AUSTIN POWER: Princeton University men’s lacrosse player Austin Sims heads upfield in recent action. Last Saturday, sophomore midfielder Sims tallied his first college hat trick and added two assists in a losing cause as Princeton fell 20-10 to Penn in the Ivy League opener for both teams. Princeton, now 2-4 overall and 0-1 Ivy, plays at No. 3 Yale (6-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy) on March 26. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

During his freshman season with the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team in 2015, Austin Sims tallied just two assists, assuming a shortstick defensive midfielder role.

Getting moved to the second midfield this spring, Sims has emerged as a scoring threat for Princeton, piling up eight goals in the team’s first six games, second most goals on the team.

“The biggest area of progress for me this year has been learning the offense and just getting chemistry with the guys up there,” said Sims, a 6’1, 185-pound native of Fairfield, Conn. “I am really just trying to learn from them and coach Madalon (offensive coordinator Matt Madalon).”

Last Saturday, Sims showed how much he has learned, tallying career highs with three goals and five points in a losing cause as Princeton fell 20-10 to Penn in the Ivy League opener for both teams.

Sims’ first tally got Princeton on the board as the Tigers trailed 2-1 in the early going.

“Ryan (Ambler) threw it across and Gavin (McBride) set a nice screen on his man for me to get my hands free,” recalled Sims. “I was lucky enough, I took a shot and scored.”

Penn did most of the scoring after that, going on a 7-0 run to seize control of the contest.

“After the first couple of minutes here, we didn’t respond that well and that happens,” said Sims. “We are going to try to come out next week and play way harder.”

Sims responded with a goal late in the first half as Princeton cut the Penn lead to 9-3 but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Quakers outscored the Tigers 5-3 in the third quarter.

“I definitely felt like we had some momentum going there but it was like at the beginning of the game, we had a little momentum and it went away from us,” said Sims, reflecting on the defeat which left the Tigers at 2-4 overall. “That is how the game went from there.”

Firing away to the end, Sims picked up a goal and two assists in the last five minutes of the contest to give him his first college hat trick and a career single-game best of five points.

“It is good to come out here after Rutgers, when I didn’t shoot the ball that well,” said Sims, who was held scoreless on six shots in the 10-7 win over the Scarlet Knights on March 14.

“My teammates put me in a good position to shoot and score and I was able to capitalize on the opportunities.”

Sims recently earned a great opportunity, making the United States U19 squad for the U19 Men’s Lacrosse World Championship, taking place this July in Coquitlam, British Columbia.

“Just knowing that you are going to represent your country this summer makes you want to help improve your skills as much as you can during the season for Princeton’s sake and for this summer,” said Sims.

“It means everything to represent my country and wear the stars and bars and get to play against all different types of people from different walks of life. It is really a dream come true.”

While the Penn game turned into a nightmare for Princeton, Tiger head coach Chris Bates saw Sims as a bright spot.

“Austin had a great week in practice; every week we challenge him to take the next steps and frankly he has,” said Bates.

“He is a sophomore, we are asking a lot of him early in his career, putting him under the microscope offensively and defensively. That’s a lot and he has responded and reacted well. He has been a bright spot for sure.”

Coming off the 10-7 win over Rutgers, Bates liked where his team was at headed into the Ivy opener.

“I felt we prepared well,” said Bates. “I felt Monday gave us a little bit of confidence and a little bit of energy but we certainly didn’t rise to the challenge today.”

After Princeton made it 2-1, Penn’s offense gained confidence as it reeled off seven straight goals, running roughshod over the Tigers.

“I give Penn credit, they came out and had a game plan,” said Bates. “One of the things that we wanted to stop, first and foremost, was their transition and early offense and we couldn’t stem that tide. I thought half-field defensively we were OK. Offensively, we took some bad shots and made some bad shooting decisions.”

Princeton scored the final two goals of the second quarter to draw within 9-3 at half and then tallied early in the third quarter to make it 9-4. The Quakers, though, responded with an 8-2 run and never looked back.

“We came out and scored the first goal on the extra man and the penalty was locked in so we had it again and we made a bad decision with the ball,” lamented Bates.

“We are too cavalier with the ball and that hurt us because it is great that you have an extra man opportunity but firing it to the inside and creating a turnover takes ball possession away from you. We didn’t get any kind of momentum and it is plays like that, those decisions are low percentage and come back to haunt you.”

Heading to No. 3 Yale (6-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy) on March 26, the Tigers are facing a great challenge.

“Given the strength of the rest of the league, week in, week out, we are going to have our hands full,” said Bates.

“Like everybody else, we have to try to find ways to win Ivy League games. We are 0-1 in the Ivies with a lot of lacrosse to play. This one doesn’t feel good and we challenged the room to decide how it is going to define itself and get back to work. That is the only choice we have, nobody is quitting on March 20.”

Sims and his teammates aren’t giving up the ship. “I think we just really need to come together as a team and think about how we are going to respond, instead of just talking about it now,” said Sims.

“We need to take some direct action during practice this week and really figure out how we are going to come back against Yale next week and try to improve on our record.”