PRINCETON, N.J. - It took exactly 11 seconds for it to be apparent that the 2009 Princeton-Dartmouth men's lacrosse game would be different than the one of a year ago. It wasn't until more than an hour after the game ended that 2009 began to resemble 2008 in one other way.

Jack McBride scored four goals, including one 11 seconds into the first quarter, as Princeton, ranked fifth by the media and fourth by the coaches, scored the first 10 goals of the day en route to a 14-7 win over Dartmouth in front of 1,353 sun-splashed fans at the Class of 1952 Stadium, where the Tigers have won 15 straight games. The win came one year after Dartmouth had knocked off Princeton 11-9 in Hanover to start a two-week stretch that saw the Tigers fall out of the NCAA tournament.

This time, Princeton improved to 11-2 overall and 4-1 in the Ivy League, while Dartmouth slipped to 4-10, 1-4.

More than an hour later, while the Princeton players were at their post-game reception, word came that Brown had defeated Cornell, which puts the Ivy League race back to where it was at the end of last season. Cornell has finished the league season at 5-1, and the Big Red will finish in a tie for the league title with the winner of next week's Princeton-Brown game in Princeton.

The same situation basically occurred a year ago, when Princeton and Brown played in Providence in the final game of the regular-season in an Ivy League "co-championship" game that the Bears won 6-5. The only difference this time around is that Princeton cannot win the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which will go to Brown if it should defeat Princeton or Cornell if Princeton should beat Brown. Princeton is considered a strong contender for an at-large NCAA tournament bid with its resume of quality wins, something that wasn't the case a year ago.

Also unlike a year ago, Princeton did not fall into a huge hole against Dartmouth. In last year's game, Dartmouth built a 6-1 second quarter lead and held off the Tigers.

"That was the longest bus ride home ever," said Princeton coach Bill Tierney. "Emotionally and physically. It was good to come out and get this one, after last year's game and last week's game [a 10-7 loss at Cornell that knocked Princeton out of the No. 1 ranking]."

McBride's early goal was followed by scores from Tommy Davis and Mark Kovler in the first quarter, and two more from McBride to start the second began to really open the game up. It was 7-0 at halftime and 10-0 before the Big Green scored.

Freshman goalie Tyler Fiorito played the first three quarters and allowed just one goal while making seven saves, of which four came in the first quarter and six came before halftime.

"We had the appearance of playing well, but we weren't really playing all that well early on," Tierney said. "Tyler made some saves to make it look better than it was. It would have been different if he hadn't been on early."

The only big drama of the fourth quarter was whether Princeton back-up midfielder David Marshall would score on his brother, Dartmouth back-up goalie Pat Marshall, who actually had come with the Princeton team on its trip to Spain and Ireland last June. For the record, the goalie got the better of it, making a tough save on his brother with 2:52 to play.

The Big Green outscored Princeton 6-3 in the fourth quarter as every healthy Princeton player played. Princeton put up 47 shots in the game, its highest total in playing Albany in its sixth game of the year.

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2009-04-25