Tigers open Saturday against Hopkins
By: Bob Nuse
Bill Tierney has always put a premium on his Princeton University men’s lacrosse team playing well against its tough early-season schedule.
The Tigers have traditionally played most of the top teams in the country during March before they head into the Ivy League portion of their schedule. In the six years that Princeton has won national championships, it has a 21-5 record in the games played prior to the start of the Ivy League season.
Last year Princeton had an atypical start to its season, going 2-3 in its five pre-Ivy games, then losing its Ivy League opener to Yale. Even with the bad start, the Tigers managed to rebound and win eight straight games to reach the NCAA championship game for the third straight year.
This year, Tierney hopes his team gets off to a better start than a year ago. They’ll get their first shot on the field Saturday when the Tigers host Johns Hopkins in a 1 p.m. start at Class of 1952 Stadium.
"You always feel like if you can steal a couple of those early games that you put yourself in good shape for later on," said Tierney, who is entering his 16th season as the Tigers’ head coach. "I think there is a little sense of urgency this year because of what happened last year. I hope the guys learned from what happened. But I also think we showed that even with the bad start, we’re still not finished. The schedule at the beginning of the season is a tough one. But that’s what we want."
The Tigers open at home against Johns Hopkins and Virginia before going on the road to face Hofstra, Syracuse and Rutgers prior to the start of the Ivy League season.
"There’s no question that it’s a tough way to start the season," Tierney said. "But that’s always been the nature of our schedule. This is the first part of the season for us and you want to come out of it with three or four wins if you can. But they’re all tough teams to play."
Of course, those teams have a tough team to play in Princeton, which has won six national championships and reached the finals two other times under Tierney. While graduation took the likes of B.J. Prager, Scott Farrell, Kyle Baugher, Dan Clark and Brendan Tierney, there is plenty of talent left at Princeton.
"We are very old and very young," Tierney said. "We have 13 seniors, of which 11 or 12 will play a lot and all 13 will play some. We have a lot of very experienced starters that have been around the block. Getting their attention in pre-season has been a little tough, but once the season gets going they’ll be ready to play.
"We also have a lot of young guys, so there has been a lot of instruction. It’s been fun because it’s been like coaching two different teams. We’re sharpening the older guys stuff and been doing a lot of teaching with the younger guys."
Princeton returns Ryan Boyle and Sean Hartofolis on attack, while Jason Doneger figures to play a more prominent role this year. In the midfield, captains Owen Daly and Brad Dumont return, along with players like Josh White, Matt Trevenen and Will MacColl, who missed most of last season with a knee injury. Freshman Ryan Schoenig is also expected to make a contribution this season.
While the defense lost Farrell, three seniors with a ton of experience return in Damien Davis, Brian Leiberman and Joe Rosenblum. Tierney also expects freshman Tony Vita to play a key role on defense. Julian Gould returns in goal.
"We’re getting ready to compete," Tierney said. "Hopefully we can get off to a good start."
Past history has shown that when the Tigers get off to a good start, it usually means they’ll have a good ending as well.

