Men's lax hungry for national title

Forgive the country's hallowed lacrosse programs for feeling a bit uneasy this week. Since the inception of a national tournament in 1971, men's college lacrosse has been nothing if not predictable. With the 2004 season just underway, however, the Tigers find themselves among the nation's elite programs staving off a pack of upstarts in a championship race that is becoming increasingly muddled.

From the sport's beginning, quality lacrosse has started and ended on the East Coast. In more than three decades of championship play, only seven different universities have won NCAA Division I championships.

With defending national champion Virginia starting the year No. 1 in the country and with familiar names Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Princeton and Maryland rounding out the top five, this season seemed poised to become another contrived reworking of a well-worn formula.

Virginia returns their starting attack unit and several key defenders, including 2003 National Player of the Year, goalie Tillman Johnson, from a team that last season rushed through the national tournament to claim their second championship in five years.

Last weekend, however, the Cavaliers played in the Pioneer Face-Off Classic in Colorado and left thoroughly humbled. Air Force unseated Virginia, 7-6, and tournament host Denver knocked them off the following day, 9-7. The two losses, along with Johns Hopkins' narrow escape in a 10-9 win over unranked Penn on Saturday, sent both shockwaves through and a clear message to the country's top programs: Preeminent programs cannot rest on their laurels.

"It seems like the beginning of something I really hoped for when I began coaching here," said Tigers' head coach Bill Tierney, who is beginning his 17th year on the Princeton sidelines. "You have to look at [the parity] as something that's good for the game."

Since Tierney's arrival, Princeton has risen to national prominence, winning 11 Ivy League titles and six national championships in 16 years. In their last 75 league games under Tierney, the Tigers have a stunning 71-4 record, including 37 straight league victories from 1995-2002.

The Tigers currently stand at No. 4 in the national polls, but losses from last season's squad mean the Tigers will have to defend their Ivy League title while relying on unproven talent.

"[Our high ranking] may be a little bit generous," Tierney said. "It is so hard to say right now, because we are so young. They tend to give [established programs] the benefit of the doubt because of the past."

Though the Tigers traditionally have dominated league opponents, Ivy League teams have closed the gap in the past several seasons. The league began the season with five of its six teams holding spots in the national Top 25 poll.

Cornell, the only Ivy League school aside from Princeton to ever win a national championship, is led by senior attackman Andrew Collins, who led all Division I players in total points last season.

Dartmouth's upset victory at Princeton late last season was the first time the Big Green had knocked off the Tigers in its last 15 tries. Dartmouth returns more preseason All-Americans (five) than Princeton does starters (four), but the loss of Coach of the Year candidate Rick Sowell raises eyebrows. Dartmouth's offense will be led by sophomore attackman Jamie Coffin, last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

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Princeton is again favored to capture the league title, which would be its 10th straight. But before the Ivy schedule begins, the Tigers endure their perennial battles with Johns Hopkins, Virginia and Syracuse.

"Some teams set their sights on the Ivy League championship," Tierney said. "While that title is certainly one of our goals, [our ultimate goal] is to win the national championship."