Young Tigers Roar

"Youth is full of sport, age's breath is short; youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame."

— William Shakespeare

Though the Bard had certainly never heard of the Native American game of lacrosse when he wrote these words, he could well have been describing this year's men's lacrosse team, which pins much of its hopes on a crop of freshmen heralded as the best recruiting class ever to come to Princeton.

Saturday's game saw seven freshmen play in their first NCAA game in the then-No. 3 Tigers' season-opening loss to No. 1 Johns Hopkins. Three members of the Class of 2008 started the game for the Orange and Black: defenseman Dan Cocoziello, midfielder Bob Schneider and midfielder Pete Striebel. Also getting action against Hopkins were midfielders Alex Berg and Zach Goldberg and attackers Alex Haynie and Trip Cowin.

The performance of these freshmen against the Blue Jays, just like the team as a whole, was mixed. No freshman scored any points in the contest, despite five shots by Schneider. Two of those shots were on-goal, and Schneider also picked up a pair of ground balls. Striebel was called for a pushing penalty in the first quarter and missed one shot.

"I thought that Dan Cocoziello played very well, I thought that Bob Schneider played very well, [though] he had five shots [but] didn't score on any," head coach Bill Tierney said.

"Some of the others, you could see that they were freshmen out there."

Tierney noted that, on the whole, he had been happier with the freshmen's play during Princeton's preseason scrimmages than during the Hopkins game.

"Unfortunately they're still 17-18 years old," he said. "You got 6,000 people in the stands, you're playing on the top team in the country, and you just get a little tighter and each mistake you make makes you a little tighter — and that's the downside of playing freshmen."

"The upside is if they're better, they deserve to play. By being in these big games – Hopkins, Virginia, Syracuse type games – when it gets going towards the end of the year, nothing is going to bother them," Tierney added.

Cocoziello, who was rated the top incoming freshman in the nation by "Inside Lacrosse" magazine, played a stellar game against a Hopkins offense that may be the most talented in the country. Playing alongside seniors Tim Sullivan and Oliver Barry, the two other starting defensemen, Cocoziello more than lived up to his reputation — and, if anything, outplayed his older teammates.

Berg, recruited exclusively for his face-off abilities, only got a chance to use his skills once against Hopkins.

"I just thought that the style of Hopkins' face-off guys, with their really quick hands, didn't fit into Alex's [style of play]," Tierney said. "He's working very hard and he's a great kid, and maybe he's a later-in-the schedule guy."

Help down the road

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Tierney also has plans for the other freshmen. Cowin and Haynie, though they did not contribute much on Saturday, have shown promise in scrimmages and practices so far and can be expected to add depth to Princeton's attack.

"Certainly, the guys that we're working on that may not show [it] in the next few weeks, but we think are going to be very good, are Alex Haney and Trip Cowen," Tierney said. "Both played a little bit the other day, [and] both are going to play more this week."

Tierney was also quick to mention another member of the Class of 2008 who, though he has yet to see playing time, could play a large role in the future.

"Don't leave Alex Hewitt out, he's a hell of a goalie," Tierney said. "The hardest position to move into as a freshman at this level is the goalie because the shots are that much harder . . . but Alex I can see in a few weeks pushing the other two [goalies, junior Dave Law and senior Matt Larkin] for some time."

The freshmen add youth to a squad that is already bottom-heavy, with a sophomore class that is one of the biggest ever seen at Old Nassau. Sophomore attack Scott Sowanick was the offensive star of the Hopkins game, and only four of the 11 starters were upperclassmen.

The Tigers are clearly a team that is still developing, but if the early indications mean anything, their "hot and bold" youth will serve them well as they find themselves as a team over the course of the season.