It had done everything it was supposed to do this season, and yet a certain touch of tension permeated the press room where the men's lacrosse team awaited its seeding for the NCAA tournament last night.
Relieving fears of a recurrence of the disappointing placement they received last year, the Tigers (10-2) were rewarded for their season's efforts with a No. 3 seed in this year's tournament. As the third seed, Princeton has a bye for the first round and two weeks of rest. The hiatus will end with a matchup against either Hofstra or No. 6 seed Maryland May 20 at Rutgers.
"We felt we were the number three or four seed, and we ended up getting a three seed, which is great," senior captain Josh Sims said.
Princeton had solidified its case for such a high seed Saturday with a dominant 12-6 win over Hobart (7-6) in Geneva, N.Y. The tournament-bound Statesmen were supposed to have a good shot at upsetting the Tigers, but Princeton's lead gunslinger, senior midfielder Josh Sims, would have none of it.
Record setter
Sims racked up five goals in a game for the fourth time in his career. His fourth score moved him past Lorne Smith '99 into first place all-time among Princeton midfielders in career goals with 96.
Sims' effort was congruent with the Tigers' general offensive performance, as they seemed to have adjusted to the loss of sophomore attackman B.J. Prager to a knee injury. Princeton was particularly effective in the first half, creating a 6-1 gap in the first quarter and then stretching it to 9-1 by the end of the half.
After the Statesmen's goal six minutes into the contest, the game was almost exclusively the Tigers' for nearly a half. Over a span of 26 minutes, seven seconds, Princeton scored eight unanswered goals. Hobart would not score again until midway through the third period, while Sims himself would notch three goals during that segment.
The Statesmen's ice-breaking goal during the third period started a brief comeback that included two shorthanded goals. Sims picked their rising hopes from the sky shortly thereafter, however, with his last two goals of the day.
The senior captain scored Princeton's 11th early in the fourth quarter, creating a seven-goal bulge that was a good deal more than the Tigers' defense would need.
Junior goalie Trevor Tierney continued his strong season, allowing just five goals in 58 minutes and accumulating 14 saves. He improved what was already the nation's second-best save percentage to .656.
The Tigers derived a good deal of their motivation to pound the Statesmen from their desire for a high seed in the tournament.
"[Hoping for a high seed] helped a lot," Sims said after the selection show. "I'd like to think that we would have played equally or up to that level if we hadn't been playing for a bye, but I still think it's something good to have motivating you."
"We felt like [Saturday] was playing for the bye," head coach Bill Tierney said. "I started to get a little queasy this morning starting to think of what other scenarios could be, but I thought they stuck straight to the rules."
Lesson learned
The Tigers were wary of ignoring "other scenarios" after last year, when they were caught off guard by being unranked for the tournament. That placement, which came as a surprise to a number of players and coaches, set up the Tigers' first-round loss to a tough Syracuse team.
There was not much room for surprises in this year's selection, however. First-seeded Syracuse and second-seeded Virginia clearly distanced themselves from the remaining schools in the field during the season.
The only losses that the Tigers and fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins suffered this season were to the Orangemen and the Cavaliers. The Blue Jays also lost to Princeton in the season-opener.
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