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Sports: February 21, 1996
Cagers Jump Up
Cagers Jump UpJohnson reemerges; his team has no room for error after loss to PennJunior Sydney Johnson's evolution as a basketball player hasn't been to everyone's liking. Some people miss the "instant offense" that characterized him in his freshman year. They remember him from the 1993-94 season and wish they could see that Johnson again: the raw but talented new addition to a type of Princeton offense that doesn't exist anymore. In Johnson's freshman year, there was a comforting regularity to the Tiger offense. The play-by-play went something lake this: Mike Brennan at the point, short dribble penetration-passes down low to Chris Mooney-the defense collapses on Mooney-Mooney kicks the ball out to Johnson in the corner-Johnson shoots . . . Bang. Three points. Early success is a blessing and a curse. Johnson won Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors four times that season. He shot the lights out: .530 from the floor, .457 from three-point range. He started 22 games and led the team in field-goal percentage, three-point field goals, and free-throw percentage. At the end of the year, John- son was elected captain of the team (along with Rick Hielscher '95), the first-ever sophomore captain at Princeton. Things were different the next year. Brennan and Mooney had both graduated. Hielscher started each game on the bench, his bad knees seriously limiting his playing time. Johnson found himself at the head of a team starting three freshmen, a sophomore, and a junior. Team offensive output dropped, as did Johnson's own offensive output. This year, the offense appears to be improving, but Johnson still struggles. After two wins against Columbia and Cornell on February 2 and 3, his numbers for the year were .406 from the floor and .281 from beyond the arc. According to Johnson, the Tigers are still getting back to the level of skill and experience they enjoyed in the 1993-94 season. Memories of that season came rushing back to Johnson against Columbia when he looked over at the visitors' bench. Sitting on the Lions' sideline was first-year head coach Armond Hill '85, a former assistant coach at Princeton. Next to Hill was Mike Brennan '94, captain of the 1993-94 Tiger team and now an assistant to Hill. "It was emotional seeing them over there, and knowing that we had to beat them," said Johnson. "I had a special relationship with those guys." Last year, Johnson started the season at point guard, then surrendered those duties to Mitch Henderson '98 and moved to shooting guard. Six games into this season's Ivy schedule, Johnson is back at the point, occasionally handing the reins to freshman Brian Earl. Though he takes fewer shots as a point guard, Johnson still blames himself for the low percentages. "My shooting hasn't been the same. It's not something I'm happy about. I feel I can play any aspect of this game." His numbers in other areas bear him out. His turnover rate is remarkably low, with an average of one per 31.5 minutes, and he has more steals (21) than turnovers (19). With 4.6 rebounds per game, he is second only to forward Chris Doyal '96, who gets five. He is also the team leader in assists, averaging 3.4 per game. An overlooked aspect of Johnson's game is his defense. Just ask Brown's Eric Blackiston, whom Johnson considers the toughest defensive assignment in the league. And Johnson should know. Although positions may be juggled in the Tiger lineup, one thing is sure: from the opening tap, Johnson will be defending the other team's top player. A first-team all-Ivy selection last year, Blackiston came to Jadwin with his Brown teammates on January 13. At the end of the night, he had one point on a meager five shots and Princeton had a 64-36 win. "I took a lot of pride in that game," says Johnson. "It's always a challenge to guard him." Johnson came to Princeton with the ability to shoot, pass, and drive to the basket. But it was while at Princeton that he became the stifling defensive player he is now. Players guarded by Johnson almost never score their average number of points. Most don't come close. "There are some nights when I come out on the floor, look at a guy, and tell myself 'He's not going to score tonight,' and he doesn't," says Johnson. The Princeton lineup went through a lot of changes this year at the expense of the team's chemistry. Johnson called the changes "unsettling." "As a team," he said, "we didn't know what was going on. There was no continuity. That affects the chemistry-especially with the kind of offense we run." An early lack of continuity may have affected the team in its early league games. In an emotion-charged game January 6, Princeton lost to Penn, 57-55, at Jadwin. "We lost, but I still think we have more weapons than they do," says Johnson. With the flat-out race to the Ivy title well under way, Princeton cannot afford to lose again. Wins against Columbia (66-45) and Cornell (57-54) on February 2 and 3 put the Tigers in good position, but a tough road trip is ahead-to Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale. The lineup now looks solid, and Johnson feels that the time is right for the Tigers. "This is our whole season. We can't afford not to have chemistry. We don't fear anyone, but we know that these are big games. A loss to either Dartmouth or Harvard is the end of our season as we hoped it would be." -Robert R. Garver This article originally appeared in the Town Topics of January 31.
Pfeiffer Leads Young Tigers on IceForward Mandy Pfeiffer '97 was so ill before the women's ice hockey game against Yale that two hours before game time, she wasn't even sure if she could skate. But once on the ice, she played well and at night's end had a goal and an assist as Princeton (7-13 overall; 5-5 ECAC, 3-5 Ivy) defeated Yale, 6-1, on January 31.In hockey there are gritty players who use their bodies to get the puck and keep it from their opponents. There are skilled players whose stickhandling and skating make them potent offensive weapons. There are team leaders, and there are team players. For the Tigers, Pfeiffer is all those. The junior forward uses her strength, speed, and skill to lead her teammates and to help them excel. But it may be Pfeiffer's steely determination to score that contributes most to her success. "Some players go around people," she says. "I like to go through them." And with the season only two-thirds complete, she has notched 18 goals and has assisted on 15 more. She leads not only the team in points, but the entire Ivy League as well (the next-highest scorer, classmate Karen Chernisky, has 11 goals and 12 assists). "Mandy is a great team player," head coach Lisa Brown-Miller said. "She goes for it 100 percent of the time." Pfeiffer's solid play has been essential to a team that was decimated when nine of its players, including several seniors and juniors, quit the team. Of the players who remained, 10 were freshmen and far too few were defenders. Pfeiffer and a small nucleus of veterans steadied the team early in the season. Senior goalie Liz Hill calls Pfeiffer a "great leader," and "inspirational," qualities that were important to the shorthanded team early in the season. "She's a very aware player," added Hill. "Mandy sees all the plays on the ice. She's always on her toes, anticipating the next move." Pfeiffer must continue to excel on offense if the Tigers hope to improve their record. Sporadic let-downs in defense have plagued the team and given opponents easy scoring chances. But Princeton is playing well now, says Brown-Miller. "The team faced a lot of adversity at the beginning of the year, but they've really come together as a group . . . Our freshman are beginning to feel a little more comfortable about what we expect from them." The Tigers' improved defense and communication were evident in games against tough ECAC opponents Brown and Providence College. Although Princeton lost, 4-3, to Brown at Baker Rink on January 6, the team played well, challenging the Ivy League-leading Bears. Brown won with a goal late in overtime. The next day against Providence, Princeton won a tight 5-4 contest. The weekend marked an offensive explosion for Pfeiffer, who scored five times in the two games, including the game-winner against Providence. The team still has its problems, playing sloppily in a 5-1 loss to a less talented Cornell squad on January 13. But against Yale, after having been off the ice for exams for two weeks, Princeton cleaned up its game, showing clean passing and tenacious defense. If Pfeiffer continues to score, and the defense plays as well as it did versus the Bulldogs, Princeton will make a late-season run. -Shirley Wang '99 Shirley Wang is a sportswriter for The Daily Princetonian.
ScoreboardMen's Basketball(12-5 overall; 4-1 Ivy) Princeton 75, Haverford 46 Princeton 66, Columbia 45 Princeton 57, Cornell 54
Women's Basketball
Men's Ice Hockey
Women's Ice Hockey
Men's Swimming
Women's Swimming
Men's Track
Women's Track
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