Questions & Answers

'Prince' staff writer Austin Starkweather recently sat down with defenseman Damien Davis and midfielder Owen Daly of the men's lacrosse team.

'Prince': When did you start playing lacrosse?

Damien Davis: I was in first grade. It was a pee-wee league of seven-year olds. It was an 8-on-8 league since we didn't have enough people.

Basically it was a lot of little kids with equipment running around.

Owen Daly: I started in fourth grade. I think I was 10-years old. Before I moved to Baltimore I lived in Philadelphia and New Jersey for awhile and I played baseball. When I moved to Baltimore it seemed like the cool thing to do was to play lacrosse.

P: You mentioned baseball, what other sports did you guys play growing up?

OD: I played football, wrestled and lacrosse and I played baseball when I was young. I swam for a few months, but that didn't last.

P: What high school did you guys go to?

DD: I went to Gilman.

OD: I went to McDonough.

(eds. note: Gilman and McDonough are rival high schools in the Baltimore area.)

P: Can you describe some of the football rivalry and what positions did you play?

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

DD: I played running back and defensive-back.

OD: He was a receiver and a defensive back.

DD: A couple of times we were matched up on each other, and I remember making a couple tackles on him. We played each other three times. Gilman won twice.

P: Have you done any crazy stuff at a game?

DD: Not really, especially when we were older.

OD: You do a lot more stuff when you're not playing in the game.

DD: When we were younger, we were fans we'd run across the field. I remember one time a bunch of us tried to steal the McDonough Eagle head and we jumped the person thinking it was a guy and it really was this girl. So we ripped the head off and we were like "Oh, no." We got in trouble for that one.

P: What did you guys think of each other's high schools?

OD: Well, McDonough used to be a military school and out on a farm, so we were the farm boys. Gilman is closer to Baltimore so they'd always do something like have a cow at the games.

P: When did you guys decide on Princeton?

DD: I wanted to play with coach Tierney. I was able to come in since we had just graduated a lot of guys on defense and so I had the opportunity to start.

OD: I didn't know when I applied whether I'd get in or not, but just the chance to go somewhere like Princeton is an amazing opportunity. The fact that the school had a great lacrosse program with coach Tierney was just another opportunity.

P: What is it like having to play together as a team after so many of the guys were high school rivals?

DD: The cool thing about the rivalry was that it wasn't a mean rivalry. It was bitter rivalry because we wanted to win, but we would all go out together after the games as friends.

P: What is it like to play for a program like this?

OD: Our first game was at Johns Hopkins so it was great to start out at home in Baltimore. It felt great putting on the uniform for the first time. It was an amazing feeling.

P: What was it like playing in front of 6200 people in Baltimore?

DD: Actually it was the same field where we played our high school championships which was just as full. It was obviously different though. College lacrosse is a different feeling.

P: Owen, what was it like scoring your first goal in your first game?

OD: Actually it wasn't a very good shot. After the game Coach Tierney told me there was a red call on that play which means to pull the ball back out, but I didn't hear it with all the noise. It was lucky that I scored or I would have really gotten yelled at.

P: What was it like to score in the championship game against Syracuse?

OD: That was a great feeling. It was like nothing I have ever experienced before.

DD: When you look outside the field and there's all the little kids shooting, you know that it's their dream to be playing where we are which is a really cool feling. It's been a great chance.

P: What was it like losing a player like Josh Sims '00?

OD: We were never looking for one player to carry the load that Josh took on himself, but I think we're much deeper this year than we have ever been before so we're playing more by committee.

P: When you guys get news from home about the high school football game what goes on?

OD: Actually this year it was an upset and McDonough won. I was down at the game and even though it was a pretty ugly game it was good to win. It was also fun to come back and tell Damien all about what hapenned.

P: How good were you at wrestling?

OD: In high school i took second at national preps.

P: What were the preparations for those games? Did the schools get riled up?

DD:There were a lot of pep rallies and making fun of each other's schools. Then we'd go to each ohter's school and talk about good sportsmanship. Their captains came and talked to us and we talked to them and they used to sit there and make fun of us in the front row. They were our friends and it was hard to do it with your friends there making fun of you.

P: What were the games like between you guys on the lacrosse field?

OD: I think the first time we actually played against each other for a championship was eighth grade in a rec league game.

P: Who won?

OD: We won, but it wasn't a high school team. Just a rec team, but it was still nice.

Saturday, May 10

Previous Issues

Donate now

Submit a tip

Questions & Answers

Most Popular

Seniors deserve better than Jay Shetty

Letter from Provost reveals total operating budget, recommends shifts in spending

University publicizes expanded Immigration and ‘Non-Citizen’ FAQ page

‘A massive vacuum of knowledge, expertise, innovation’: Researchers face uncertainties in academia and government amid funding cuts

Federal funding cuts hit McCarter, Princeton University Concerts

Questions & Answers

Read More

Most Popular