Young, injured men's lacrosse surges to NCAA finals

Syracuse vs. Virginia.

It was the matchup that every men's lacrosse fan had been waiting for — a rematch of the 1999 national championship game and a clash between the top two seeds of the 2000 tournament.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Memorial Day showdown between the Orangemen and Cavaliers. Virginia — the defending national champion — ran into a young, hungry team with a coach who knows how to win in May.

On the slippery grass of Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md., on May 27, Princeton (13-4) threw a wrench into the entire college lacrosse season, stunning the Cavaliers, 12-11. After trailing through almost the entire contest, the Tigers came up with the game's final three goals and then held on for dear life as Virginia's Jay Jalbert's desperation shot sailed wide.

Although Princeton was soundly defeated by Syracuse, 13-7, in the national final May 29, the images of the Virginia game will not soon be forgotten.

"We've had a lot of great moments at Princeton." head coach Bill Tierney said, after his team advanced to the NCAA championship game for an amazing sixth time in nine years. "Because of the perserverence of this team, this one ranks right up there."

Indeed, all season long, the Tigers had battled not only the naysayers who proclamed them too young to do any real damage, but crucial injuries — such as a torn knee ligament that sidelined attackman B.J. Prager '02 on April 22. Prager had been Princeton's leading goal-scorer, but the Tigers refused to fold.

Strong start

An impressive victory in Princeton's season-opener at Johns Hopkins on March 4 was the first sign that the critics — who claimed that Princeton's youth would be its downfall — were wrong. Such a downfall would never occur as the Tigers' younger players became some of their best.

No defensive player for the Tigers had ever started a single game at defense in college before this season, but the young starting squad of Ryan Mollett '01, Scott Farrell '02 and Damien Davis '03 would develop into one of the Tigers' greatest strengths. On the offensive end, freshmen and sophomores accounted for 56.8 percent (92 of 162 goals) of the team's scoring, while Matt Striebel '01 led the team in assists.

After losing to Virginia in their second game, 15-8, the Tigers reeled off seven straight wins, the last of which was the most important of the regular season for several reasons. In beating Cornell 9-5, Princeton accomplished its primary goal for the season — winnning its sixth straight Ivy League title.

"The Ivy League championship is always our first goal, and it's always special," midfielder Chris Berrier '00 said.

The win pushed the Tigers' Ivy record to 5-0, and they would finish the year 6-0, stretching their Ivy win streak to 31 games. However, the victory over the Big Red came at quite a cost as Princeton lost Prager that same afternoon.

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With the loss of Prager, Princeton had only one remaining proven scorer — Josh Sims '00, perhaps the best midfielder in the country over the last three years. Sims became the all-time leading goal-scorer among midfielders at Princeton during the year, finishing his career with 103 goals. He was named Ivy League player of the year and first-team All-America.

In truth, the loss of Prager only increased the importance of the new game plan that Tierney had been attempting to install all season. After the Tigers' early-season loss to Virginia, the Princeton coach had lamented his team's lack of patience on offense. Never again, he vowed, would the Tigers rush as many shots as they did against the Cavaliers. Prager's injury made this new strategy all the more crucial.

In that national semifinal against the Cavaliers, the discipline that Tierney had instilled helped the Tigers score a stunning upset. Down 9-7 in the fourth quarter, Princeton took advantage of two careless clearances by Virginia goaltender Derek Kenney and three consecutive Cavalier penalties — eventually taking the lead on a goal by attackman Brendan Tierney '02 with 2:05 to play.

Then, it was up to the Tiger defense to hang on and, in a microcosm of Princeton's entire season, that unit bent, but would not break in the closing seconds.