Sports: November 17, 1999
After losing to Harvard, Princeton
wallops Columbia
Quarterback Tommy Crenshaw '02 throws 304 yards against the Lions
On the afternoon before Halloween, Princeton Stadium may have been the
prettiest place on the planet. The trees surrounding the stadium provided
a backdrop of orange, red, and yellow that the 13,164 spectators, bathed
in warm sunshine, could see through the stadium's picture-frame arches.
And Princeton's play matched the beautiful surroundings.
Recovering from a last-second, 13-7 loss at Harvard the week before, Princeton (3-4, 1-3 Ivy) dismantled Columbia 44-15. The victory had the Tigers' record-keepers updating their books. The 44 points were Princeton's most since crushing the Lions 44-14 four years ago, and sophomore Tommy Crenshaw threw for 304 yards to become the first Tiger quarterback since Chad Roghair '92 to top 300 yards in a game. Princeton extended its home winning streak against Columbia that dates back to 1953.
The Columbia game was a coming-out party for Crenshaw. He found seven different receivers as he completed 24 of 33 passes, including touchdown strikes of 31 and 45 yards.
At halftime Princeton led 24-0 and had 10 times more yardage than Columbia (348 to 34). The only suspense left was whether Justin Luciani '02 could win a $35,000 car in a halftime contest. From the back of one endzone, Luciani threw a ball 40 yards and then punted it 50 yards, leaving a 30-yard field goal between him and a new Infiniti. The kick was long enough, but it hit the right upright and bounced back as Luciani fell to the ground in disappointment.
Columbia managed two touchdowns in the second half, including a 50-yard pass play on a fake punt. But Princeton added three more touchdowns of its own: a one-yard dive by Kyle Brandt '01 and a four-yard run by Atkinson '03, along with a 51-yard interception return by Kevin Kongslie '03. Senior linebacker Chuck Hastings's four sacks led the strong defensive effort.
A week earlier in Boston, a 25-mile-per-hour wind kept scoring low. The wind was blowing toward the open end of the stadium, and it made punting, kicking, and throwing far easier for the team heading in that direction. Princeton started against the wind, which made it all the more surprising when coach Steve Tosches unveiled a five wide receiver formation in the first quarter.
To call Tosches's historic offensive philosophy conservative would be an understatement. But Tosches put Crenshaw in the shotgun with either four or five wideouts at least 10 times per half against Harvard and Columbia. "I think it really presents conflicts for the defense," said Tosches. "Plus we like the wide receivers we have in the program and we want to get them on the field."
Against Harvard, the spread passing game worked. Crenshaw was 21 of 40 for 242 yards, including seven passes for 85 yards to Phil Wendler '00, who is now third all-time on Princeton's career receptions list. In fact, both teams moved the ball, but neither squad could get inside the other's 15-yard line until Harvard's final drive.
The Crimson opened with field goals on its first two possessions, and Taylor Northrop '02 hit a 34-yarder early in the second quarter. It stayed 6-3 until late in the fourth quarter, when, with the wind at his back, Northrop tied the game with a 52-yard field goal. It was the second longest field goal in school history, behind only a 54-yard kick by Charlie Gogolak '66.
Northrop slipped on the ensuing kickoff, giving the Crimson the ball on their 42-yard line. Harvard marched to the Princeton one yard line with seven seconds on the clock. Harvard called a time-out and sent its field goal unit on the field. Princeton called time to ice the Crimson kicker, but then Harvard coach Tim Murphy sent his regular unit back on the field, forcing Princeton to call another time-out.
Murphy's call almost backfired, as Wilford took the snap and dove forward. The referees ran toward the pile and Murphy could have run the Boston Marathon in the time it took them to signal touchdown.
The loss meant no Big Three bonfire for the fifth straight year, and it effectively ended Princeton's Ivy title hopes. The Tigers have now lost four in a row to Harvard for the first time since 1913-1916. The rest of the Princeton season (at Penn, Yale, at Dartmouth) is just for pride, and the continued development of a young, rapidly improving and surprisingly aggressive offense.
-Phillip R. Thune '92
Men's basketball team belongs to
Carmody
With its roster of young players, the squad is sure to be tested
Very few NCAA Tournament-caliber basketball teams can match Princeton's
record of graduating its seniors. While that graduation percentage is a
source of pride for the Tigers, it is also a source of pain. When a player
spends a full four years learning a system and growing into it, he rips
a huge hole in it when he leaves.
Rarely have the holes been larger than they are this year, as the Tigers mark the departures of Ivy League Player of the Year Brian Earl and three-time all-Ivy selection Gabe Lewullis. With Steve Goodrich, Mitch Henderson, and James Mastaglio having graduated in 1998, one of the most storied eras in Princeton basketball history has officially drawn to a close.
And so this season is something of a graduation for head coach Bill Carmody-a full and final escape from the long shadow of his predecessor, legendary coach Pete Carril. Earl and Lewullis, after all, were Carril guys; their first season overlapped with the old coach's last. (It was a freshman Lewullis who scored the winning basket against UCLA in 1996 and sent Carril out on a high.)
For three years Carmody has had his own system, his own style, and certainly his own success (73-14, two NCAA tournament berths, two NIT victories last year). Now, in his fourth year, Carmody has his own players.
Carmody's players this year are young. The 14-man roster is dominated by underclassmen, featuring seven sophomores and only one senior, forward Mason Rocca.
Carmody's best player is also young-that is, 6'10" sophomore center Chris Young, the league's unanimous rookie of the year last year, when he averaged 12.9 points on 56.3 percent shooting and set school records for blocks in a season (55) and points by a freshman (387). Young, who hails from Dallas, also pitched for the baseball team. Or rather, he dominated, throwing a 93-m.p.h. fastball and earning Baseball Weekly's nod as Ivy League Player of the Year.
Alongside Young is the tenacious Rocca, who last year led the Tigers in rebounds and frightening falls. Rocca's 5.9 rpg (rebounds per game) average included 18 boards against Georgetown in Princeton's first-round NIT victory. No Tiger had had as many since Bill Bradley's 21 against Columbia in 1965.
With the remaining frontcourt spot the Tigers have several options. Nate Walton, originally a classmate of Rocca, returns as a junior after an injury which sidelined him most of last year. Princeton will also look for continued development from highly regarded 6'9" sophomore Chris Krug, who had trouble getting into the offense during an inconsistent freshman year.
Also sure to receive ample playing time is this year's prized recruit, 6'6" wingman Spencer Gloger. The Santa Margarita, California, product was hotly pursued by UCLA and had even signed a grant-in-aid to play for the Bruins before changing his mind and joining the Tigers. Gloger received the loudest cheers of any first-year player when the team was introduced to fans at Jadwin Gym on October 16.
The introductions kicked off the first ever Orange and Black Game, an intrasquad scrimmage that promises to become an annual event. Many Division I programs have a tradition of "Midnight Madness"-NCAA regulations prohibit official team practices before a certain date, the arrival of which insomniac fans count down to the minute. Princeton's Saturday afternoon scrimmage was not nearly so raucous, but the atmosphere at Orange and Black was festive and fun.
Guard Eugene Baah '02 made a statement about the game's seriousness, switching jerseys at halftime. He also made a statement about the seriousness of his own game, leading all scorers with 18 points. Gloger led all freshmen with nine.
Princeton will look to Baah in the backcourt, along with sophomore Ahmed El-Nokali and C. J. Chapman '01. Chapman began last season starting alongside Brian Earl but by season's end was backing up El-Nokali '02, who, along with Rocca, Young, Lewullis, and Earl, played all 40 minutes of the Georgetown game. As the preseason began, powerfully built 6'5" Phil Jackman '02 was also seeing time at guard.
Princeton has given itself a daunting nonconference schedule. The Tigers could see as many as eight top 25 teams, beginning with Syracuse and Wisconsin or Missouri at the NABC Classic. Other schedule highlights include the Food Lion Classic, December 3 and 4, which promises the Tigers a rematch with 1998 NCAA tournament first round foe UNLV and could yield a matchup with North Carolina, which handed Princeton its only regular-season loss two years ago.
With games against Texas Christian, Kansas, Xavier, and of course Penn further down the line, these young, talented Tigers are sure to be tested. How much they learn will go a long way toward determining how much graduation hurts a couple years from now.
-Jeremy Weissman '01
NABC Classic at Syracuse, N.Y.
Men's Basketball Schedule Nov. 12 Syracuse 2:00 p.m. Nov. 13 vs. Missouri/Wisconsin 7:00 p.m. Nov. 20 Monmouth 7:30 p.m. Wisconsin 9:00 p.m.
NABC Classic at Halifax, Nova Scotia Nov. 27 vs. Ohio 7:30 p.m.
Food Lion MVP Classic at Charlotte, N.C. Dec. 3 vs. unlv 7:00 p.m. Dec. 4 vs. North Carolina 7:00 p.m. vs. College of Charleston 9:00 p.m.
Dec. 7 at Bucknell 7:00 p.m. Dec. 9 Texas Christian (espn) 6:30 p.m. Dec. 12 at Rutgers tba Dec. 18 UAB 7:30 p.m. Dec. 22 at Xavier (espn) tba Dec. 31 Holy Cross 2:00 p.m. Jan. 8 Lafayette 7:30 p.m. Jan. 24 Division III Opponent 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at Cornell 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at Columbia 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4 at Brown 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at Yale 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11 Dartmouth 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12 Harvard 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 Pennsylvania tba Feb. 18 Columbia 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19 Cornell 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25 at Harvard 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at Dartmouth 7:00 p.m. Mar. 3 Yale 7:30 p.m. Mar. 4 Brown 7:30 p.m. Mar. 7 at Pennsylvania tba |
Field hockey setbacks
For the Tigers, the Ivy League title is an outside chance
Beth Bozman's intensity has driven her to build Princeton's field hockey program into one of the nation's best during her 12 seasons as head coach. The flip side of that intensity was evident after Princeton (8-5 overall, 4-1 Ivy) lost to Syracuse October 17, as a clearly disheartened Bozman answered questions after the team's fourth straight defeat. "We're under a black cloud here," said the disappointed coach. "We just have had no luck . . . we need a break."
The way the team lost to the unranked Orangewomen made the loss more painful. The Tigers thoroughly dominated Syracuse, taking 21 shots to the opposition's five. A successful Syracuse penalty stroke early in the second half put Princeton behind by a goal; about 10 minutes later, star midfielder Melanie Meerschwam '01 missed a penalty stroke that would have tied the game. "We did everything you could do," said Bozman. "We moved the ball. We got good shots. We just couldn't get the ball in the cage."
It's easy to understand Bozman's frustration. The loss to the unranked Orangewomen came just eight days after a narrow, 2-1 defeat at league-leading Brown put Princeton's hopes for an Ivy title-and the tournament bid that accompanies it-in jeopardy. A loss the next day to Duke, 3-1, and an 8-2 pounding at nationally ranked Maryland October 15 led to Princeton's longest single-season skid since 1984. That year, the Tigers posted a record of 2-11-2, a far cry from the team's recent stellar results, which have culminated in three straight appearances in the Final Four.
Despite the string of setbacks, Bozman still fields a far superior team to those Princeton had in the early 1980s. This year, it had hoped to grab a sixth-straight Ivy title. Bozman's current team's biggest apparent shortcoming is its sporadic failure to convert scoring chances into goals. While still featuring excellent speed and good passing, the team's erratic performance on the attack contributed significantly to the recent losses. Against Syracuse, the Tigers struggled particularly on penalty corners: of the 12 corners the team took, it failed to get off a shot in nearly half.
It's not surprising that the graduation of stars such as Kirsty Hale '99 and Molly O'Malley '99 has affected the team. Taking their place are players with far less experience, including junior Kellie Maul, who until now has mostly come off the bench, and freshman Ilvy Friebe. Friebe perhaps best illustrates the challenge facing Bozman's team as it begins replenishing its store of collegiate experience.
A midfielder with experience in Germany's national field hockey program, Friebe displays talent evocative of Amy MacFarlane '98, especially in stick skills. However, Friebe has let her frustration show on the field at times, hindering her performance. It may be that the young player-like her teammates-just needs some seasoning to gain the focus her predecessors had acquired by their senior years. On October 24 and 25, Friebe showed her potential, scoring two goals in a 3-2 win at Harvard and notching three in a 4-2 win over 13th-ranked Boston University.
With the wins, Princeton still has an outside chance to gain the Ivy title and its associated tournament bid, but will have to hope Brown (5-0 Ivy, 11-2 overall) loses its final two games. Otherwise, the team can only hope that some late-season wins-especially one over Old Dominion-might lead to an at-large bid for the tournament.
Either way, Bozman's Tigers must prove their resilience, as their coach continues to hope they'll get their break.
-Paul Hagar '91
GO TO the Table of Contents of the current issue
GO TO
PAW's home page