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Princeton Men's Lax Opening NCAA Tourney With Jersey Rumble Against Visiting Rutgers
By Bill Alden
In early April, the Princeton University men's lacrosse team showed it had plenty of character when it rallied from a halftime deficit to edge local rival Rutgers by 9-7. This Saturday, Princeton will likely have to again tap into its reservoir of character as the Scarlet Knights come back to Class of 1952 bent on revenge as the teams meet in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
The Tigers, who have beaten Rutgers 15 times in a row and earned the sixth seed in the 16-team NCAA field, will look to add another stirring chapter to a glorious post-season history which has seen the program win six NCAA crowns since 1992 and make it to the national finals on two other occasions. While the upcoming Garden State rumble at high noon technically marks the start of the post-season, Princeton brought a play-off mentality into its regular season finale last Saturday at Brown.
"We believed we had to win that game to get into the tournament," said Princeton head coach Bill Tierney, whose club edged the Bears 9-6, improving to 9-3 overall and 5-1 in Ivy League and earning the program at least a share of the league title for the tenth year in a row as it ended tied with Cornell in the league race.
"Our first goal every year is to win the league. Our kids came into the game with that pressure and played well. A lot of programs have a goal of having their athletes graduate with one league title. We try to have our kids walk away with four."
Tierney acknowledged that his team wouldn't have walked away with a share of the title had it not been for the leadership shown by seniors Ryan Boyle, Ricky Schultz, and Drew Casino together with junior Jason Doneger.
³The older guys could¹ve said we¹ve already had our fun, we¹ve already got our title," asserted Tierney, who got four assists from Boyle and three goals from Doneger and a goal and an assist from Casino in the win over Brown. "Instead they took the leadership role seriously. The three seniors really matured as individuals."
The veterans have had some prolific freshmen to guide in Peter Trombino and Scott Sowanick. Trombino fired in four goals against Brown to extend his school record of scoring in the first 12 games of his Princeton career. Sowanick, for his part, chipped in a career-high four assists.
Tierney couldn't be happier with the progress of his two highly-touted young guns as Trombino has 20 goals and 11 assists while Sowanick has scored 21 points on 11 goals and 10 assists. "All the experience they've gotten and the way they've held up under the scrutiny bodes well for the future," added Tierney, who has also received important contributions from other freshmen such as Michael Biles, Zach Jungers, and former PHS star Whitney Hayes.
After going through one nailbiter after another this spring, the team has gotten experience in tight situations which should give it a boost in the pressure cooker atmosphere it will face in NCAA play.
"Our team has gotten used to the fact that they aren't going to blow anyone away and if they play well, they aren't going to get blown out," explained Tierney, whose club has won six of its last seven with five of those victories coming by a margin of three goals or less. "They know that every game in the tournament is going to be close."
Princeton knows it can't look past Rutgers (8-5) if it is going to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals for the fifth straight year and the 14th time in the last 15 seasons.
"We will prepare for the next game like it's our last game," asserted Tierney, whose team would face the winner of the Maryland-Army match-up if it beats Rutgers. "We just want to have the kids focus on playing their best. We're good enough that we can stay with anybody if we do that."
