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No. 13 Princeton Survives Against MIT 15-13 in Eastern Tournament Opening Game
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Jeff Cole (So., Santa Barbara, Calif.) broke a 13-13 tie with 1:44 left in the fourth period for the deciding score as the No. 13 nationally ranked Princeton University Tigers survived a historic scare from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to take the first game of the 2008 Eastern Championship 15-13.
MIT, which was seeking to become the first No. 8 seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in the modern era (199-present) of the Eastern Championship, held a 7-6 lead at halftime and was in front 12-11 with 5:12 left in the fourth period, but could not hold on for the victory as the Tigers rallied for the win.
The game was not a good indicator of the regular season meetings between MIT and the rest of the Eastern field as the Engineers went 0-9 against St. Francis College (0-1), Brown University (0-3), Johns Hopkins University (0-2), Iona College (0-2) and Bucknell University (0-1). The game marked the first meeting between the Engineers and Tigers this year, while MIT has yet to meet the United States Naval Academy in competition during the 2008 season.
The opened with a scoring spree in the first period as MIT's Mike Smith-Bronstein (Sr., Mercer Island, Wash.) split the Tigers' defense for a score 2:52 into the game. Princeton responded with a score by Brendan Colgan (Sr., Annapolis, Md.) at 5:49, MIT countered on a goal by John Preis (So., Los Angeles, Calif.) at 5:25, the Tigers fired back with a marker by Mark Zalewski (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) at 4:33 and Preis struck again at 2:48 to put the Engineers ahead 3-2.
Princeton closed out the period with back-to-back tallies by David de L'Arbre (Jr., Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Eric Vreeland (Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.) at the 2:16 and one second marks, respectively, to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead after eight minutes of play. The margin stayed only a goal thanks to the arms of MIT goalie Columbus Leonard (Fr., San Francisco, Calif.) who swatted away a penalty shot attempt at the 48 seconds mark to limit the damage.
The lead grew to 5-3 in the opening minutes of the second period as Colgan buried a penalty shot off a call against Palmer Rosemond (Sr., Miami, Fla.) at the 6:02 mark, but the Engineers designed a new strategy pumping in shots at 2:49 and 2:15 as Matt Chapa (Fr., Baytown, Texas) beat Princeton goalie Mike Merlone (Sr., Atherton, Calif.) at even strength before Brian Gardiner (So., Upland, Calif.) stopped the clock with an exclusion goal to knot the game at 5-5.
MIT and Princeton then traded goals as Colgan and Gardiner tacked on scores at 1:56 and 51 seconds, respectively, to set the score at 6-6 before Smith-Bronstein put the Engineers in front 7-6 at halftime with a blast from the wing with 29 ticks left on the period clock.
The Engineers built the lead to a pair of scores 30 seconds into the third period with a successful penalty shot by Smith-Bronstein following a penalty on Merlone and a yellow card to Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao.
Needing a rally to regain the momentum, three Tigers stepped up as Douglas Wigley (Jr., Atherton, Calif.) scored on an exclusion at 4:30, Vreeland buried a penalty shot at 4:05 and Zalewski found the back of the cage at even strength with 2:23 showing on the clock to put Princeton back in front 9-8.
The lead lasted for 84 seconds as Palmer Rosemond (Sr., Miami, Fla.) skipped a shot past Merlone to tie the game. Princeton and MIT traded exclusion goals to the end of the period with Colgan and Smith-Bronstein tacked on scores at the 38 and 11 seconds marks, respectively, for a 10-10 game with eight minutes to play.
Neither team could pull away until the final minutes of the fourth period as Gregor Horstmeyer (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif.) netted a marker at even strength with 7:35 left to put Princeton ahead 11-10 before Preis punched home an exclusion goal and Rob Kalwarowsky (Jr., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) split the Tigers' defense at even strength at 7:14 and 5:12 to give MIT a 12-11 lead.
The Tigers rallied again as Cole knotted the game up at 12-12 with an exclusion goal at 4:45 and Zalewski uncorked an even-strength laser inside the left post to give Princeton a 13-12 lead with 3:20 on the clock.
Needing a comeback, the Engineers went to work as Preis juked his way past two defenders, rose-up and unleashed the tying score at the 3:07 mark to equal the score at 13-13 and set up Cole's game-winner 83 seconds later.
Horstmeyer added an insurance goal at the 1:04 mark to guarantee a Princeton victory and send the Tigers onto the first semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 22 versus the winner of a first round game between No. 17 Brown University and Division III No. 1 ranked Johns Hopkins University.
In cage, Merlone finished with 10 saves to earn Player of the Game honors, while Leonard blocked down eight shots.
The Engineers will next be in action at 2:30 p.m. on the 22nd versus the loser of the Brown-JHU game with a berth to the 5th place game on the line.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| MIT | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| Princeton | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 15 |
Princeton Goals: Brendan Colgan (4); Mark Zalewski (3); Jeff Cole (2); Gregor Horstmeyer (2); Eric Vreeland (2); David de L'Arbre; Douglas Wigley
MIT Goals: Mike Smith-Bronstein (4); John Preis (4); Brian Gardiner (2); Rob Kalwarowsky; Matt Chapa; Palmer Rosemond
Saves: Princeton - Mike Merlone (10) ; Columbus Leonard (8)
Ejections: Princeton - 10 ; MIT - 13
Sprints: Princeton - 4 (1st & 2nd - Eric Vreeland, 3rd - David de L'Arbre, 4th - Douglas Wigley) ; MIT - 0
