|
|
Vol. LXIV, No. 9
|
|
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
|
|
|
|
Vol. LXIV, No. 9
|
|
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
|
(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
FOUR WHEELING: Princeton University men’s lacrosse junior attacker Chris McBride heads up the field on his way to a four-goal performance in Princeton’s 17-14 win over Hofstra in the season opener for both teams. The sixth-ranked Tigers head to Baltimore this Saturday to play No. 5 Johns Hopkins (3-0) in the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic at M and T Bank Stadium. |
The eyes of the lacrosse world were on Chris Bates last Saturday as he coached his first game for the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team after succeeding the legendary Bill Tierney.
With Tierney’s surprise move to the University of Denver last June having been the the top story in the offseason, the heat was on Bates as the Tigers took the field to host Hofstra in the season opener for both teams.
Princeton junior attacker Chris McBride and his teammates were determined to show the crowd on hand at a chilly Class of ’52 Stadium and the ESPNU television audience that they could prosper under the new leadership.
Things didn’t get off to a good start for senior forward Mark Magnowski and his classmates on the Princeton University men’s hockey team as they played their final regular season weekend at Hobey Baker Rink.
On Friday night, Princeton fell 7-4 to fourth-ranked Yale, squandering a 4-1 lead as the Bulldogs reeled off six unanswered goals.
The loss left the Tigers in a dogfight for eighth place in ECAC Hockey and home ice for the upcoming playoffs. Ninth-place Princeton needed to win its regular season finale against Brown and then hope that Harvard lost later that night to St. Lawrence.
It was not just the end of the season when the Princeton High girls swim team fell to Haddonfield in the Public B state semifinals last week, it was the end of an era for the program.
With senior captain Rachel Boyce wrapping up her PHS career, it marked the final chapter in her family’s long history with PHS swimming.
Based on her rocky freshman season with the Princeton Day School girls’ basketball team in 2006-07, Raquel Phillips didn’t have a lot of confidence in the program’s future prospects.
“Coming down the court as a freshman point guard, I never saw a winning season when we were losing games by 50,” said Phillips, noting that the team went 6-15 that season.
This winter, Phillips has seen things come full circle as the Panthers piled up win after win and brought an 18-5 record into the state Prep B championship game at Gill St. Bernard’s last Wednesday.
Paris McLean was concerned that his Princeton Day School boys’ basketball team might experience some jitters when it hit the big stage of the Mercer County Tournament semifinals.
McLean’s fears were realized last Saturday night as the 12th-seeded Panthers faced rival and top-seeded Pennington in the semis last Saturday at a packed Mercer County Community College gymnasium.
Looking tight, PDS dug itself a 9-2 hole in the first three minutes of the contest.