For the third year in a row it was Princeton and Syracuse competing on Monday for a shot at the National Championship, but unlike last year the Orangemen walked away victors by virtue of a 13-12 score. A big game came from Michael Powell who exploded with 4 goals and 3 assists. “I couldn’t ask for a better time to play well.” said the tournament’s most outstanding player “Last year I thought I only played well in the fourth quarter but this year I wanted to show that I could play four quarters.” Powell was not the only source of offense though as Syracuse had 10 players with at least one point. Princeton Head Coach Bill Tierney explained his team’s strategy for slowing down the most potent offense in college lacrosse, “We don’t try to stop any individual on Syracuse. We try to play team defense, make some saves and pray that you score one more than they do.”

Princeton started off very strong with the first two goals of the game. Sean Hartofilis caught a pass from Dan Clark and popped a lefty crank high as Syracuse goalie Jay Pfeifer dropped to his knees. Mark Pellegrino scored his fourth goal of the season as he took Syracuse short stick middie Brett Walther. Powell had headline numbers but also did a lot of little things to contribute to his team’s win. This was an example as a broken Princeton clear allowed Jarett Park to scoop a loose ball and fire a jump shot to put his team on the board. Syracuse evened the score at two with Powell dunking one on the crease after numerous stick fakes. Princeton went back to a great strategy for their next goal, taking the short stick middies to the net. This was a huge weakness for Syracuse and if not for some key saves by Pfeifer and aggressive slides, that mismatch at the midfield might have decided the game in Princeton’s favor. In this particular situation, it was Josh White going around David Puccia. Syracuse again tied the game at three when Josh Coffman made a nice move from behind. Princeton got two in a row from Ryan Boyle (his only goals of the game) towards the end of the first quarter to take a 5-3 lead. But Powell hit Brian Solliday cutting to shorten the lead and start a Syracuse run that carried over into the second quarter. In 2Q, Syracuse got the first three goals. Saturday’s hero Tom Hardy was sitting naked up top after a series of slides and buried a feed from Mike Smith. Then Sean Lindsay rolled on his defender and scored. Finally Mike Springer caught a pass from Brian Nee and ripped a shot that no one (including Princeton goalie Julian Gould) saw. It was actually surprising that the grounds crew didn’t have to come out and repair the cage the shot was so hard. Princeton finally answered with Pellegrino again to make the score 7-6 but the Cuse was able to tack one more on before the end of the half. Repeating a pervious situation, it was Solliday from Powell. Solliday actually had another opportunity with just over a minute remaining but Gould made a huge shoulder save to give Princeton some momentum heading into the second half.

That momentum quickly evaporated when Syracuse got two goals in two minutes to start things off. Powell dodged from behind on 1st team All-American Damien Davis and scored stick side high. Then it was Soliday once more shooting lefty on the run. Princeton did squeak one in as Matt Trevenen had a slap shot garbage goal. But Syracuse kept rolling as Coffman finished a one on none with Gould and Powell peeled off a low to high goal. Down 12-7 Princeton could have easily folded but that is not the character of this team. As Brendan Tierney said in the post-game press conference, “Everyone wrote us off in the beginning of the season, told us the Princeton dynasty was dead. Well I hate to tell you folks but the Princeton dynasty is here to stay.” So the Tigers mounted a comeback. Hartofilis somehow scored on a shot where he had zero angle. Then Prager scooped a ground ball and put it in an empty net after Syracuse defenseman Billy St. George dropped a pass on a clear. Finally Hartofilis got his third of the game with a lefty-crank top right. The fourth quarter started and it was Princeton again to bring them within one. Brad Dumont cleanly ran around his defender (a long pole) and shot before the slide came for an unassisted goal. Powell answered high and hard for the ‘Cuse on a feed from Springer. The 165 lbs. sophomore then turned to the crowd and gave his best Hulk Hogan impersonation with a double arm flex. The cheering was quickly silenced though as Dumont caught a pass out of the box and scored to put the Tigers within one with 11:22 to play. With all that time however, there was no scoring. Dumont had a great opportunity with 4:35 remaining but instead of putting it lefty he tried to bring it around his back. It didn’t work. Syracuse got possession and called time-out. They gave the ball to Hardy who unsuccessfully tried to go on his defender. Princeton got possession back and once they crossed the midfield line they called time-out with 2:45 to play. Princeton tried to set-up a play but a pass by Boyle was broken up and Pfiefer got a hold of it and cleared the ball. Syracuse calls time-out with 1:09 to play. They give the ball to Coffman who takes it behind to kill the clock while being hounded by Joe Rosenbaum. Coffman took it for about 30 seconds before giving it to Powell who ran Davis around for about another 30 seconds until Spencer Wright got the ball and was pushed out of the box. Davis picked up the ball and threw it down field but Glatzel picked off the pass. Game over. Syracuse celebration. However, the officials ruled that Syracuse made an illegal substitution because when a guy steps out of the box it is one-on-one-off. The Syracuse player just stepped on. They put six seconds on the clock and Princeton went man-up at the midfield line. Hartofilis had the ball threw a pass to Dumont who attempted to throw it back to Hartofilis but he missed the ball and the game was over. For real.

Game notes: Princeton coach Bill Tierney showed why he is a first class guy with some of his comments in the post-game press conference just 15 minutes after his team had lost the National Championship. “First of all, as always, I would like to thank our Lord and the Blessed Mother for this opportunity to compete.” “I told our guys that if they determine whether they are successful young men based on one lacrosse game that they lost then they are nuts.” “After 5 years of coaching my two sons I want to say thank you for putting up with the Tierney’s. Brendan will always be my favorite Tiger.” Many people, especially on television, only see the guy who is relentless on his players and the officials but that is based on his passion for the game and his competitiveness. It is important to recognize his other (off-the-field) side as well. The All-Tournament Team went as follows: Attack: Powell, Doneger, Prager; Midfield: Dumont, Hardy, Christmas; Defense: Glatzel, Davis, Bliss; and Goalie: Pfiefer. Syracuse returns five starters next year while Princeton returns eight. It would not be unlikely to see both teams back a year from now. Princeton came out for pre-game warm-ups wearing white t-shirts with an orange number 14 on the front in memory of John Schroeder (class of 1992) who was killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attack. The announced attendance was 19, 706. Syracuse Coach John Desko summarized his feelings, “I am very excited that this happened, that we won this game. It’s going to make for a nice summer.”

Princeton vs. Syracuse

Princeton

12

Scoring
Josh White	(1, 2)
Sean Hartofilis	(3, 0)
Brad Dumont	(2, 1)
Bj Prager	(1, 1)
Mark Pellegrino	(2, 0)
Ryan Boyle	(2, 0)
Dan Clark	(0, 1)
Matt Trevenen	(1, 0)

Saves
Julian Gould	13 (0.500)

Current Record
Princeton	10-5

Syracuse

13

Scoring
Michael Powell	(4, 3)
Brian Solliday	(3, 1)
Josh Coffman	(2, 1)
Michael Springer	(1, 1)
Mike Smith	(0, 1)
Tom Nee	(0, 1)
Jarett Park	(1, 0)
Sean Lindsay	(1, 0)
Tom Hardy	(1, 0)
Spencer Wright	(0, 1)

Saves
Jay Pfeifer	13 (0.520)

Current Record
Syracuse	15-2