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Vol. LXIII, No. 7
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Wednesday, February 18, 2009
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Vol. LXIII, No. 7
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Wednesday, February 18, 2009
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(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
MID-RANGE BOMBER: Princeton University men’s lacrosse midfield star Mark Kovler races up the field in a 2008 game. Kovler, who missed the last month of the season due to a broken ankle, scored 16 goals and was named as an honorable mention All-American. Kovler and the Tigers will return to the action this Saturday when they start their 2009 season by hosting Canisius. |
Last spring, the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team struggled to find an identity as it played inconsistently and lost its final two games to miss out on the NCAA tournament.
As the Tigers prepare for their 2009 season opener this Saturday against visiting Canisius, Princeton head coach Bill Tierney likes the personality this year’s squad has been exuding.
“It’s a team that is still in the development stages and the games could alter things but in my 22 years of coaching at Princeton, this is the most fun group I have ever had to work with,” said Tierney, whose 2008 team went 7-6 overall and 4-2 in Ivy League play, finishing the season with losses to Dartmouth and Brown.
On paper, it looked like the Princeton University women’s squash team was a virtual lock to win the Howe Cup national team title last weekend at Harvard.
Princeton had won the last two national titles and came into the weekend undefeated and ranked No. 1.
But Princeton head coach Gail Ramsay knew her team was in for a dogfight.
Coming into last weekend’s Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) tournament, the Hun School boys’ basketball team had dropped four of its last six games and stood at a mediocre 9-13 on the season.
While the fourth-seeded Raiders didn’t seem like much of a threat to win the title in the MAPL competition which was being played at the Lawrenceville School, post-graduate guard Jon Lee believed that Hun was ready to apply the lessons it had learned over the course of its up-and-down season.
Even though the top-seeded Princeton High boys’ swimming team figured to cruise past No. 8 Rumson-Fair Haven last Thursday in the opening round of the Public B state tournament, PHS senior star Alex Zantal was pumped up for the meet.
“We have a really strong team this year, it’s the strongest we have looked in my four years,” said Zantal. “It is one to go out with a bang. There is a lot of spirit and talent on the team; I am excited about this tournament.”
Diamond Lewis made no effort to hide her excitement after the fourth-seeded Stuart Country Day basketball team edged No. 5 Princeton Day School in the opening round of the state Prep B tournament.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock last Wednesday in Stuart’s 48-44 victory, junior point guard Lewis flung the ball up to the rafters of the gym to start the post-game celebration.
With the Tartans having fallen to Great Road rival PDS a week earlier in a regular season contest, it was sweet for Lewis and her teammates to knock the Panthers out of the state tournament.