Those words expressed by Towson Head Coach Tony Seaman basically summed up what coaches, fans and players can take away from these scrimmages. But clearly there was a little more weight placed on the last game at the 2001 Infiniti Lacrosse Invitational at Princeton University. Towson and Princeton faced each other in the Final Four this past season and the rematch would prove to be almost as exciting. Towson was planning on playing their starters for the entire game having played their second string against Navy. Indications from Head Coach Bill Tierney of Princeton before the game was that he was going with the starters for only the first half but once things got going it was clear that guys like Davis, Boyle and Hartofilis were not leaving the turf at Class of 1952 Stadium until the final horn.

Both starting line-ups had some interesting stories. The defending National Champion has brought back their entire attack of Sean Hartofilis, BJ Prager, and US Team member Ryan Boyle. All three were All-Americans last season. With the graduation of Trevor Tierney (who is now the 1st assistant at the University of Denver) Princeton had to replace their goalie and the selection for right now is Julian Gould. The Valley Cottage, NY native looked shaky early but eventually made some quality saves. The defense began with obviously Damien Davis, then Brian Lieberman and Scott Farrell. Farrell was pulled midway through the first quarter and Ricky Schultz replaced him.

The Towson starting line-up should look familiar to most lacrosse fans because they lost only two contributors from last season’s squad in FOGO Justin Berry and goalie John Horrigan. According to Coach Seaman, Berry had only one goal last season therefore the Tigers return virtually all their goals. The problem for this game though was that three other players were missing and it wasn’t due to graduation. Josh Tankersley was out with a bad back. Brad Monaco and Kyle Campbell did not play because they “have hours to make up.” It is expected that they will all be ready come springtime. To replace Berry was Zaak Smith who looked to continue the Towson tradition of timing the face-off. Smith needs a little more practice though as he had 4 illegal procedure calls against him. In goal Towson split time between John Hunt and freshman Reed Sothoron. Both looked solid and neither one clearly stood out. Although Sothoron’s did show some interesting fashion taste with yellow and black Air Force 1’s and neon green mesh.

Towson started the game strong or as Coach Tierney said, “They were ready. They were great. They came out and kicked the living crap out of us.” Towson opened up a 9-0 lead with Brian Meyers and Ryan Obloj combining for five goals. The Princeton defense looked confused and timid. While, goalie Gould didn’t make any huge saves to give his defense room for error. Credit the Tigers for not giving up. They clawed back into the game with the next six goals. Drew Casino and Hartofilis were the leaders on that mini-run. The first half ended with Towson up 9-6. The second half was played fairly even with a slight edge to Princeton. Hartofilis continued to play strong and the defense began to gel. Both teams were giving 100% and acting like the clock was turned back a few months and they game was being played a few miles down Route 1. Everyone was diving for loose balls, defenders were checking sticks out of the offensive players hands, and there were hard hits that resembled tackles; for fall ball it was quite competitive. That was especially evident when Tierney called time-out with 4.5 seconds remaining in the game in an attempt to tie the game. Dan Clark started with the ball but couldn’t get it to his teammate on the crease.

Princeton has their hands tied in the fall. They are allowed only 12 practices and one event due to Ivy League restrictions. That is in stark contrast with other major DI teams that will practice 3-4 times a week and play in multiple contests.

Navy and Delaware also competed in the round-robin event. Both teams had large squads and looked to be trying out many different player combinations. It was hard to get a read on either team though Navy did win their scrimmage with the Blue Hens 8-5. The Navy midfield did look strong and recovering well from the loss of Adam Borcz.

Finally two notes on the tournament itself, Coach Tierney said that he likes the new format of the Infiniti better than the old one. With all the teams previously included it was becoming too large to manage plus he feels that his coaching staff can get a better read on the team with full length games versus short controlled scrimmages. Second, the proceeds from the event went to the John Schroeder Memorial Scholarship Fund. John was a member of the class of 1992 at Princeton and a member of the school’s first National Championship in lacrosse. He was attending a breakfast meeting at the Windows on the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center the morning of September 11th. John was someone who had stayed close to Coach Tierney over the years. “He was a member of my first recruiting class. Whenever there was a lacrosse game he was there,” said Tierney.