Sports: April 17, 1996
STICKMEN WALTZ TO EARLY WINS
Tigers' dance card is perfect, save a 12-9 loss to rival Virginia. Should they be number one?
It had all the makings of an early-season men's lacrosse classic: a blustery March afternoon in Charlottesville, Virginia; the number-one Virginia Cavaliers versus the number-two Princeton Tigers; and two of the best starting attacks in the country.
But after 15 minutes of play, the Tigers' front three had performed more like blind mice than musketeers. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers' shots had found the back of Princeton's net so often the Tiger defensemen had to be checked for whiplash.
After the first quarter, Virginia led 8-0 and had already forced head coach Bill Tierney to pull Patrick Cairns '98, the Ivy League's stingiest goalie in 1995. Midway through the second period, the Tigers trailed 10-0.
Though the Tigers (4-1 overall, 1-0 Ivy) eventually fell to the Cavaliers, 12-9, they bounced back against Virginia. With senior cocaptain Pancho Gutstein replacing Cairns and Princeton's offense able to control the ball, the Tigers chipped away at the lead, keeping the Cavaliers off the board for more than 20 minutes.
"We just got overwhelmed [early] by a really good team," said Tierney, who is apparently well on his way to a seventh straight NCAA tournament appearance. "But the kids showed as much heart in that game as they ever have since I've been at Princeton."
The comeback against Virginia was sandwiched between convincing wins at preseason-number-four Johns Hopkins in the season opener on March 2 and against then-number-four North Carolina at Old Dominion on March 6. The Tigers held off a late charge by the Blue Jays, and they pulled away from the Tar Heels in the fourth quarter by shutting down UNC's attack for the final 11:03.
"The North Carolina victory was definitely one we needed to get our confidence back," said junior attack Todd Eichelberger, "and make sure that we were still the team we thought we were before we played Virginia."
When the Tigers finally came home, it was to christen Princeton's newest athletic venue, the 2,000-seat, artificial-turf, Class of 1952 Stadium. The Tigers warmed up their new home by blowing out Rutgers in the annual Meistrell Cup game, then destroyed Yale in their first Ivy League contest, making a claim to the nation's top ranking.
But the USILA poll ranked Princeton third-behind Virginia and Maryland-despite the fact that Virginia had lost to Maryland and Maryland had earlier lost to North Carolina. It's probable that the Tigers' 10-goal first-half deficit to the Cavaliers had something to do with that ranking.
Tierney has done his part, adapting to a team rich in talent on offense and deep but inexperienced on defense. The coach has loosened the reins on his potent attack, while quickly teaching his patented defensive system to three first-time starters at longstick, two of whom are freshmen John Harrington and Kurt Lunkenheimer.
"Guys have the green light to take it to the goal and shoot when they wouldn't have in the past," says longstick midfielder Rob Neff '97, the only returning starter on defense. "Coach Tierney's been really conscious of trying not to limit the guys as much as in the past."
And through the first several games, the Tigers have scored more often than any other Tierney team except his 1994 national-championship team. The all-sophomore starting attack of Jesse Hubbard (13 goals, 4 assists), Jon Hess (13 goals, 7 assists), and Chris Massey (11 goals, 1 assist) have accounted for over half of Princeton's goals. Newsday's Mike Candel called them "the country's best young attack; maybe the best attack period,"
While Princeton still often relies on its trademark, a patient passing game, Hubbard, Hess, and Massey-or fellow attackmen Eichelberger (6 goals, 6 assists) and freshman Lorne Smith (7 goals, 3 assists)-are not afraid to dodge toward the net early in a possession to create scoring opportunities.
Some opponents have seemed surprised by Princeton's more aggressive approach-the Tigers tallied 16 goals apiece against North Carolina and Rutgers, and scored 19 versus Yale, many off them off spin dodges that came when the defender was expecting another routine pass around the perimeter.
Despite Princeton's new-found tendency for the quick strike-which gives the opposition more opportunities to attack the Tigers' net-Princeton has maintained its most remarkable streak. The Tigers have kept each team they have played in the last three seasons scoreless for at least one 11-minute stretch. Such stifling defensive displays bear testament to Tierney's ability to coach his system, even to first-time starters.
Tierney's second-neatest trick is his ability to motivate the Tigers to prepare for every game, no matter how weak their opponent appears on paper. The coach simply mentions last season's surprise 9-8 loss to Cornell every chance he gets. The upset cost Princeton an outright Ivy title and a top-four seed in the NCAAs. As a result, the Tigers had to travel to Syracuse in the quarterfinals, where their season ended with a 15-11 loss to the Orangemen.
The April 6 road trip to Brown (whose only losses at press time had come in overtime to Virginia and Syracuse) might be the Tigers' only real test until the postseason, but not a single Princeton player will look past any of the Tigers' remaining opponents.
The playoffs should mirror March, when national rankings mattered as much as jersey color in predicting early-season outcomes. Hopkins beat Carolina, which beat Maryland, which beat Virginia, which beat Princeton. The Tigers could claim the top spot in the polls if they escape unscathed through the Ivy League schedule and their late-season matchups with talented teams from Georgetown and Hobart, but Tierney is not convinced his squad deserves the number-one ranking. "I wouldn't give us the top spot," he said after the Yale game. "Virginia beat the crap out of us, so if they lose a game to Maryland, then it just confirms what everybody has been saying all year, that there's not one great team out there, that everybody's beatable."
"Number one doesn't really matter to us," says Cairns, who regained his starting role in net after Gutstein left the North Carolina game late with an ankle injury. "The last time we were ranked number one in the country [in 1994], we won the national championship, but we also lost our next game [to Brown]. Whoever is number one on Memorial Day is what's important to us. It doesn't mean anything until May."
-Phillip R. Thune '92
When not writing about football and men's lacrosse for paw, Phillip Thune works at the investment banking firm of Alex. Brown & Sons, in New York City.
WINTER WRAP-UP: WOMEN CAGERS GET BID TO NWIT;
FENCING SENDS NINE TO NCAAS
The Indianapolis miracle pulled off by men's basketball (22-7 overall, 12-2 Ivy) in its 43-41 victory over defending-champion UCLA on March 14 was the highlight of the winter for Princeton teams. But it wasn't the only postseason action Tigers saw this winter. The women's basketball team (20-11 overall, 9-5 Ivy) put together a late-season surge and earned the Ivy League's first-ever bid to the postseason National Women's Invitational Tournament, held March 21-23 in Amarillo, Texas. One of eight teams selected (and seeded eighth), the Tigers lost to Arkansas, 83-51, and fell to Western Kentucky, 74-41, before rebounding to beat Illinois State, 68-65. The victory got them seventh place in the tournament. "I thought our seniors played like seniors-that's why we won," said head coach Liz Feeley. "I'm happy their careers ended this way." Senior Tricia Klock got a "double double," scoring 10 and grabbing 11 rebounds. But junior forward Kim Allen again showed she has the ability to lead the team; she matched Klock's double double, tallying 17 and getting 11 rebounds. Three straight victories late in the season earned Princeton second place in the league (behind Harvard) and apparently convinced the selection committee to invite the Tigers. Princeton's strong performance in the three tournaments it played this season may also have helped it to get a bid.
The indoor track and field team qualified three athletes for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. In addition, the men's team (3-0 overall, 3-0 Ivy) took its third straight Heptagonals title and dominated Harvard and Yale at the annual H-Y-P meet. The men sent two representatives to the NCAA meet: senior long jumper Ugwunna Ikpeowo, who got sixth with a jump of 25 feet, and senior miler Scott Anderson, who posted a 4:05 mark in his race. The women (2-1 overall, 2-1 Ivy) sent hurdler Nicole Harrison '98 to the NCAAs; she posted a personal-best time of 7.61 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles at the meet and captured fifth place. All three earned all-America honors.
The men's fencing team (11-2 overall, 2-2 Ivy) and women's fencing team (12-2 overall, 3-2 Ivy) sent nine competitors to the NCAA tournament, held March 29-31 in New Haven, Connecticut. Freshman Max Pekarev won the sabre title, beating Penn State's Sergei Lilov, 15-10, and becoming just the second Tiger fencer ever to win at the NCAA championships. The team score for the men and women at the tournament was 1,020 points, which placed them fourth. A cocaptain of the women's team, senior epee Lisa Picken, was named Female Athlete of the Year by the New Jersey Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Losses to Columbia and Yale cost the men a shot at the Ivy title; the women's team also fell to the Lions and the Bulldogs.
The women's ice hockey team (10-16 overall, 8-8 ECAC, 3-2 Ivy) fell to New Hampshire, 7-2, on March 2 in the quarterfinal round of the ECAC tournament. After nine players quit the team just before the start of the season, coach Lisa Brown-Miller was forced to play several freshmen. But stellar performances from junior right wing and cocaptain Mandy Pfeiffer, who led the Tigers in scoring this season, and from veteran center and cocaptain Karen Chernisky '97 kept the team competitive. Barring any defections next year, the team will lose only senior goalie Liz Hill, so fans can expect much more success in the future from the young team.
The men's hockey team (7-18-4 overall, 5-14-3 ECAC) got a huge serving of disappointment this season after last year's incredible postseason success, in which it upset top-ranked Maine, got to the ECAC finals, and posted its first winning record in 27 years. A trio of late-season wins gave the Tigers a chance to make the ECAC playoffs, but the team lost at Brown, 4-3, on March 5 in a preliminary-round game.
The men's and women's squash teams again provided the only real competition for the dominating teams from Harvard. February 4, the men (10-1 overall, 5-1 Ivy) challenged the Crimson, but lost, 6-3. They failed to get a rematch in the NISRA Championships, in New Haven, Connecticut, on February 23-25, by losing to Amherst, and ended up in third place. The women (9-3 overall, 3-2 Ivy) made the finals of the Howe Cup in New Haven on February 16-18, but also lost 6-3 to Harvard.
TITLES ELUDE TIGER SWIMMERS
The men and women on Princeton's swimming and diving teams have dominated the pool for years. In 1994-95, the men's team won both the Ivy League title and the Eastern Seaboard Championships. The women have captured the Ivy title 10 times in the last 19 years and have placed in the top five at the Eastern Women's Swimming League Championships 22 times since the meet's inception 23 years ago. But Princeton discovered this season that the hardest part about being number one is staying there.
After the graduation of five talented swimmers from the women's team, the Tigers hoped captains Jena Prideaux '96 and Anne Murphy '97 could step into the spotlight. Gone were all-America Grace Cornelius '95, their premier freestyler, and all-America Carwai Seto '95, their featured swimmer in the breaststroke and individual medley events. "It definitely makes an impact when you've had people like that on the team who can always get the job done," coach Susan Teeter-Eggert said. "All of a sudden, you don't have that presence, that talent."
After last year's successful campaign, Princeton (5-4 overall, 5-2 EWSL) was still the team to beat this season. Brown and Harvard managed to beat the Tigers, but the women kept their focus on the end of the season, when the team hoped to triumph. When Princeton traveled to Easterns, held February 22-24 at Brown's Smith Swim Center, the challenge was too great. Princeton finished fourth behind Brown, Yale, and Harvard. "We wish we would have swum a little faster," said Teeter-Eggert. "It's a three-day meet and we didn't show up until the middle of the second day."
The performances of the divers, the highlight of the meet, kept the Tigers close. Sheryl Summerton '96 won the three-meter springboard event for the fourth consecutive time with 475 points and was named outstanding diver of the meet for the fourth year in a row. Princeton now knows just how strong its competitors are, and the women will aim for next year's postseason, when Princeton's DeNunzio Pool will host Easterns.
The men (9-3 overall, 8-1 EISL) fell just short of their goal to repeat as Ivy and Easterns champions. After a second straight undefeated season, tri-captains Matt McWha '96, Fred Klein '96, and Brian Lovett '96 were primed to lead the team. Princeton finished second to Harvard at Easterns, held February 29-March 2 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but had several outstanding performances. Shawn Trokhan '96 won the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 20.01 seconds, tying the school record set by Eric Osborn '90 and qualifying for NCAAs. Davin Quinn '98 also qualified in the 200 breaststroke, finishing in 2:00.7. The two competed at NCAAs in Austin, Texas, March 28-30.
An unexpected, come-from-behind victory for Tom Pierce '97 in the 100-meter butterfly at Easterns fueled hopes for next year. Pierce, who entered the event unseeded, passed Army's Tony Suzzi and Brown's Charles Barnes in the last lap for the win. Along with Trokhan, Princeton will have to find replacements for McWha, Lovett, and Klein if it is to recapture the league's top spot in 1997.
-Sarah Slonaker '98
Sarah Slonaker is a sportswriter for The Daily Princetonian.
Kim Allen '97 got a "double double" in the Tigers' first-ever NWIT in their 68-65 win over Northern Illinois.
SCOREBOARD
Men's Lacrosse
(4-1 overall; 1-0 Ivy)
Princeton 12,
Johns Hopkins 9
Virginia 12, Princeton 9
Princeton 16,
North Carolina 9
Princeton 16, Rutgers 7
Princeton 19, Yale 8
Women's Lacrosse
(5-1 overall; 2-0 Ivy)
Princeton 12,
James Madison 4
Virginia 9, Princeton 8
Princeton 18,
West Chester 3
Princeton 15, Harvard 4
Princeton 17, Lafayette 4
Princeton 15, Dartmouth 2
Heavyweight Crew
(1-0 overall; 0-0 Ivy)
Princeton 5:50.2
Navy 5:51.9
Women's Crew
(0-1 overall; 0-1 Ivy)
Brown 7:03.6,
Princeton 7:05.4
Men's Tennis
(9-5 overall; 1-1 EITA)
Princeton 6, Kentucky 1
Miami 4, Princeton 3
Princeton 7, St. John's 0
Pepperdine 5, Princeton 0
Washington 4, Princeton 3
Princeton 4,
UC Santa Barbara 3
Princeton 7, San Diego St. 0
Princeton 6, Temple 0
Columbia 5, Princeton 2
Princeton 6, Penn 1
Women's Tennis
(2-5 overall; 1-1 Ivy)
Princeton 5, Idaho 4
USC 8, Princeton 1
San Diego St. 8, Princeton 1
Iowa 5, Princeton 2
Columbia 6, Princeton 1
Penn 6, Princeton 1
VCU 7, Princeton 0