No. 11: Jesse Hubbard '98

Memorial Day Weekend, 1996. Princeton's men's lacrosse team, a soon-to-be-storied squad with two championships in its past, is fighting for its second NCAA lacrosse championship in a close battle against the University of Virginia.

With the score tied 12-12 at the end of regulation, the referees whistle for overtime. At the face-off, the Tigers get a quick possession and advance on the goal.

10, 15 seconds go by. The Tigers work the ball around the perimeter of their offensive box, playing the kind of methodical, controlled game that has been so devastatingly effective throughout the tenure of head coach Bill Tierney.

20 seconds. Around the ball goes. 25 seconds. 30 seconds.

33 seconds. A teammate passes the ball to a young, talented sophomore attackman standing at the top-right corner of the box.

34 seconds. Jesse Hubbard '98 rockets an overhanded shot from afar, about 11 yards out from the goal, that skips past the goalie's knee for the title.

Plays like that one would become classic Hubbard: an amazing goal scored at the most critical possible point in the game. His invaluable performances led the Tigers to unprecedented levels of success and made lacrosse Princeton's game — and Princeton lacrosse's team — in the late 90s.

Hubbard had been heavily recruited, but Tierney and the Tigers had an advantage: his older brother, Andrew Hubbard '95, had also played for Princeton.

"The thing that we watched when he was a junior and a senior and the summer before senior year, we knew he could shoot the ball like nobody we'd ever had," Tierney recalls.

After graduating from St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., Hubbard matriculated at Old Nassau. Tierney admits that, in Hubbard's freshman year, a coaching mistake prevented the team from getting the most out of Hubbard.

"Over the course of coaching for 20 years, as you look back, it's very easy to realize the mistakes you made," Tierney said. "One of them I made was playing Jesse at midfield his freshman year."

Indeed, the move to attack precipitated perhaps the greatest three-peat in recent Princeton sports history. After defeating the Cavaliers, 13-12, in 1996, Princeton went on to win two more NCAA titles. In 1997, the Tigers defeated Maryland by a score of 19-7; in 1998, the two teams met again with the same outcome, as Princeton won, 15-5.

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It wasn't just Hubbard, though; attack linemates Chris Massey '98 and Jon Hess '98 completed a trio of perhaps the best players Princeton has ever seen.

"A lot of teams have a lot of players that are very talented, but these three had a passion for lacrosse unlike anyone we've ever had here," Tierney said.

Off the field, the three were good friends and even lived together; their fervor for the game was extreme. Before the trailers moved into Dillon Court, the area used to be known as "the pit," and had lights that could be turned on at night. The trio used to spend hours shooting on a goal the team brought there, working on their game late into the night.

"They were just so passionate about it that as great as Jesse was when he came, he even became better," Tierney said. "[Playing with Hess and Massey] certainly helped his game as well."

By the time he finished his four years at Princeton, Hubbard had easily captured the school's all-time goals scored record with 163. Additionally, he ranks second on the list of NCAA tournament goals scored in the history of the competition, with 33.

Moreover, he had catapulted both Princeton and Tierney to fame. The Tigers went on to win a sixth championship in 2001.

Hubbard still plays Major League Lacrosse, currently taking the field for the New Jersey Pride. He's also involved in various camps and other events related to lacrosse, as well as being a spokesman for Warrior Lacrosse, the widely recognized industry leader in lacrosse gear.

Though, at 31, his days of running the field may be numbered, Hubbard's contributions to Princeton lacrosse will never be forgotten.