Tigers host No. 1 Johns Hopkins Saturday
By: Bob Nuse
Maybe this is the year they come up with a catchy nickname for the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team.
Maybe they’ll call them something like, Young Guns 2 or the Tiger Cubs. Or maybe head coach Bill Tierney will be referred to as the Kindergarten Cop. That’s because for as young as the Tigers were a year ago, when they surprised a lot of people with a relatively young squad that not only reached the Final Four, but wound up just one goal short of a spot in the national championship game, they are even younger this year.
"What has happened is we had a young team last year, but this year we’re even younger because the freshmen have come in and been such a pleasant surprise," said Tierney, whose team opens the season Saturday at 3 p.m. against No. 1 ranked Johns Hopkins. "They have been even better than we thought they would be. We’ll have at least five freshmen, and maybe more, who will be playing pretty regularly for us. When you combine those guys with the sophomores who played last year as freshmen, it’s a pretty young group of guys."
The Tigers’ game with Johns Hopkins is part of a doubleheader that will see the women take on Johns Hopkins in the second game at 6 p.m.
Princeton has its share of veterans who have been through the wars. Seniors Oliver Barry and Jason Doneger have been key players for years. Senior Tim Sullivan is back as a starter on defense, and junior Dave Law returns in goal. A few more juniors and seniors will see action. But for the most part, this will be a lineup filled with sophomores and freshmen playing important roles.
"We have all these young guys playing and we really didn’t expect that this year," Tierney said. "But they have come in and really jumped up and moved into spots we had not expected.
"It’s a pretty good mix. I’d like us to be a little bit older, but this is what we have."
Doneger starts on attack with a pair of sophomores, Peter Trombino and Scott Sowanick. The fourth attackman figures to be a freshman, Alex Haynie. In the midfield, sophomore Whitney Hayes will be joined by junior Jim O’Brien and sophomore Rob Schneider. Other midfielders in the mix include sophomores Mike Biles, Mike Gaudio, Zach Jungers and John Bennett, along with freshmen Trip Cowin, Pete Striebel and Zach Goldberg.
The defense will have a freshman, Dan Cocoziello, joining Barry and Sullivan in the starting lineup.
"I think the kids have done a great job of preparing," Tierney said. "We’ve put a lot of time into Hopkins this year. They’re a really good team. And as crazy as it seems to say, we’re even younger this year than we were last year. I think we’ve improved a lot since we started practice."
And with so many young players, the leadership of his veterans is so important. Barry and Doneger are joined as captains by senior Matt Prager. It would be easy to look at the Tigers as a team of the future. But instead, they have their eyes on a big season in 2005.
"I feel like we’ve done a good job of focusing on this year," Tierney said. "This senior group has the two best players in Oliver (Barry) and Jason (Doneger), plus an inspirational captain like Matt Prager, who everybody loves and is the kind of kid you want in your program. Having captains like that makes it a lot easier for us as coaches."
Of course, opening with Johns Hopkins isn’t easy for any coach. The Blue Jays beat Princeton, 14-5, a year ago. And this year they’ve opened the season as the consensus team to beat for the national championship.
"They graduated some key people," Tierney said. "They certainly have the most talent out there. For us, it’s a question of if we can hold them down and keep the score in single figures. We need to be able to do that and not get into one of these high-scoring games with them."
With a roster full of young players, just about anything is possible with this Princeton team. And on Saturday, they get their first test against the very best.