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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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Princeton Men's Lax Makes Wrong Kind of History As 17-4 Loss to Cornell Ends Ivy, NCAA Streaks
By Bill Alden
It was an interesting tidbit in the media notes for the Princeton University men's lacrosse season opener against Johns Hopkins.
Flipping to the "By the Numbers" section, a reader would have learned that the Tigers came into the season having won 10 straight Ivy League titles and that no Ivy program in any sport had ever accomplished the feat of winning 11 straight league crowns.
That statistical footnote now takes on an ominous tone in light of last Saturday's events in Ithaca, N.Y. which saw the Tigers suffer a 17-4 rout at the hands of sixth-ranked Cornell to get officially eliminated from the both the 2005 Ivy race and the upcoming NCAA tourney.
In becoming the ninth Ivy program to fail to capture title No. 11, Princeton slipped to 3-7 overall and 2-2 in Ivy play while the rampaging Big Red improved to 8-2 overall and 5-0 in Ivy play, sewing up at least a share of the league title.
In reflecting on the shattering setback which saw Princeton get outshot 62-21, Tiger head coach Bill Tierney acknowledged that his club ran into a buzzsaw.
"Definitely all credit goes to Cornell," said Tierney, who got two goals from Peter Trombino and one apiece from Mike Gaudio and Scott Sowanick. "They shot the ball very well. We were hurt again by not winning face-offs or making saves. We had five shots on goal in the first quarter and made one, they had eight and scored six. They put pressure on you."
The Tigers trailed 6-1 after the first period and 10-2 at the half. Things didn't get any better after the break as Princeton found itself down 15-3 by the end of the third quarter. The Big Red had a 34-17 edge in face-offs and forced 18 Princeton turnovers.
With Princeton not headed to post-season play after 15 straight appearances in the NCAA tournament, Tierney is going to put some pressure on his charges as they finish the season by hosting Dartmouth on April 30 and Brown on May 7.
"I'm looking to see how much heart we have," asserted Tierney with his voice rising. "I won't accept quitting and I don't think our guys will either. We're going into these games looking to win, we want the seniors to go out on a high note."
Tierney is hoping that the returning players will use this spring's frustration as a springboard towards a productive offseason.
"The fact that we had such a disappointing season has to be motivation," said Tierney, whose 2004 club advanced to the NCAA Final Four.
"The kids who are coming back have the character to rebound from this and I think the kids coming in as freshmen have that kind of character."
The Hall of Fame coach acknowledged that he was perplexed by how badly things went this spring. "The difference in this year's team and last year's team was only three or four players," explained Tierney, although one of the graduated players was the gifted playmaker Ryan Boyle who ended his Tiger career with 232 points.
"It is surprising that we didn't come close to what we did last year. Just because a player is a year older, doesn't mean that he is a better player."
The process of getting better will start with the final two games on the schedule. "The kids need to work hard and learn from their disappointment, I think they will," said Tierney, whose career record at Princeton is 195-68 with his last losing season coming way back in 1989 when Princeton went 6-8. "The goal right now is to beat Dartmouth and Brown."
In assessing what went wrong this spring, Tierney doesn't spare himself from blame. "Things start at the top," said Tierney. "Kids win games, coaches lose them. I didn't do a good job. This team has the talent to be a lot better than 3-7. Whatever I was doing with this group didn't work. I need to motivate better."
As a result, Tierney is planning for a busy offseason. "Believe me, [associate head coach] Dave Metzbower and I are not going to sit back and say this was bad luck," vowed Tierney. "We're going to look at the films of each game and review every minute and every player. We're going to figure out what we need to do."
In view of Tierney's stellar track record, he is likely to find a way to make this season's disappointing mark end up being a statistical aberration.
