No. 1 University of California-Los Angeles Eludes No. 7 Princeton University in Overtime, 17-16, on First Day of 2024 Overnght MPSF Invitational
BERKELEY, Calif. — In a close battle on Day 1 of the Overnght Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Invitational, No. 7-ranked Princeton University forced the Bruins of No. 1 the University of California-Los Angeles to their limits in a 17-16 overtime loss.
The final result marks the closest contest between the two teams in the history of the series since their first meeting – a 23-5 Bruins’ win – on September 22, 1990 at UCLA. The Bruins claimed a trio of two-goal victories over Princeton in previous clashes with 12-10 (October 5, 2002; October 8, 2023) and 7-5 (December 4, 2004) wins.
The Tigers got on the board first with a quick goal from Gavin Appeldorn. Appeldorn went on to score three of Princeton’s first four goals of the game for an early hat trick.
Princeton ramped up the pressure in the second quarter with five goals from four different scorers. The score stood tied at eight-all after the first half.
Goals from Tas Palcza and Appeldorn created a two goal lead for Princeton to start the third quarter, but UCLA was able to get one back. Luke Johnston capitalized on a drawn ejection to put Princeton up by a pair at 11-9, but the Bruins scored with just over a minute left in the third quarter to set the stage for an intense fourth quarter.
UCLA scored two goals to start the quarter and take a 12-11 lead. Roko Pozaric collected a defensive steal and sent the ball to the back of the cage to the game at 12-all with 5:28 to play in regulation.
The Bruins added two more to their tally to take back the lead. However, George Caras and Pozaric matched the Bruins to before UCLA scored with 13 seconds remaining in regulation to take a 15-14 lead.
Using an extra player in the offensive attack, Princeton looked for the right shot and got it with a buzzer beater from Vladan Mitrovic to send the game into overtime.
In the first overtime period, UCLA took the lead, but Ádám Peocz squared the squads at 16-all heading into the second extra frame.
The second OT frame belonged to UCLA as Makoto Kenney scored the eventual game-winning goal at the 1:45 mark. The Bruins needed to hang on in the concluding 105 seconds of the game until Princeton’s final shot to extend the game missed off the crossbar.
For Princeton, Appeldorn and Pozaric led the way with four goals, while Mitrovic, Palcza and Peocz tacked on pairs to accompany solo markers by Caras and Johnson. Goalkeeper Kristóf Kovács made nine saves in taking the loss.
A total of eight Bruins scored in the contest, paced by 10 total points (six assists, four goals) and the first hat trick of the year for Kenney. Ryder Dodd also scored four goals and added one assist for five points. Frederico Jucá Carsalade posted a hat trick in his first game of the season, while Ben Larsen was the fourth Bruin to score multiple goals with two against the Tigers.
Garret Griggs got the start in the cage and went the distance, tallying 10 saves as the Bruins improved to 20-0 all-time against Princeton.
Information courtesy Princeton University & University of California-Los Angeles Athletics Communications
