Christian Cook expected to face one of the toughest assignments of his lacrosse career last Saturday in the men's lacrosse team's game against Harvard. And he did – for a quarter.
Cook, a senior defenseman, matched up one-on-one with Harvard's star attackman Mike Ferucci for the majority of the game. But Cook and the rest of the Princeton defense shut down Ferucci so well in the first quarter that Harvard coach Scott Anderson decided the offense would work better without Cook and Ferucci involved in the action. So Anderson had Ferucci stand away from the play on the edges of the restraining box for the rest of the game.
The nature of Cook's assignment didn't change much – he still played right in Ferucci's face. It just became a lot easier.
"I stood right there with him the whole game," Cook said, chuckling. "It was an exciting time, I'll tell you."
Twilight zone
The strange events of last Saturday afternoon were the result of a decision made earlier that week by Princeton head coach Bill Tierney. Tierney has known about Ferucci's abilities since he was a freshman in 1995. But after attending Harvard's 13-8 defeat of Brown April 8, in which Ferucci tallied four goals and three assists, Tierney acquired a new appreciation for the senior's talents.
Tierney decided to implement a seldom-used defensive scheme to neutralize Ferucci. Instead of using a six-man slide package, Cook would shadow Ferucci closely and the rest of the Princeton defenders would use a five-man slide.
The Tigers (6-1 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) hadn't played such a defensive scheme for several years, but they often work on the five-man slide in practice, making Saturday's adjustment less difficult.
"When we play six-on-six we have specific slide packages that we use," Cook said. "We generally slide from the crease and that's what we're used to doing. Whereas when we play with only five players, we usually slide from the nearest man, and it changes the dynamics of the defense entirely.
"It's not something we're used to doing, but it's something the guys did really well."
Suffocate
If the purpose of the defensive plan was to stifle Ferucci, then the Tigers did well indeed. The six foot, three inch, 215-pound attackman entered the game ranked in the top 10 among Division I players in points per game and goals per game, but he could not muster any points against the Tigers, only taking two shots.
Cook – who stands at 6-0, 195 pounds – got a lot of help from his fellow defensemen as they frustrated Ferucci in the first quarter. As one of the fastest players on the Princeton team, Cook was able to stick with Ferucci wherever he went.
After the Crimson finally gave up on getting Ferucci the ball in front of the goal and moved him to the outside, Cook went with him. The result was one of the strangest scenes in Division I lacrosse this season: one of the best attackmen in the country guarded closely by perhaps the best defenseman in the country – both standing apart from the action.
Knows the feeling
Tierney can sympathize with Anderson and the Crimson. In 1994, Princeton opponents would concentrate their efforts on attackman Kevin Lowe '94, forcing Tierney to experiment with many different offensive strategies.
"It's tough to figure out what to do," Tierney said. "So you try all sorts of things and just hope one of them works."
Last Saturday, it was the Tigers' defensive scheme that worked. And what was supposed to be a tough day for Christian Cook didn't turn out so bad after all.
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