Men's lax earns rematch with Virginia in NCAA final four

During the course of the regular season, freshmen and sophomores scored the majority of the goals for Princeton's youthful men's lacrosse team. Having never won an NCAA tournament game in their brief careers, however, these Tiger cubs relied on the play of their elders — namely a junior and senior — to carry them to victory in the quarterfinals.

May 20 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, No. 3 seed Princeton (11-2) defeated No. 6 Maryland (11-5), 10-7, to earn its fourth trip to the final four in the past five years. The Tigers will face No. 2 Virginia (14-1) in the semifinals this weekend in College Park, Md.

"We felt like we were playing a heck of a team out there today," Princeton head coach Bill Tierney said. "[Maryland] was a big, strong, physical team. I can't say enough about the way our kids played tight and tough on defense and smart and opportunistic on offense."

In the early going, the Terrapins turned up the heat on the Tiger defense. Just one minute, 22 seconds into the game, Maryland swung the ball around the perimeter and fired a shot on goal, only to be denied by junior Trevor Tierney, Princeton's goaltender, who leads the nation with a .656 save percentage. The Terrapins did manage to find the back of the net with 12:04 remaining in the opening quarter when midfielder Brian Zeller split a double team and fired a left hand shot during an extra man opportunity.

Princeton weathered the early storm on the defensive end, however, and then looked to its veterans on the offensive side to take the lead away from Maryland. Senior captain and midfielder Josh Sims — who was the 2000 Ivy League Player of the Year — provided the equalizer when he wrapped a shot around a double-team with 9:47 left in the quarter. Sims is the only remaining Tiger who started the 1998 National Championship game against Maryland.

Ahead to stay

A heads-up play by junior attackman Matt Striebel four minutes later put Princeton on top, permanently. An errant Maryland pass from behind the Princeton goal rolled toward the midfield line and an awaiting melee of Tiger attackmen and Terrapin defenders unable to cross because of the offsides rule. Striebel slyly lifted the six-foot shaft of a Maryland defenseman, allowing the ball to roll over the line. Striebel then scooped up the ball, absorbed some contact from the long sticks, and sprinted toward the goal. With all three Terrapins gunning for him, Striebel found freshman attackman Sean Hartofilis wide open on the far side of the goal. Hartofilis reached high into the air and redirected the pass into the goal in one motion — a quickstick in lacrosse jargon.

Either Sims or Striebel was involved in Princeton's first five goals, as the Ivy League champions took a 6-2 lead into intermission. The dynamic duo — the only Tigers to record a point in all 12 regular season games — each finished the contest with two goals and two assists.

Making their performance all the more important was the absence of sophomore attackman and leading goal-scorer B.J. Prager, who suffered a season-ending knee injury April 22 against Cornell. Without Prager — who had scored 16 goals in the 16 quarters prior to his injury — Princeton has looked to other sources for goal production.

"We've lost a little bit of our crease game since B.J. is such a great finisher," Striebel said. "But we have Sean [Hartofilis] and [sophomore attackman] Brendan [Tierney], both playing really well, getting into open spots and finishing. You miss a lot when a guy like B.J. goes down but [we have] plenty of guys who can step up, and so far they've been doing it."