Men's lacrosse too good for its own good: Depth deters several top recruits

"This is probably the best four classes we've ever had in a row," men's lacrosse head coach Bill Tierney said in an interview earlier in the year with regards to Princeton's past recruiting.

Usually, one would think that a statement such as this could mean only positive things — high national rankings and championships. This year, though, the returning strength and depth on the Tiger roster scared away some of the nation's top recruits to some of the other, less-established programs.

"What happened to us a little this year is that, because of the four great recruiting classes in a row, the other [college] coaches were telling the kids to look at our roster and that they'll never make it into that lineup," Tierney said.

"Every once in a while, when you have three or four great classes, a kid who's maybe 50-50 for all the right reasons to come to Princeton opts to go elsewhere because he thinks he's hearing more playing time at another wonderful school."

Although Princeton is slightly upset that it lost a couple of its choice picks, Coach Tierney still believes that the team came out of the recruiting process with just what the program needs to continue its winning ways.

"Our needs next year are strong at the midfield and we think we got some very good midfielders," Tierney said.

On that list is one of the better athletes in the pool, Mac Bryson from Sewickley, PA.

"We got a kid out of Pittsburgh that we really like named Mac Bryson," Tierney said. "He's a little rough because he's from Pittsburgh, but he's big, strong, and fast." Princeton was also able to recruit the entire first midfield line of Garden City High School, the No. 1 team in the country out of Garden City, N.Y.

"They're from the same high school, they all play on the same midfield," Tierney said. "Garden City is No. 1 in the country right now and we have their first midfield."

Coach Tierney is excited that Princeton will be bringing in a number of players who are accustomed to winning and who also understand each other's unique skills.

"Mike Wenzel is a big, strong athletic midfielder we're hoping will step in to take [senior] Rob Torti's spot," Tierney said of one of his Garden City recruits. "He can shoot the ball really hard. We'll probably move Matt Prager (junior attackman B.J. Prager's younger brother) to attack depending on our needs. He's a smart, smart player. It's exciting to get their whole first midfield."

The other midfielder recruit on the Garden City line besides Wenzel and Prager is Jared Keeting.

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"I feel that my speed and game sense are my strongest assets," Keeting said. "I've always taken pride in my play between the restraining lines."

The next concern was replacing seniors, defender Ryan Mollett and goalie Trevor Tierney. For next season's purposes at least, coach Tierney believes he will be able to reach into the bench to replace the two departures.

"With Mollett leaving, it will be between [sophomore defender] Brian Lieberman and [freshman defender] Ricky Schultz and [sophomore defender] Joey [Rosenbaum] at times depending on what we want to do," Coach Tierney said.

To add further depth to the defensive line, the team will also be bringing in Tim Sullivan, a defenseman out of Loyola Blakefield High School in Maryland.

"My style of play lends itself to team defense, and I look forward to learning Princeton's system next year," Sullivan said. "I tend to play a style that fits well into a team concept."

In goal, coach Tierney acknowledged that sophomore Julian Gould is next year's probable starter, but mentioned that he would not be without competition.

"Right now, Julian Gould [has the inside track at goalie]. We have two goalies coming in — Matt Larkin, who's a kid that we really like from out of Severn School (in Severna Park, Md.), and Eric Chase out of Andover," coach Tierney said.

"They're both quick and have good skills, so it will be a battle. They all have interesting strengths."

The two goalies coming in recognize the difficulty of beating out Gould for the top spot, but look forward to pushing him to play his best and maintaining a competitive edge to remain between the posts.

"I know that it is extremely difficult to step in right away as a freshman, so I am hoping that I will be able to use my skills to challenge the veterans and prepare them for the game," Larkin said. "And if I do get a chance to get in, then I hope to use my communication skills and skills in the cage to lead the defense and the team to victory."

While the attack was not a concern in this year's recruiting — the line sports a very deep bench and will lose only one starter, Matt Striebel — it will probably be the main concern when recruiting starts for Princeton's class of 2006.

"We think our attack's deep enough that we'll be fine," coach Tierney said. "We're just going to have to make sure to fill up some attack spots next year."

This is not the best recruiting class Princeton has ever had, but, then again, the Tigers do not necessarily have to have a great class this year.

"We like the class, but we've just been talking so much about having the best class in the country each of the last four years, that now the other teams have very good classes," coach Tierney said.

"On paper, it might look like they have better classes, but this class is exactly what we needed."