Midway through Ivy slate, men's lax heads to Brown

In the last three games, their opponents have scored a total of 14 goals. During that same stretch, they have averaged 14 goals per game. The team they are playing next is in the Ivy League, and not a single member of the men's lacrosse team has ever lost an Ivy League game.

Now they just have to get out there and get motivated.

Such is challenge Princeton must face this week as it prepares to take the field Saturday against Brown in Providence, R.I. Despite the benefits of the Tigers' (5-1 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) recent roll, the game presents a dangerous scenario in which the stakes are high.

This year, for the first time, the NCAA has awarded four automatic tournament bids to the winners of four conferences — America East, the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the Patriot League and the Ivy League. While this offers Princeton a chance at a certain entry, the consequences of losing in the Ivy League have become greater.

There are only twelve spots in the NCAA lacrosse tournament. One goes to a "Western Qualifier" to ensure that the tournament is not exclusively an East Coast affair. The four automatic bids leave room for only seven at-large teams. Considering the strength of the remaining schools whose conferences cannot get automatic bids, such as No. 1 Syracuse, No. 2 Virginia and No. 3 Loyola, the odds of being selected at-large are considerably lower than in years past. Should the Tigers fail to win their sixth straight Ivy League title, the possibility of reaching the tournament would be more remote than their boosters would like.

This danger has both players and coaches wary.

"Not at all [are we complacent], because this year we have an automatic qualifier," sophomore attackman B. J. Prager said.

"In the past, if you beat Hopkins or Virginia or Hofstra, you were in," head coach Bill Tierney said. "You didn't feel this apple in your throat every time."

Enter Brown — playing the role of potential spoiler. Potential is the key word for the Bears, who also have the ability to be either very good or atrociously bad.

Brown (4-3, 1-0) lost its first game of the year to Denver, a team that is currently not even in the "Others receiving votes" column of the most recent United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association coaches' poll. On the other hand, the Bears were capable of dropping then No. 5 Duke, 10-9, March 18 — one of only two Blue Devil losses on the year.

To handle this Bear team, Tierney expects to try to get the ball in the stick of senior midfielder Josh Sims and junior attackman Matt Striebel more often. Against Penn on Tuesday, Sims, the team's scoring leader, and Striebel, second to Sims in assists, had no goals and only one assist each.

"I don't think we played great offensively the other day, especially in light of not getting any goals from Josh Sims," Tierney said. "If you think of Sims and Striebel being your top two scorers, you've got to get them the ball."

Stepping up

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In the upperclassmen's stead, Prager has spearheaded the Tigers' offense in the last two contests, scoring four goals against both Yale and Penn.

He makes his living on his ability to catch and shoot with extraordinary efficiency, particularly with quickstick shots, in which catching and throwing are combined into one motion. Princeton has often been most effective when Striebel feeds Prager from behind the net, and the sophomore flips the ball into the goal in the lacrosse equivalent of an alley-oop.

"We're running the same offense," Prager said. "I feel like people have been looking for me more."