After down season, Tigers look ahead

After a strong 16-6 victory over Canisius last weekend, the Tigers are going into the upcoming season with high hopes and high expectations. "The key word is potential," junior defender Will Presti said. "Physically, we are capable of great things, we just have to find out who we are and come together in all aspects of the game in order to be successful."

The first few weeks of the season will not be easy: the next two games for the Tigers come against Johns Hopkins and Virginia, both of which made it to the Final Four last season.

Nevertheless, the team has a great track record of pulling through in big game situations. After all, the team has won 10 of the last 11 Ivy League championships and has appeared in the NCAA quarterfinals in 14 of the last 16 seasons.

But after a somewhat shaky 5-7 season last year, the Tigers will have to regain their confidence as players. "The challenge is shaking off last season and leaving it as a hiccup in our past rather than the beginning of a trend," Presti said. "It is our responsibility to get this program back where it belongs and where we know it should be."

This goal should hopefully be a manageable one for the Tigers, whose incoming freshman class was ranked No. 1 in the nation by "Inside Lacrosse." In the team's first game against Canisius, the freshmen scored six of Princeton's 16 goals — a promising start to the season.

Besides competing against perennially tough teams such as Hopkins and Virginia, the Tigers will also face a challenge from defending Ivy League champion Cornell.

Last season, after having won the previous 10 Ivy League crowns, Princeton came in second place to the Big Red. In their matchup last year, which was on the road for the Tigers, Cornell came away with a dominating 17-4 victory. That Big Red squad had five players named to the All-America team, three of whom graduated last spring. The remaining two, however, are seniors Joe Boulukos and Matt McMonagle who have both been named to the Tewaaraton Trophy "Watch List". The Big Red should provide the Tigers' biggest challenge in the Ivy League when they meet at Princeton on April 22.

Entering this season, "Lacrosse Magazine" and "Inside Lacrosse" ranked Cornell No. 6 and No. 8, whereas the magazines ranked Princeton No. 14 and No. 9, respectively. Inside Lacrosse ranked the other significant hurdle in the Ivy League, Dartmouth, at No. 17.

Regardless of the rankings, the Tigers are sure that they have the talent to succeed and that at this point, their mental game is just as important as their physical game. "We have good leadership, guys that understand the game, and a slew of young talent which adds a spark to our transition game," Presti said.

To tackle the problem of mental confidence, the team needs to focus on performing well in each game. "After a season like we had last year, there is a natural tendency to get too anxious about the end-goal and to not concentrate on the immediate task at hand," Presti noted. "I have learned to treat each week as a separate entity, one that will combine with many others to get us where we want to be in the end."

From head coach Bill Tierney's perspective, one of the biggest hurdles the team will have to overcome this season will be the adjustment, on the part of both coaches and players, to playing a more aggressive and fast-paced offense. "We have to be ready to understand that mistakes will be made," Tierney said. "Our success has been built around discipline and defense for so many years ... [and] it still will be, but I want these kids to be confident to take a shot if they see a shot."

Tierney hopes the new offense will give the Tigers the edge they need to succeed this season. "We have bright kids who understand the big picture, [and they're going to] use this to their advantage," he said.

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Overall, the season looks very promising for the Princeton squad, and the major challenges will be as much mental ones as they will be the team's opponents. "We know we have good players, we just need to prove it to ourselves," sophomore Dan Cocoziello said. "We know hard work in practice will translate into wins."