Men's lax renews Syracuse rivalry

For the past decade and a half, two teams have hogged the spotlight in men's college lacrosse. They face each other tomorrow when No. 5 Princeton (3-1 overall) hosts No. 3 Syracuse (3-1) at the Class of 1952 Stadium at 3 p.m. in a showdown of the nation's two perennial powerhouses.

Princeton enters the weekend after a successful Spring Break which included wins over defending national champion No. 17 Virginia and No. 13 Hofstra.

The Tigers' win at Charlottesville, Va. was their first on Virginia's home turf since 1994, and motivated a team which had lost its fire after a crushing 14-5 loss to No. 1 Johns Hopkins. Sophomore goalie Dave Law's play in the Virginia game earned him Ivy Men's Lacrosse Co-Player of the Week honors.

The Tigers and the Orangemen have accounted for 13 of the past 15 NCAA championships, and the two teams have developed quite a rivalry over the years. This was only heightened when Syracuse embarrassed Princeton by knocking them out in the NCAA quarterfinal round last year by a score of 15-5.

"We know Syracuse will always be there at the end of the season," head coach Bill Tierney said. "So this will be a nice [win] to have if the rest of the season doesn't play out well."

One key to this game, as for every game this year for Princeton, will be the play of its freshmen. There are 14 of them this year, and they have been steadily gaining more experience as they try to make up for the loss of seven four-year starters in the Class of 2003.

In addition to strong play from the freshmen, an opponent as talented as Syracuse will require supreme efforts from the Tigers' experienced team leaders, senior attack Ryan Boyle and junior attack Jason Doneger. Most importantly against a team as dynamically offensive as Syracuse will be the overall play of the defense. They have shown over the last two weeks an ability to limit quality offensive chances, and the game will be decided on Princeton's half of the field.

Syracuse has become quite a nemesis for the Tigers over the years. Over the past 11 seasons, Princeton is undefeated against every other team in the country in postseason play, but are only 4-6 against the Orangemen.

The loss to Hopkins three weeks ago is the Tigers' only defeat so far. Hopkins is also the only team to overcome Syracuse this season.

Tierney hopes to try to emulate the Blue Jays' success against the Orangemen.

"[Syracuse attack] Mike Powell is the best offensive player in the game, but Hopkins stopped [the Syracuse offense] by never letting them have the ball," Tierney said. "They really did well with ball control and winning face-offs."

Though this is a possible recipe for success for Princeton, the Tigers do have a much different team than Hopkins, and so a different strategy could be more successful.

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Though the Blue Jays could have been hurt by more of a running, up-and-down game, in some respects that type of gameplay could lend itself to Princeton's strengths.

One factor sure to play a role in the game is the fan support. Both of the two largest crowds ever seen at Class of 1952 stadium were on hand for Princeton-Syracuse matchups.

When the Tigers travel to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, the atmosphere is always strong and antagonistic, and Princeton can only hope that its fans similarly come out tomorrow and rattle the experienced Orangemen.