So you're too busy in late May to make the trip to Baltimore for the NCAA Final Four of men's lacrosse? Then consider catching up with head coach Bill Tierney and his Tigers for the next two weekends.
Tomorrow, Princeton travels south to Charlottesville to go toe-to-toe with the defending national champion, Virginia, then faces off against Syracuse next Saturday, this time on the Tigers' home field.
Tradition holds that these three teams will still be playing deep into May and, if the last ten years of college lacrosse are any indication, these two match-ups could provide a preview of not only a semifinal showdown, but maybe even of the national championship game.
No team outside of Princeton, Syracuse and Virginia has won a national title since 1991. Over the same stretch, at least two of the three teams have played in the final four every year.
So call them preseason games if you like. But anyone who follows the college game will tell you that, for the Princeton Tigers, these next two weekends represent much more than simple tuneups for the approaching Ivy League slate.
Virginia's reeling. A talented cast of returning Cavaliers made Virginia the hands-down favorite to repeat as champions before they even played a game. But after a season-opening victory against an overmatched Drexel squad, Virginia rolled west to Colorado.
By the time the Cavaliers headed home, their eyes had been opened, having suffered back-to-back losses to upstarts Denver and Air Force. Eager for an opportunity to redeem themselves, they settled in to host perennial powerhouse Syracuse and were beaten soundly, 18-12. The three-game skid marks the first time the Cavaliers have dropped three straight since 2001.
"Virginia definitely has their backs against the wall, and it is a great opportunity for us to try to pick up a win," junior attacker Jason Doneger said. "But they're still Virginia."
Admittedly, the Cavaliers still feature an All-American trio of attackers and a solid defense. They also have goalie Tillman Johnson, last year's National Player of the Year.
"All three of their attackmen are great players," Doneger said. "They return Johnny Christmas, [Joe] Yevoli, and [Matt] Ward, and you can't forget about that."
Christmas, a junior, grabbed second team All-America honors last season, and his speed around the goal makes him dangerous on every possession.
On defense, senior co-captain Brett Hughes will hope to neutralize the Princeton offense and help take the pressure off Johnson.
"It's hard to say too much about Tillman Johnson," Doneger said. "He's the best goalie in the country. He tends to get into grooves, and the one thing we don't want is for him to get into a zone."
It was Johnson's hot streak during last year's postseason that drove the Cavaliers to a national title and solidified his place among the nation's most dominant players.
A week after the the Virginia game, the Tigers will find themselves on home turf, tangling with the Orangemen. It is the teams' first meeting since Syracuse ended Princeton's season abruptly last May with a 15-5 pasting in the national quarterfinals.
If the Tigers hope to beat the Orangemen, they will have to shut down attacker Mike Powell. Powell is a candidate for Player of the Year honors after three years as a first-team All-American.
"One of the biggest things [two victories would provide] is confidence," Doneger said. "We have some really young kids that are on the cusp of breaking out, and getting two wins would be important for our own morale as much as anything else."
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