Ranked No. 8 in the preseason polls, the Tigers (1-0) will be counting on their defense to hold down the fort. After reaching the Final Four 10 times in the past 15 years, the Tigers’ road to Foxboro, Mass., and the national lacrosse finals will be much tougher this season. The offense graduated two prolific scorers and will no longer feature the talent of last year’s squad. Princeton opened its season without attackers Peter Trombino ’07 and Scott Sowanick ’07, who combined for 41 goals and 28 assists last season. The Tigers will also miss the presence of first-team All-American defenseman Zach Jungers ’07, who led the Tigers to a Division I-best 6.17 goals allowed per game last season.
“We lost two of our top scorers on offense and a real shutdown defenseman in Zach, arguably the best at each position,” head coach Bill Tierney said. “We didn’t lose a lot of guys, but we lost some very good guys.”
Even without Jungers, the Princeton defense still features a list of names that will make opposing teams tremble. In addition to senior goalie Hewit and senior defenseman Cocoziello, junior defensemen Chris Peyser and Charlie Kolkin round out the four preseason All-Americans on Princeton’s four-man defensive line. Cocoziello is also the top-rated defenseman in the nation.
“We returned a lot of guys on defense, and we have a couple guys, [sophomore] Jeremy Hirsch and [senior] Peter Trentman, stepping up to fill Jungers’ spot,” Hewit said. “We’re still coming together, but I think we can be as strong as we were last year on defense.”
After playing in 12 games last season as a fourth defenseman, Hirsch will look to expand his role in the Tiger defense.
“[Hirsch] is a tough kid, and he plays well within the system,” Tierney said. “He’s not Zach just yet, though.”
Replacing Jungers and re-establishing the Tigers’ defensive dominance will be crucial to the team’s success. Last year, Princeton faced five of the top 18 scoring offenses in the nation, including Johns Hopkins, U.Va., Yale, Syracuse and Cornell — all of whom are on the Tigers’ 2008 schedule. Cornell had the No. 1-ranked offense in the nation last year and was the only team to post double-digit goals on the Tigers all year. Despite the impressive defensive statistics, the Tigers only won two of those five games and were plagued by an inability to put up points on offense. The loss of Trombino and Sowanick will put even greater pressure on the defensive line to stifle opposing offenses and keep scoring to a minimum.
With the offense yet to come into form, the games in the next few weeks will rely on the solidity of the Tiger defense.
“It’s a really exciting stretch of games, and it’s a great way to test ourselves early in the season,” Peyser said. “It certainly is challenging, but we’ll be prepared for more adversity later on in the season.”
Princeton continues its grueling season tomorrow against defending national champion and No. 1 Johns Hopkins after a season-opening victory over Canisius last weekend.
“Princeton-Hopkins is almost always a low-scoring game,” Tierney said. “You expect a total of 15 to 17 goals, that’s about it.”
Despite the loss of Jungers on defense, Tierney remains optimistic about the future. Led by defensemen Derek Styer and Long Ellis, the highly touted freshman class may figure critically into the success of the team and offset the loss of the former All-American.
“I think Long, Derek and [freshman midfielder] Timmy Palmer all have the opportunity to play,” Cocoziello said. “It’s really just a matter of learning the defense and getting acclimated to the college game.”
If what they say is true — that good defense is the best offense — the Tigers will be in for a very successful season.
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