When four teams, including the Tigers, have taken every championship since 1992, it's hard to put much weight on rankings.
The men's lacrosse team currently holds the No. 1 ranking in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll after defeating Canisius, 18-6, last weekend. But in order to stay on top and bring home their seventh NCAA title, the Tigers will have to beat familiar foes like Virginia, Syracuse and Johns Hopkins — the only other three teams to have won championships in recent memory.
Nobody knows this better than head coach Bill Tierney.
"If we are going to win a national championship, we have to beat those kinds of teams not once, but twice," Tierney said, referring to both regular-season and tournament games that Princeton usually ends up playing against some of those opponents.
So far this season, several championship contenders have already suffered losses, victims of an upset bug that cleared the way for Princeton to get the No. 1 ranking this past week. Below is a preview of some of the top-ranked teams in the nation, along with a summary of how they fared last season.
No. 4 Cornell (1-0)
Aside from Princeton, Cornell is the only Ivy League team currently ranked in the national poll. Last weekend, the Big Red notched its first victory of the season, easily defeating Binghamton by a score of 19-4. Junior midfielder John Glynn led the scoring onslaught, notching a career-high four goals and two assists.
The Tigers shared the Ivy League title with Cornell last season, and Tierney recognized that the Big Red poses a threat to Princeton's title hopes this season as well.
"The [team] that is always lurking is Cornell," Tierney said. "Year in and year out, we are always playing [them] for the Ivy title. They have been our biggest rival in the past few years."
In particular, goaltender Matt McMonagle is among the best of keepers in collegiate lacrosse. He fell just shy of junior goaltender Alex Hewit to take third place in Division I last season with a .625 save percentage.
The Tigers face Cornell in their third-to-last game of the season, and if both teams play to their potential, the matchup could decide the ownership of the Ancient Eight title.
No. 5 Virginia (1-1)
With an impressive 17-0 record last season, the Cavaliers won the NCAA title, defeating Massachusetts by a score of 15-7 in the championship game. A big reason for Virginia's success was its high-powered offense, which averaged 15.8 goals per game.
In its first game of 2007, an unranked Drexel team dashed the Cavaliers' hopes of a second consecutive unbeaten season, defeating them by a score of 11-10. Virginia bounced back last weekend with a 15-7 victory over Stony Brook.
Last season, the Cavaliers defeated Princeton by a narrow margin of 7-6.
Though they lost the game, the Tigers showed their ability to shut down a serious offensive attack by holding Virginia to single digits, the only time the Cavaliers scored fewer than 10 goals all season.
On March 10, Princeton will travel to Charlottesville, Va., in an attempt to avenge last year's painful loss.
No. 6 Maryland (2-1)
Last season, the Terrapins handed the Tigers an early exit from the NCAA tournament, defeating Princeton by a score of 11-6 in the quarterfinal round. Maryland was one of only two teams, the other being Dartmouth, to score in double digits against the Tigers' stingy defense.
Maryland suffered its first loss of the 2007 season last weekend, falling to No. 4 Georgetown, 8-6.
In goal this season for the Terrapins is freshman Brian Phipps, the No. 1 recruit in the nation according to Inside Lacrosse. In 2006, Phipps won the Wynn Award, a yearly honor given to the top goalie in the state of Maryland. With the promising freshman in goal, the Terrapins may be tough to score on. Though the Tigers are not slated to play Maryland this season, there is always a chance that the two teams will clash again in this year's tournament.
No. 7 Johns Hopkins (0-1)
Johns Hopkins is always a serious contender in the hunt for the NCAA title, which it last captured in 2005. But after losing its first game of the season to No. 8 Albany, the Blue Jays have something to prove.
Johns Hopkins will miss the presence of the best face-off specialist in school history, midfielder Greg Peyser. Over his four-year career in a Blue Jay uniform, Peyser won 67 percent of his face offs.
Last season, the Tigers defeated Johns Hopkins by a score of 6-4, snapping the Blue Jays' 17-game winning streak. Senior attack Peter Trombino led Princeton to victory, scoring two goals in the span of one minute, 40 seconds.
The Tigers will get an early taste of Johns Hopkins this Saturday, playing the team in the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic in Baltimore.
No. 9 Syracuse (1-1)
Syracuse joins the list of top teams that have already suffered an early season upset. Last weekend, the Orangemen fell to No. 16 Army by a score of 8-6.
During his eight year tenure as head coach, Jon Desko has led the Orangemen to three national championships.
The Syracuse offense is led by junior attack Mike Leveille, who scored 31 goals and totaled 21 assists last season and earned All-American honors.
On April 7, the two teams in orange will clash at Class of 1952 Stadium.
No. 13 Hofstra (1-0)
After finishing 17-2 last season, Hofstra started the 2007 season with a bang, upsetting No. 9 Massachusetts by a score of 8-6.
At the helm of the Pride's offense is sophomore attack Tom Dooley. In his freshman season, Dooley tallied 38 goals and 13 assists.
When the Tigers face Hofstra on March 17, their defense will certainly be tested by the surging Pride offense.
Tigers gun for top
There is no doubt that the Tigers have a long road ahead of them. But Tierney notes that Princeton does have one big advantage over most of the other lacrosse powerhouses.
"By the end of the year, because we haven't had overkill from September to May like other teams, [our players] still have a little gas in their tank," Tierney said. "Hopefully this is the year we can get to the top again."
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