No. 3 Cal Easily Defeats No. 13 Princeton 16-4

The No. 13 ranked Princeton Tigers were attempting to show everyone that they were one of the nation's elite when they hosted No. 3 ranked California Golden Bears on Friday night, however that was not the case as Cal cruised to a 16-4 win. Cal was led by Collin Smith who scored eight goals on the evening.

Princeton looked tentative in the early going, and somewhat tentative. Cal took advantage of that and rushed out to a 3-0 lead during the first four minutes of the first quarter. Princeton finally got on the board when sophomore Drew Hoffenberg scored his only goal of the game on a penalty shot. Cal responded on their very next possession when Colin Mulcahy, and at the end of the first quarter Cal led 4-1.

Princeton would make it 4-2 early in the second quarter when Matt Weber, and that would be the closest Princeton would be all day. Cal ended up scoring the next fo ur goals to lead 8-2 at the half, and never looked back.

In the final two frames, Princeton was unable get anything going on offense, while Cal was taking advantage of every miscue that Princeton had. Cal was able to completely shut down Princeton's Hoffenberg who's only goal was a penalty shot in the first quarter.

This game has to be a wake up call for Princeton who is perceived to be the best team on the East Coast, but it also just shows that the top four or five schools are so far ahead of the rest of the country. All Princeton can do is learn from this and just work on getting better.

However, this weekend they get face a possible better team when they face No. 2 ranked UCLA Bruins on Sunday morning.

Replay of the game can be seen at ESPN3.

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