Princeton's shut-down secret

Princeton men's lacrosse is synonymous with good defense. The 5.5 goals per game allowed by the current Tiger squad is the best in Division I, and head coach Bill Tierney is known throughout the lacrosse community as a defensive coach.

But here's a secret: Tierney is letting someone else run the defense this year. Second-year assistant coach Greg Raymond leads the 2007 defensive unit, which has come up big several times already this season.

"He has slowly but surely and sufficiently taken over the day-by-day coaching of the team defense," Tierney said. "Although I oversee that very closely, it has allowed me to do more with the offense."

Raymond, 24, played defense and long-stick midfielder for Johns Hopkins and was the starting long-stick midfielder for the Blue Jays during their 2005 national championship run in his senior year.

For the Corning, N.Y., native, coaching under Tierney is a privilege, as Princeton's defense is a model for the system he played in at Johns Hopkins.

"It's an honor," Raymond said. "Tierney originated [this defensive set]. When I came here, it was just learning the terminology, as a lot of the same rules and philosophies I already knew."

As a consequence of recently playing in the system, Raymond has been able to effectively convey his knowledge to the Tigers.

"Greg really knows his stuff," senior defender Dan Cocoziello said. "When it comes to the X's and O's, he knows how to defend other teams."

One of the keys to Princeton's defensive success is Raymond's scouting of other teams.

"Each week we play a different opponent, and it's our job as coaches to learn the opponent's offense, first their individual talents and then their whole game plan," Raymond said. "We have certain matchups and game plans each week. We teach what to expect from the offense."

"He has the ability to know our defenders, and then by looking at film and scouting reports, he does a great job of determining who should match up with whom, how we should go about our defensive plan," Tierney said. "For each and every game that changes."

Raymond's youth and communication skills have been just as important as his ability to scout teams.

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"I think it would be an understatement to say guys like Greg," Cocoziello said. "Guys love Greg. On and off the field, you can turn to Greg for anything. He's always upbeat, and there's never a dull moment.

"He knows when to get on us and when to pull back. So many times, you see a young coach that is timid around his players. Greg will get on you, but at the same time be joking around with you after practice."

Raymond has a sense of humor, but he also knows when to be serious with the team.

"[Raymond] has a great rapport with the players, [and he] has their respect," Tierney said.

Raymond's ability to both communicate with and have faith in the defense allows the unit to persevere during difficult stretches. For example, when the Tigers faced Penn earlier this season, the Quakers held Princeton scoreless for the first 20 minutes of the game, while applying consistent pressure around the Tigers' net.

The defense did not waver, however, and ultimately held Penn scoreless for nearly 38 minutes.

"It's a situation where our defense has got to have confidence when things aren't going well," Raymond said. "As a team, [confidence is] something we've earned; it's just something to keep everybody calm and remind [us] that we're capable of playing good defense against our opponent."

Raymond is also an essential part of keeping the defense cool in tense situations.

"In games, he's coaching us the whole way, and he's very vocal during time outs," Cocoziello said. "Not to mention Greg's getting us fired up before the game starts."

Despite the success of the defense and the praise heaped on him, Raymond remains humble, insisting that success has less to do with coaching and more to do with the players.

"The coaches can only do so much — it's really up to the players," Raymond said. "It makes my job a whole lot easier, just how intelligent [the players] are. We know since they go to Princeton that they can do well in the classroom, but it's also hard to have a lacrosse IQ, and that's why we've had success so far. That and they play really hard."

Though he is young, Raymond already has longterm aspirations for becoming a head coach somewhere.

"I would like to be [a head coach], that's my goal," Raymond said. "Coaching under Coach Tierney, I realized this is something that I love. It's a ways down the road and in the future, but it's a goal I've set for myself."

High-powered offenses beware, because if Raymond's current success is in any way indicative of his defensive teams in the future, goals may be a bit hard to come by in a few years.