OPENING SALVO: Princeton University men’s lacrosse player Alex Slusher races upfield last Saturday as Princeton hosted Monmouth in its season opener. Playing its first game since March 2020 after that season got halted due to the global pandemic and the 2021 campaign was canceled due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, Princeton rolled to a 22-6 victory over the Hawks. Junior attackman Slusher contributed five goals and an assist in the win. The Tigers, now ranked 20th nationally, were slated to host Binghamton on February 22 before playing at No. 1 Maryland in February 26. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Gusts howled through Class of 1952 Stadium early Saturday afternoon as the wind chill plummeted to the 20s and a snow squall eventually blew in, but Alex Slusher was perfectly comfortable.

With the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team hitting the field to host Monmouth for its first game since March 2020 after that season got halted due to the global pandemic and the 2021 campaign was canceled due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, Tiger junior attackman Slusher and his teammates were thrilled to be out in the cold.

“It was pretty crazy, getting to step on the field, we were just excited,” said Slusher.

“We missed it a lot. We have been talking  about this since March 10 that year or whatever day that was. That is what made it even more special. We were here all spring last year with no games. There were literally 20 of us, freshmen and sophomores, practicing on our own, going and watching Michael Sowers (former Princeton star who graduated in 2020) play for Duke on the weekends. I love playing with this team and it was fun more than anything.”

After a sluggish start as the Tigers shook off some rust and worked through the emotions of the day, Princeton started clicking, outscoring the Hawks 6-3 in the second quarter to build a 10-5 halftime lead.

“We are best when we share the ball and we really started to do that in the second quarter,” said Slusher, who tallied four goals and an assist in the first half. “That is what coach Mitchell (offensive coordinator Jim Mitchell) always says. If we share the ball, play unselfish and move the rock, good things are going to happen.”

Some really good things happened in the third quarter for the Tigers as they went on a 9-0 run to turn the game into a rout on the way to a 22-6 victory.

“I was mostly just focused on beating my guy,” said Slusher, who added another goal on the day to end up with a career-high five. “If I am open, I shoot it. If I am not, it is move the ball.”

Having played midfield in his debut campaign in 2020, Slusher has moved back to attack this season.

“I played attack for really my whole life until I got here for my freshman year,” said Slusher, a 5’9, 180-pound native of Portland, Ore. who tallied seven goals and an assist in 2020.

“We had a pretty special player (Sowers, who tallied a program-record 302 points) playing at X. I was just lucky to be on the field with him. Now, I am playing back in my natural position.”

Slusher soaked up a lot from being on the field with Sowers.

“I was able to learn a ton from watching him play at X,” said Slusher. “I am taking a lot of the stuff that he taught all of us and improving on that but also understanding that this is a new group. We are going to have to win in different ways.”

With Slusher forming a potent one-two punch on attack with senior star Chris Brown, that should help Princeton win a lot of games this spring.

“Chris is an awesome senior leader,” said Slusher of Brown who had three goals and four assists in the opener.

“He is tough, he is good with the ball, he has been here before. It is really nice for me to have someone experienced who I can count on.”

It is nice for the Tigers to have a lot of talent supporting the attack unit.

“We have a lot of athletes in the middle of the field with guys like Beau Pederson, Jake Stevens, and Andrew Song,” said Slusher. “They make a lot of plays and it makes it easy on the attack. I think our biggest strength this year is strength in numbers. We have so many dudes, we can win in a bunch of different ways. I think we might have showed that a little bit today.”

Princeton head coach Matt Madalon knows that he has a lot of weapons at his disposal with his 50-man squad.

“It is the most depth we have ever had so practices are uber-competitive,” said Madalon. “When you have the opportunity to play on game day, it is unbelievable.”

As the Tigers played their first game since 2020, things were a little frantic early on.

“We had all the energy of not playing a game in a thousand days or whatever that was,” said Madalon. “We were playing intense, going rogue from our systems a little bit. It just took us a minute to settle in and play Princeton lacrosse.”

The Tigers displayed a high-octane brand of lacrosse as a number of players produced multi-goal games in addition to Slusher and Brown with Christian Ronda tallying five, Stevens chipping in three, and Alex Vardaro, Tommy Barnds, and Coulter Mackesy contributing two apiece.

“You see the movement of the ball a little bit, we took care of the ball a little more,” said Madalon.

“I think some of those guys were able to execute and make some simple plays. That was our message coming out of it as a coaching staff — execute simple plays, let the ball do the work.”

Madalon credited Slusher with being a catalyst for the Tigers.

“He has shown a lot of growth, he did a good job down there,” said Madalon of Slusher. “He executed on some plays, he made a handful of mistakes too. He was awesome today.”

The Tigers executed on offense across the board. “Ronda played a couple of minutes for us in years past; this was his first game in a primary role and he did an awesome job,” said Madalon.

“Brown was terrific. Tommy Barnds starting his first game in attack did a really good job solidifying that unit down there. Stevens off the wing is such a weapon, he did an outstanding job.”

At the other end of the field, the Tigers looked sharp as well. Senior star defender George Baughan had three ground balls and three caused turnovers while senior goalie Erik Peters made nine saves.

“The defense clamped it down, it took Peters a minute to settle down and once he did, he did a good job,” said Madalon. “We played a handful of guys, we rotated some guys through. Jacob Stoebner and Colin Mulshine came off the bench and played valuable minutes and did a really nice job. Ben Finlay and Pace Billings were also terrific.”

With the Tigers, now ranked 20th nationally, slated to host Binghamton on February 22 before playing at No. 1 Maryland in February 26, Madalon is looking for his players keep doing a good job.

“For us this is just get back, get playing games again and get all of the nervous energy out from not having played in a while,” said Madalon. “Now it is on. We have to keep building on Tuesday with Binghamton. We want to play the best schedule that we can.”

In Slusher’s view, the Tigers are primed to build on their performance against Monmouth.

“I think we can all say pretty confidently that we missed this a lot and being out here with all of the fans, even with the weather,” said Slusher. “It was really fun being here last spring and practicing with 20 guys but playing games against other teams is awesome. It is definitely a confidence builder but we have practice tomorrow and we have to play well. We have a game on Tuesday and then Maryland on Saturday.”