PU men’s lacrosse faces Syracuse on Saturday
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Bill Tierney is hoping a lot of you are planning on driving up to the Meadowlands on Saturday.
He’s not alone.
Tierney’s Princeton University men’s lacrosse team will be taking on Syracuse 2:30 p.m. in Giants Stadium. It’s part of the first Big City Classic. The showdown between the fifth-ranked Tigers and second-ranked and defending national champion Orange is the middle game of three. The first is a noon ACC battle between top-ranked Virginia and North Carolina. The day caps with Hofstra taking on Delaware at 5 p.m.
Tierney wants your support because his Princeton team gave up a home game to play in the inaugural event. He wants it more for the game of lacrosse, which continues to try to grow in popularity while defying some tough economic times.
Considering that both his Tigers and Syracuse are 7-1 and the history between the two storied programs, Princeton is giving up potentially its biggest draw of the season to a game that could have done well at Princeton Stadium, but they did it for the greater good of the game.
Princeton has already played in one showcase event, the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic held at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore at the end of February. That double-header featured Princeton against Johns Hopkins followed by Maryland vs. Duke. Syracuse pulled out of that showcase, but still the event drew over 17,000 fans.
The Orange are sure to attract some New Yorkers to support them Saturday. The event will test New Jersey’s support of lacrosse. Are lacrosse enthusiasts – outside of Ridgewood area residents who are a quick trip away – willing to make the drive and commit a day to watching the game?
The Big City Classic is fighting something that the Face-Off Classic wasn’t dealing with in February. The high school lacrosse season has started, and that means thousands of high school players likely won’t be available due to their own game schedules. They are banking on enough high schools to play early Saturday while relying on the generation that started the rush to lacrosse.
It will be interesting to see how many people show up in this big showcase. The numbers will determine how Inside Lacrosse, which organizes it and the Face-Off Classic, continues in coming years.
Do they try to expand west and feature a Notre Dame vs. Denver showdown in Chicago? So far, they have stayed in big cities that are the epicenters of lacrosse’s popularity. The sport is expanding and catching on nationwide, but they have to be careful not to try to expand these events too far or spread themselves too thin as organizers.
As the sport grows, so do the events. Saturday morning, the Montgomery High School boys will take on a Texas state champion, Highland Park. Much like basketball has started to feature matchups that cross state lines in the regular season, there are more of these types of matchups showing up for lacrosse. It’s a good sign of the health of the sport.
Saturday’s Big City Classic will be another big test for the sport. If Princeton-Syracuse can’t draw fans, it’s hard to know what would. The two have combined to win 15 of the last 21 national championships. Syracuse won last year’s contest, 13-6, to improve its lead in the overall series to 16-8.
The Tigers will have to stay out of the man-down situations. Princeton ranks next to last in Division I with opponents scoring on better than 50 percent of their extra-up chances. Syracuse ranks tops in nation in extra-man offense.
It seems unlikely that either team will try to slow the pace of this game. They average a combined 26.38 goals per game and 87.6 shots per game.
The two are hoping to combine on another big number, attendance. Last year, more than 6,500 showed up to the Carrier Dome to see the Orange and Princeton. This year, they’re hoping that number triples.
It’s just going to take a lot of you driving up to East Rutherford.