Men's lax beats Syracuse for NCAA title

Syracuse was going to win.

With the score tied at nine at the men's lacrosse NCAA Championship game in Piscataway, the Orangemen had momentum and recent history on their side. They were the defending national champions, had beaten Princeton badly in their last three meetings, and had just rallied from a four-goal deficit to send the game into overtime.

Everyone could feel it — the Orangemen was going to win. But they didn't.

Instead, attackman Ryan Boyle '04 broke free behind the Syracuse goal and flipped a pass to attackman B.J. Prager '02, who had found space at the edge of the crease in front of the Orangemen's goal. Prager caught Boyle's pass cleanly and fired a bounce shot past Mulligan for Princeton's game-winning 10th goal.

"We knew coming into this game that Syracuse was a team that would beat us seven or eight out of 10 times we would face each other," Princeton head coach Bill Tierney said. "I always try to get the kids to rise to the challenge, and that is exactly what we did. We persevered, not just today but every game during this tournament. We found a way to win."

Princeton has now won six of the last 10 NCAA Championships. The Tigers have compiled a record of 23-6 in NCAA Tournament play, good for a .793 winning percentage, the best in Tournament history.

Keeping that record up was by no means easy at this year's tournament. In the quarterfinals, Princeton fended off Loyola, 8-7. The Greyhounds had a chance to take control of the game with a two-minute, non-releasable extra man opportunity, but the Tigers' brilliant defense of Ryan Mollett '01, Scott Farrell '02, and Damien Davis '03 kept the ball out of the Princeton net. The Tigers held control from then on.

One week later, Princeton met a resurgent Towson team in the semifinals. The Tigers from northern Baltimore rallied to tie the Tigers from central New Jersey at 11 late in the fourth quarter, but goalie Trevor Tierney '01 made a late goal by attackman Sean Hartofilis '03 stand, and the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Finals.

From the start of the championship game, Princeton showed that it was not the same team that had been wiped out by Syracuse, 13-8, earlier in the year. The Tigers appeared more confident, in part because a few new twists in their game plan were very effective in the early going.

They relied less on their trademark sliding defense, instead giving their talented defensive corps the responsibility of guarding the vaunted Syracuse attack man-to-man. They also deployed a new look on offense, showcasing the attackmen's individual goalscoring skills more than intricate passing schemes. In addition, Princeton essentially conceded many of the face-offs to Syracuse's expert midfielder Chris Cercy, so that the Tigers could quickly set up on defense to avoid fast breaks.

The game plan was effective, as the experienced Tiger defense shut down the Syracuse attack and quickly returned the ball to the offense. Once in possession of the ball, the Tigers converted. They jumped out a 4-0 lead midway through the second quarter and 8-4 at the end of the third, getting two goals apiece from Prager, Matt Striebel '01 and Brad Dumont '03.

Furthermore, Matt Bailer '01 recovered from his early-game face-off woes to beat Cercy in 10 out of the last 13 face-offs, so the Tigers no longer had to rely on their defense to give them possession.

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The Tigers 8-4 lead seemed safe at the beginning of the fourth quarter, especially considering that not a single Syracuse attackman had yet scored at that point in the game. But no defense can stop the Orangemen attack corps for an entire game, and the beginning of the fourth quarter signaled the resurgence of what is considered the nation's best offense.

Suddenly the Tigers' defense did not look so impenetrable, and their offense did not seem so error-free. Syracuse scored four goals in the first seven minutes of the quarter to tie the game.

Princeton finally recovered from the run after Davis drew a penalty on a clear, giving Boyle and Prager a chance to connect for the Tigers' ninth goal. That left Princeton with six minutes to hold their 9-8 lead to become national champions.

When Trevor Tierney turned away a flurry of Syracuse shots with a minute to play and Princeton cleared the ball from their defensive end, it seemed as though the Tigers had the game wrapped up. But after crossing the midfield line, midfielder Owen Daly '03 carried the ball out of the attack zone on the opposite end, which is illegal in the final minute, so the Orangemen regained possession.

Star Syracuse attackman Mike Powell then tied the score with just 16 seconds left in regulation. Marked by Davis on a restart, Powell darted goalward, beating the Tiger sophomore and coming face-to-face with Tierney. He slipped a low shot into the net that Tierney was helpless to stop, and the game was headed to overtime.

It was Princeton's fourth win in overtime in the NCAA Championship game and its 10th straight one-goal victory in tournament play, including all three of this year's games.

"When you win three one-goal games en route to a National Championship, it is not about coaching, it is about character," coach Tierney said. "We showed that today."

Defenseman Ryan Mollett '01, Trevor Tierney, Striebel, and attackman Sean Hartofilis '03 were named to the All-Tournament Team. Prager was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.