PRINCETON – The Monmouth University men's lacrosse team fell to RV/18 Princeton 9-8 in double overtime in the 2018 season opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Sherrerd Field.

Monmouth trailed by as many as five midway through the third quarter, but responded with a 5-0 run to level the score at seven apiece with 6:02 to play in regulation. Chris Brown put Princeton ahead before Dan Bloodgood goal with 3:25 remaining sent the game to overtime.

Zach Clemente hit the post on Monmouth's next possession, but the game remained deadlocked until Riley Thompson won it less than two minutes into the second overtime period.

Princeton built a 4-0 lead and went ahead 5-1 at halftime despite Monmouth outshooting the Tigers 32-13 in the opening half. Tigers' goalkeeper Tyler Blaisdell made 13 of his 17 saves before intermission, and Monmouth struck iron twice in the first 30 minutes, which helped Princeton take a 5-1 lead into the break.

The Tigers' lead stretched to 7-2 in the third, but Monmouth responded with goals by Dylan Schulte, Bryce Wasserman and Bloodgood to end the third quarter, before scoring the first two of the fourth to tie the game.

NOTES & QUOTES
"Princeton is a good team that made the plays when needed and found a way to get the job done today. We have to tip our cap to them and wish them luck the rest of the year. It was an intense and fun game to be a part of and our staff could not be any more proud of our guys for how hard we played and fought this afternoon. We overcame some adversity throughout the game and came back after being down following a tough first half. That's what makes this a difficult one to swallow. I thought overall we did a lot of really good things for an opening game and were a few plays away from being on the other side of the loss."
- Head Coach Brian Fisher

- Monmouth hit the post twice (Chris Hervada, Zach Clemente) and Hunter Jones hit the crossbar in the game.
- Hervada earned the start and became the first freshman to start a season opener on defense for the Hawks since Andrew Grajewski and Ryan Atkinson started in Monmouth's first game against UMBC.
- Rudy Beck, Noah Lode, Brock Anderson Casey Kimmel and Shaun Napolitano each made their Monmouth debuts.
- Monmouth is now 1-3 all-time against ranked opponents.
- The Hawks fell to 2-4 all-time in overtime games.
- Monmouth's 10-game regular season winning streak was snapped with the loss.
- Monmouth is now 2-3 in season openers and 3-2 in road opening games.
- The game was the first between Monmouth and Princeton and the first for the Hawks against an Ivy League opponent.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
- Monmouth set a program record for shots (57), 10 more than its previous high, which happened twice.
- The Hawks were perfect on clear attempts (20-for-20).
- Monmouth was 2-for-5 on man-up situations and Princeton went 1-for-3.
- Bryce Wasserman extended his team-best points streak to 17 games with three goals.
- Wasserman passed Chris Daly '17 on Monmouth's all-time scoring list and became the first player in program history to reach the 100-point milestone. He now has 101 career points (68 G, 33 A).
- Wasserman is Monmouth's all-time leader after recording his ninth-career hat trick.
- Noah Lode started in goal and made 10 saves, the most for a Monmouth goalie in his collegiate debut.
- Hunter Jones set a new career-high in points (2 G, 1 A) and scored twice in a game for the second time in his career.
- Dan Bloodgood scored twice to increase his career total to 41 goals, the fourth-most in MU history.
- Chris Hervada and Dillon Smart each picked up six ground balls to lead Monmouth.
- Keegan Teluk went 9-for-17 at the faceoff X.

UP NEXT
Monmouth will play a midweek contest against Wagner on Wednesday afternoon. Opening faceoff in Staten Island, NY is scheduled for 3 p.m.