FINAL SCORE
#18/RV Princeton 22 (1-0)
Monmouth 6 (0-1)

PRINCETON, NJ –  No. 18 Princeton never trailed in a 22-6 victory over the Monmouth University men's lacrosse team in the season opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Sherrerd Field.

The Tigers had a 2-0 lead before back-to-back goals from Cade Stratton and Connor Macrae tied the score. Princeton responded with a 7-1 run surrounding Luke Cole's first-career goal. Monmouth trimmed the deficit to 9-5 with goals by David Cormack and Max Brooks before Princeton took a 10-5 advantage into halftime.

Princeton controlled the second half and outscored the Hawks 12-1 after intermission.

NOTES & QUOTES
"It was a tough day for us overall. Princeton is very good and made a lot of plays on the day but also took advantage of our mistakes. We had some positive moments throughout the game and some things to build on for sure, but have to play a cleaner game to give us a chance. At the end of the day we saw a lot of young guys get their first action of their careers which will help us later in the season, but we have to play smarter against good teams.  Every time we got some momentum going we had a self-inflicted mistake that cost us."
- Head Coach Brian Fisher

- Monmouth is 4-5 all-time in season opening games.
- The Hawks are 4-5 in road openers.
- Monmouth fell to 1-8 all-time against ranked opponents.
- The Hawks are 1-4 on the road against ranked teams.
- Monmouth fell to 0-4 all-time against Princeton, including 0-3 on the road.
- Monmouth is 6-7 all-time against New Jersey opponents.
- Devin Pipher and Chase Fairbanks made their first-career starts in their Monmouth debuts.
- Luke Cole, Nick Teets, Jack Staker, Sean Ketchen, Terrance Lacewell, Will Brimhall, Lance Martineau, Braeden Allen, collegiate debuts for the Hawks.
- The Hawks wore their white helmets with midnight blue jerseys and white shorts.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
- Cade Stratton led Monmouth with a goal and an assist. Stratton has 33 career goals and 24 career assists for 57 points.
- Max Brooks scored his 24^th career goal.
- David Cormack scored his 16^th career goal.
- Connor Macrae netted his 15^th career goal.
- Garrett Klurman's second half goal was the third of his career.
- Luke Cole scored his first-career goal for the Hawks.
- Stratton and Sean Ketchen each contributed assists in the loss. It was Ketchen's first-career point.
- Noah Lode finished with 12 saves in goal for Monmouth.
- Andrew Kuhlman made his debut in goal for Monmouth and played the final 10:40. Kuhlman made two saves.
- Matt Soutar went 14-for-31 at the faceoff X and picked up six ground balls.
- Jack Gertie collected four ground balls in the game.
- Cade Stratton and Chase Fairbanks each caused two turnovers to lead the Hawks.
- Faceoffs favored Princeton 18-14 and ground balls were 40-32 in favor of the Tigers.

NEXT UP
Monmouth returns to action next Saturday, February 26 when it travels to Delaware to challenge the Blue Hens. Game time is set for 12 p.m. and it will be broadcast on FloLive.