NET GAIN: Princeton University men’s lacrosse goalie Tyler Blaisdell guards the cage in recent action. Last Monday night, sophomore Blaisdell made 14 saves to help Princeton top No. 19 Rutgers 10-7. The Tigers, who snapped a three-game losing streak with the win, are now 2-3 and host Penn (3-2) on March 19 in the Ivy League opener for both teams. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

It was a brutal first minute for the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team when they hosted No. 11 Maryland last Saturday.

The Terps controlled the opening face-off as Austin Henningsen scooped up the ball and scored seven seconds into the contest. Some 46 seconds later, Maryland tallied again as Matt Rambo fired a shot past Princeton goalie Tyler Blaisdell.

That opening salvo set the tone as Maryland rolled to a 17-5 win over the Tigers.

A subdued Princeton head coach Chris Bates acknowledged that his team was on its heels from the start.

“We got punched between the eyes,” said Bates. “All week long we talked about getting ourselves into a settled half field. The disappointing thing is how we reacted as a team defense. We are just not urgent enough in communication. We are not playing together. We didn’t make Maryland work very hard for their goals. We didn’t cover the ball well, we didn’t follow our game plan particularly well … when they set picks at goal line; we wanted to double team them. It was little breakdowns and you can just tell we dig ourselves a ditch and it is hard to get our confidence back. You could feel it.”

On Monday evening, Princeton showed a lot more urgency and came away feeling better as it defeated No. 19 Rutgers 10-7. Sophomore goalie Blaisdell starred, making 14 saves to help the Tigers retain the Meistrell Cup, given to the winner of the local rivalry, and defeat the Scarlet Knights for the 28th time in 29 tries.

Looking ahead to the Rutgers game and the 95th meeting in the series, Bates believed his players had the right mentality to get on the winning track.

“These guys have worked hard and I like the locker room and I like the work ethic but we have got to turn words into actions,” said Bates, who got three goals from Ryan Ambler in the win over Rutgers with Zach Currier and Bobby Weaver chipping in two apiece as Princeton snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 2-3.

“These guys care but we just have to execute. The post game message was that you guys have to find a way together and hold each other to a higher level of accountability.”

With Princeton opening Ivy League play by hosting Penn (3-2) on March 19, the Tigers need to come together to make a league title run.

“We said throughout the week that the die isn’t set and the die will be set here in the next week to two weeks going into the Ivies,” noted Bates.

“We are at a critical juncture. We are going to help these guys react but each guy has a responsibility to the greater good here to do the right thing and stay on the path. I want us to play with confidence. This is a good team with talented guys; we need to start feeling good about our ability to execute.”