Croddick, Zone Defense Fuel Princeton’s Memorial Day Masterpiece

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Princeton’s immediate move upon falling behind three goals early in Monday’s NCAA title game was to switch to a zone defense, the better to ensure goalie Ryan Croddick had the time to have a good look at Notre Dame’s shots.

By the time the Tigers went back to man defense in the second half, they were well on their way to a championship.

Croddick made 13 saves to lock down tournament most outstanding player honors as Princeton earned a 16-9 victory before 24,061 at Scott Stadium.

The senior joined Scott Bacigalupo (1992 and 1994) and Corey Popham (1998) as Tiger goalies to earn a most outstanding player nod.

“I know he’s always in a good headspace going into the games and he’s holding it down there for us,” Princeton attackman Chad Palumbo said. “I know when Ryan’s seeing the ball, this team feels unstoppable. He’s the energy and the pulse of the entire defense.”

Palumbo and teammates Colin Burns, Nate Kabiri and Tucker Wade joined Croddick on the all-tournament team. Notre Dame’s Shawn Lyght, Thomas Ricciardelli and Josh Yago, Duke’s Benn Johnston and Syracuse’s Finn Thomson were also honored.

As thoroughly as Princeton controlled things for much of the afternoon, things actually seemed harrowing as the Fighting Irish darted to a 3-0 lead.

Coach Matt Madalon figured to deploy a zone against Notre Dame’s second midfield. But after calling timeout with 10:11 left in the first quarter, he made the call to use it more prominently.

“We actually thought we had a good game plan just to gauge their athleticism and speed,” Madalon said. “They just came out with more pop than we expected. We felt they were getting too close to Croddick, the looks were too clean. We knew we had it in our back pocket.”

While the Tigers’ offense plied Notre Dame with almost ceaseless pressure, the Irish couldn’t find any success as Princeton eventually tied it and then zoomed away. The Tigers rattled off the next 11 goals, and Notre Dame’s scoring drought eventually reached 26:13 before Will Angrick scored 62 seconds into the third quarter.

More tellingly, Notre Dame’s attack unit didn’t find the net again until Luke Miller’s man-up goal with 4:54 left in the third quarter.

“We prepared all year to go with the zone,” Croddick said. “We haven’t had to use it much lately but we just had trust in our guys. Zone slows them down a little bit. They’re a super-athletic team, so the game started to move a little bit slower. It was very helpful for us.”

Croddick stopped 12 of the last 18 shots on goal, a stellar cap to both his weekend and his final collegiate season. He made 20 saves in Saturday’s 14-7 rout of Duke, the first player to reach that total in a semifinal since Maryland’s Brian Dougherty had 23 in 1995.

The season began with a rough day for both the Tigers and Croddick against Penn State. But the goalie stuffed Elijah Stobaugh with two seconds remaining the next week to preserve a 13-12 victory at Maryland, and the table was set for a season that earned him a share of the Kelly Award as the nation’s top goalie.

After the first two games, Croddick slipped below 50 percent just twice, in a mid-March loss to Cornell and a quarterfinal rematch with Penn State.

And while he was not selected in the Premier Lacrosse League draft last month, Madalon is optimistic Croddick will be heard from again after managing a .673 save percentage on Memorial Day weekend.

“Size, twitchiness, eye-hand [coordination], ball control,” Madalon said. “He’s one of the best I’ve been around. The pro game’s hard to crack and there’s not that many pro teams and there’s a lot of great goalies. He should be up there. He should be in those ranks.”