Men's lacrosse opens title defense against Johns Hopkins

Last time the men's lacrosse team suited up for a game, it won a national championship. Tomorrow, the Tigers begin their quest to defend that title and claim their seventh crown in eleven years as they travel to Baltimore to take on Johns Hopkins.

Though Princeton opens up every season against the Blue Jays, this year's matchup will provide new and interesting challenges to the Tigers' coaches and players. Saturday's game pits the preseason No. 1 — Princeton — and No. 3 programs in the nation in both squads' season openers. On top of that, teams are not allowed to scout at scrimmages, so both coaching staffs will have to make adjustments during the game and prepare as best they can.

"I've been telling the guys, do what we do and do it well," head coach Bill Tierney said. "We're watching game films from last year, but we're also preparing for the unexpected. We've got to be ready for somewhat of a chess match."

"They're a young team and a lot of their personnel has changed," sophomore attackman Ryan Boyle said. "Coach has been saying that we have to be ready for some in-game adjustments."

One thing Princeton will focus on and try to exploit will be Hopkins' youth and relative inexperience. The Blue Jays plan to start four or five freshman, including two on the attack. The Tigers, on the other hand, return five starters and several other veterans from last year's championship team.

"We're a pretty experienced team," senior attackman and team captain B.J. Prager said. "So there's more excitement than nervousness. We just want to get the season underway."

Once the season starts, however, the Tigers will face a barrage of top-ranked teams in its first few weeks. On March 9th, Princeton heads down to Charlottesville to take on No. 5 Virginia. The team will also play 2001 NCAA runner-up Syracuse and perennial powerhouse Duke in the first month of the season. But the team is being careful not to look too far into the season.

"We're definitely focusing on Hopkins right now," junior attackman Sean Hartofilis said. "You don't need too much motivation to get pumped up for that game."

"This weekend is definitely one of our most important games," Prager added. "Coming off our national championship, we want to prove to ourselves and everyone else that we're still the same caliber team."

To do that, the Tigers are going to have to show that they can win without All-American goalie Trevor Tierney '01 and All-American defender Ryan Mollett '01. Stepping into net will be junior Julian Gould, while junior Brian Lieberman and sophomore Ricky Shultz will vie for time on defense to complement senior captain Scott Farrell and junior Damien Davis.

Considering the whole picture, the team knows that a win here will be a huge momentum-builder and a great win to have on the schedule.

"There are two sides to this game," Tierney said. "It's a long season and so one game won't make or break it. But this is Hopkins. They are a strong team and have the toughest schedule in the country. A win like this to put in the bank is a great thing to have. You want as many solid wins as possible to show the NCAA at the end of the season."