Absence of Boyle hurts men's lacrosse in loss to No. 1 Virginia

Every season, the men's lacrosse team opens by playing Johns Hopkins, Virginia, and Syracuse in the opening weeks before the Ivy season gets under way.

Seeing as these teams are always among the elite in the nation, these games are an important measuring stick for how much improvement is needed.

Tierney was not able to test his best lineup Saturday as the Tigers faced No. 1 Virginia at the Class of 1952 Stadium. Junior captain and attack Ryan Boyle, widely accepted as the Tigers' most skilled player and one of the elite players in college lacrosse, was suspended for violating a team rule and did not play in the team's 10-7 loss.

For the second straight year, Princeton has opened with consecutive losses to Johns Hopkins and Virginia. Since the Tigers advanced to the national title game last year, there is no reason to panic yet.

In fact, Princeton fans can rejoice in the fact that the Tigers were able to hang tough with the Cavaliers without Boyle in the lineup.

"Not having Ryan [Boyle] in there actually made it easier to gameplan," Tierney said. "We knew we had to control the ball and show patience."

Princeton got off to a rough start as Virginia's star attack, John Christmas, scored an unassisted goal one minute and 48 seconds into the first quarter.

However, the Tigers were able to keep the Cavaliers' quick strike offense in check for the remainder of the half and early in the second half.

"The defense played fabulous," Tierney said. "If you had told me before the game we were going to hold them to 10 goals, I would have told you we were going to win."

Much of the credit has to go to senior goaltender Julian Gould, who played one of the best games of his collegiate career. He kept the Tigers in the game by making clutch save after clutch save. He finished the game with 11 stops.

After falling behind 2-0 early in the second quarter, the Tigers rallied to tie the score on goals by sophomore attack Jason Doneger and senior attack Sean Hartofolis only 45 seconds apart.

On offense, the Tigers played a slow tempo and simply wanted to keep possession of the balls.

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Tierney wanted to keep the game close and have a chance to win it at the end. Princeton did just that.

After Virginia scored two quick goals, the second with just under three minutes left in the half, Princeton found itself down, 5-3, and in dire need of some momentum.

The Tigers got the ball with 6.3 seconds left as senior midfielder Will MacColl brought it in from behind the Cavalier goal. He beat his man around the goal and flicked the ball past Virginia's goalie Tillman Johnson with only a second remaining.

Princeton carried that momentum over into the second half, and scored two goals in the first 3:14 to take a 6-5 lead, Princeton's only lead of the game.

The game plan unraveled from here as numerous mistakes cost the Tigers, and the Cavaliers quick-strike offense made them pay. Chris Rotelli provided most of the punishment, as he finished the day with four goals and an assist.

Princeton would tally one more goal to cut the deficit to 8-7 with over 10 minutes left in the game. However, Virginia answered quickly and a Rotelli goal with less than three minutes to play iced the win.