cynthia Kempner and an anonymous matching challenge has Phase II plans moving forward.