W. lax flourishes despite doomsday predictions

When we last left the women's lacrosse team last season, things weren't exactly looking up for the Tiger program. Princeton had just suffered an upset loss in overtime to Penn State. For the second consecutive season, the Tigers had come excruciatingly close to the Final Four, but would instead be on the outside looking in.

Adding to the misery were some sobering facts. Gone was attack Cristi Samaras '99, who is the program's all-time leader in goals, assists and points. Also graduating were attack Tice Burke '99 and indispensible defenders Jo Deans '99 and Lucy Small '99. It figured to be a while before the Tigers would contend for another Final Four appearance.

But someone forgot to tell Princeton.

Five-time defending champion Maryland is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in women's lacrosse. Among mere mortals, however, the 7-1 Tigers are looking up at no one. Despite losing eight standout seniors to graduation, Princeton is ranked No. 2 in the U.S.

Make no mistake about it, the women's lacrosse team is shaping up to be one of the most compelling stories of the spring season in Princeton athletics. In addition to their own strong record and lofty ranking, the Tigers have turned the rest of the Top 20 into little more than an impressive itinerary for the Y2K Princeton victory tour. So far this season, Princeton has defeated No. 3 Duke, No. 6 Georgetown, No. 8 Virginia, No. 16 Penn State and No. 17 Cornell.

So how are they doing it? How has Princeton managed to prosper despite the painful memories of last year's NCAA tournament and the graduation of some of the program's best players ever? They're doing it through a simple formula that seemingly any team could employ — but one that only Princeton seems able to perfect: Score early — and attack the opposition from all angles, with every player prepared to make a contribution on a given day.

The phrase "balanced scoring" is used all-too-often as a euphemism to describe a low-scoring team without any true superstars. Princeton, however, has defied that characterization by scoring 90 goals in its first eight games. The Tigers are actually ahead of last year's pace in the scoring department.

More important than the total number of goals, however, has been the variety of sources from which they have come. Shut down Kim Smith, and Lauren Simone will score four goals, like she did against Rutgers in the season-opener. Shut down Simone, and Charlotte Kenworthy will beat you, as she did in the second half of the Tigers' huge win over Virginia last Friday. Key on Kenworthy, and Kim Smith will pile up five goals, like she did against Penn State in Princeton's 19-8 rout March 25.

In the past, the Tigers would live and die with Samaras' heroics, but now, if one attack is well-defended, Princeton has a Plan B, a Plan C and a Plan D to counter with.

The newfound offensive diversity, however, is not the only reason the Tigers have been able to surprise the lacrosse world this year.

Early deficits in big games had become more the rule than the exception for Princeton over the last two years. In recent NCAA tournament games against Georgetown, Virginia and Penn State, Princeton fell behind 6-1, 4-1 and 6-3 early in those contests.

This year? Princeton has jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Rutgers, a 3-0 lead against Duke, a 5-1 lead against Georgetown and a 7-0 lead against Penn State. The days of needing desperation rallies late in games appear to be over.

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Conventional wisdom would suggest that little will change in the world of women's lacrosse this season. Maryland will win the NCAA tournament, as always, while the rest of the world fights for second place.

But there's a different sort of conventional wisdom that should also be taken into consideration. It says that when a team owns the first halves of games like Princeton has and gets contributions from everyone on the field, than no opponent is safe, not even mighty Maryland.

Call them overachievers if you want — the Tigers weren't expected to be in this position eight games into the season. But call them one more thing while you're at it. Call them contenders.