Virginia drops men's lacrosse to 0-2 overall

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — With just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter last Saturday, senior attackman B.J. Prager beat Virginia goalie Tillman John-son to knot the game at nine, capping a three-goal comeback in the period. The Princeton contingent that made the trip down to Charlottesville looked at each other with a sly grin. This was the kind of lacrosse Tiger fans are used to. This is where Princeton shines.

Then, as if showing no regard for the defending national champions, Cavalier freshman John Christmas scored on a quick restart to put Virginia up by a goal.

The Wahoos would never trail again as Virginia (2-1) downed Princeton 13-11.

In the loss, the Tigers (0-2) were unable to do the things that have made Princeton the national champion six times in the last decade. One problem was falling short in the comeback. Princeton teams of the 90's and even last year's squad had an incredible resolve, and continuously reinforced the old sports adage, "It ain't over 'til it's over."

On Saturday, the Tigers were unable to muster up enough magic at the end to propel them to victory.

"When you make a comeback, it takes more than good plays," head coach Bill Tierney said. "It takes emotion. But I think we're going to be better at finishing games now. The pressure's on and we have to get going."

Virginia deserves much of the credit for thwarting Princeton's comeback attempt, as the Cavaliers turned every Tiger mistake into a dangerous opportunity.

"I think the difference in the game was how well they capitalized," Prager said. "They took advantage of our mistakes and turnovers and made us pay."

"We had some great shots on great possessions," Tierney added. "When they come back and score in transition, those are heartbreakers."

The other uncharacteristic problem spot for Princeton was on defense. The Tigers, known for their gritty and defensively-oriented play, allowed 13 goals in the game, including eight in the first half.

"We had to make a decision," Tierney said. "We had to create more offense after last week's performance [an 8-5 loss to Johns Hopkins]. We got a little sloppy on defense, turned the ball over and gave up some goals. It was almost as if we over-corrected for last week's problems."

The bright spot for Princeton was that the offense started to get into a flow for the first time this year. The ball moved around well, the passes were crisp, players crashed the net and the outside gunners got better looks at the goal.

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"There was a much better flow in this game than last week," Prager said. "Against Hopkins we played scared, but we really put a solid effort forth in this game."

After the first line was held scoreless for most of the season opener, Prager, sophomore attackman Ryan Boyle and junior attackman Sean Hartofilis exploded early in the team's second game. Midway through the first quarter, Boyle found Prager in front off a no-look pass, and Prager put home the Tigers' second goal. At the start of the second quarter, trailing 4-3, the Tigers again worked the ball around well until Boyle forced the action and found Hartofilis for an easy goal.

"There was a lot of emotion in practice this week," Tierney said.

"But the offense came together better in the game than it had in practice. We had a good scouting report and saw some things that we could do in the game."

With an 0-2 start, the schedule will not get any easier for Princeton in the next few weeks. On Saturday, the Tigers host Hofstra before their date with last year's runner-up Syracuse on March 23. But the team knows that it cannot wait for Ivy League play to start playing well.

Princeton's true test in the coming weeks, however, may not be how much it can improve, but whether or not the team can put a complete game together at both ends of the field.