'Dapper' goalie leads Princeton

In one of the few regions of the country where lacrosse is as commonplace as bread and butter, it's not so hard to believe that many of the college club lacrosse teams have players who could compete at the varsity level. This holds especially true for Princeton, where the club lacrosse team has been following in the steps of its nationally-ranked varsity counterpart and doesn't look to let up on the competition anytime soon.

The Tigers are stacked almost to the point of unfairness. Chief among Princeton's many standout players, and flanking them in the backfield, is sophomore goalie Pete Curtin.

"Peter 'Dapper' Curtin is the anchor of the team," sophomore Kevin Block said. "He is a talented goalie and a committed teammate, and normally deserves the credit for the team's success. He could easily have played Division I if he wanted."

Curtin is assisted by players like senior Dave Lawrence and junior Rick Cerf in the midfield.

"Dave plays everything well: faceoffs, man-up, man-down, etc.," Block said. "Rick Cerf, our current club president, also takes some nasty sweeps and puts a lot of pepper on his shots."

This past Saturday, the Orange and Black rolled Duke, 9-3, and prevailed over Penn State, 8-7, coming up short only to UVa. by a score of 7-4. As impressive as the weekend was though, the Tigers realize they are capable of much more.

"In general, I would say our club team does well because it consists of players with high pedigrees," Block said. "A lot of us come from good lacrosse high schools and don't need to be taught how to play the game."

The team left for UVa. Friday afternoon, where they were set to compete for the weekend. But while the other teams were probably going over game plans and imposing curfews, the Tigers were making the most of their road trip.

"We left for the University of Virginia on Friday afternoon, watched some movies, stopped at the Maryland House so Andy Kittler could eat some fried chicken, and made it to our hotel at around 10 p.m.," Block said. "Almost all of us checked out the nightlife at UVa. and were not disappointed."

But despite going out the previous night, the Tigers managed to clean up against the Blue Devils and the Nittany Lions on Saturday. Senior former president Ben Gliklich played an integral role in both games, helping to lead the Tigers to two very different victories. While prevailing comfortably over Duke, the team had its hands full against a scrappy Penn State squad.

"We handled a traditionally strong Duke team, and then played a very exciting game against Penn State, one of the better teams in the country," Gliklich said.

The teams were tied at two going into the end of the first half, and then Gliklich scored two goals quickly to start off the second half. Penn State countered and mustered a 7-5 lead going into the final three minutes. Then Princeton stepped it up.

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In a crucial offensive flurry, sophomore Andy Kittler scored, and senior Phill Solomond won the face-off to enable sophomore Kyle Hagel to tie the game 7-7. The rest might as well have been taken from a movie. With under a minute left and the game down to the wire, sophomore midfield Mac Williams scored the game winner.

"We put in three goals in under two minutes due to good clock management, smart lacrosse and a lot of heart," Gliklich said. The result showed how truly dangerous the Tigers can be when they put it in their heads to win.

Perhaps the only indication of how early it is in the season for Princeton came when they faced off against the Cavaliers. Princeton had't had as much practice time as it would have liked before the game against UVa., and wasn't as polished as its rivals.

"Virginia looked quite good, but we will beat [them] next time around — it was early and the game got pushed up earlier than we planned," Gliklich said.

The general consensus among the Tigers is that they are capable of beating anyone, and the confidence which allows them to feel this way isn't unwarranted.

"I imagine a team like UVa. or Maryland will be our biggest competition, but once we iron out some kinks and have a couple good weeks of practice, I think we stand a good chance of going far in the national championship tournament," Block said.

The Tigers, currently second in the Garden State conference, will be squaring off against Rowan and Fordham this weekend, then hosting the Ivy League tournament on April 15. After that, they look to participate in the national tournament. Though only 16 teams will qualify, Princeton has no doubt that it will be one of them.

"Sixteen teams make it and we should definitely be in the field and competitive for the final four and championship," Gliklich said.

Block puts it more bluntly: "If we don't make it to the final weekend, it will be a disappointment." To some, this is cockiness. To the Tigers, it's the truth.