March 10, 2004: Sports
Men’s
lacrosse: A virtual unknown
The Tigers’ new lineup is young and talented, but untested
Men’s
basketball responds with a New York sweep
Penn loss marks first Ivy setback
Sports Web Exclusives! P-nut Gallery column
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Cocaptain Ryan Boyle ’04, a first-team All-American last year, is one of three returning starters. (Beverly Schaefer) |
Men’s
lacrosse: A virtual unknown
The Tigers’ new lineup
is young and talented, but untested
By David Marcus ’92
The outlook for men’s lacrosse at the start of the past three seasons was invariably rosy – the Tigers played for the N.C.A.A. title in 2000, 2001, and 2002 and returned a core of experienced players each succeeding spring. Most of those players saw their final game in Princeton’s 15—5 loss to Syracuse in last May’s quarterfinals. Of the 18 Tigers who saw substantial time last year, 11 were seniors, many of whom had started for three or four years. With their departure, says coach Bill Tierney, “everything is a virtual unknown.”
Tierney expects as many as eight or nine of the team’s 14 freshmen to see significant playing time, and with the team’s youth comes renewed enthusiasm. Says cocaptain Jason Doneger ’05, “I think there was a feeling last year that the seniors had been around for a while and won a national championship – they were the best players, and they knew they were going to play. The situation this year will drive guys to work a little harder.”
Doneger and cocaptain Ryan Boyle ’04 will be the team’s cornerstones. Boyle, a four-year starter, was a first-team All-American attackman last year and will direct the team’s offense again this season. Doneger scored 41 goals in 2003 and will be the Tigers’ top scoring threat with the loss of Sean Hartofilis ’03, who also netted 41 goals last season. Scott Sowanick ’07 and Peter Trombino ’07 will compete for the third starting spot at attack.
Sowanick and Trombino are also candidates to start in the midfield, where Princeton needs all the help it can get. Five of Princeton’s top six midfielders graduated, and only Drew Casino ’04 and Mac Bryson ’05 saw significant time last year. Jim O’Brien ’06 is likely to join Casino and Bryson in the starting lineup. Tierney says the backup line of midfielders could change as the season progresses. Casino and Ryan Schoenig ’06 took most of the face-offs last year, a duty that will be placed more squarely on Schoenig’s shoulders this season.
On defense, first-team All-American and four-year starter Damien Davis ’03 has graduated, as has three-year starter Brian Lieberman ’03. Returning starter Ricky Schultz ’04 will be joined by Oliver Barry ’05, a defensive midfielder last year. Tim Sullivan ’05, John Bennett ’07, Zac Jungers ’07, and Will Presti ’07 will challenge for the third spot, with Tony Vita ’06 replacing Joe Rosenbaum ’03 at longstick midfield. David Law ’06 and Matt Larkin ’05 will compete to replace Julian Gould ’03 in goal.
The newcomers will be tested in a hurry, as Princeton plays perennial powers Johns Hopkins, Virginia, and Syracuse in March. Tierney says the stiff competition is an advantage: “If we’re smart as coaches, we’ll play as many people as we can in those big games, because those will tell you if you’ve got someone special or not.”
After running that gauntlet, Princeton moves into the Ivy League schedule
in April, where the strongest competition should come from Cornell and
Dartmouth, both of which tied Princeton for last year’s Ivy title.
Despite the team’s youth, Doneger refuses to accept the idea of a
rebuilding year. “We have the talent to get back to where we want
to be,” he says. 
David Marcus ’92 writes frequently for PAW.
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Will Venable ’05 scored 12 points in Princeton’s loss to Penn February 10. He leads the team with a 13.3-point scoring average in Ivy games. (Beverly Schaefer) |
Men’s
basketball responds with a New York sweep
Penn loss marks first Ivy
setback
Two days after suffering its first Ivy League loss, against Penn, the men’s basketball team took a five-hour bus ride to Ithaca for a February 13 meeting with Cornell, this season’s Ivy upstart. With first place on the line against the Big Red, center Judson Wallace ’05 knew the Tigers had no time to dwell on the Penn loss. “We can’t let one setback ruin our season,” he said.
They didn’t. Wallace scored 22 points, shedding an early Ivy slump, and Will Venable ’05 continued his emergence as a team leader, with a career-high 28 points in the Tigers’ 69—64 win over Cornell. Venable’s nine-of-12 shooting dazzled the sellout crowd, but his defense was just as important, helping to hold the Big Red’s top scorer, Cody Toppert, to eight points.
A night later at Columbia, all five Princeton starters scored in double figures, led by Wallace’s 23 points, but the Tigers trailed for the first 39 minutes. With five seconds remaining, Venable received an Andre Logan ’05 pass on a backdoor cut and converted a layup to tie the game. After sinking 12 of 16 free throws in overtime, the Tigers emerged on top, 78—71.
Princeton’s performances in the New York wins contrasted starkly with the February 10 Penn game, when the aggressive Quakers forced 10 first-half turnovers in their 67—52 win. The Tigers’ defense sagged as Penn guard Jeff Schiffner sizzled on the perimeter with 22 points. Penn made nine of 15 three-pointers, giving the Tigers the sinking feeling normally endured by Princeton opponents. “To play defense for 25 seconds and then have them hit a three,” Wallace says, “that’s kind of demoralizing.”
In the first half of its Ivy schedule, Princeton (13—7, 6—1
Ivy) played four of its five most difficult road games, winning all four,
and took a one-game lead over Brown and Penn in the standings. But with
the March 9 rematch at the Palestra looming, the Penn loss had overshadowed
what was beginning to look like John Thompson ’88’s best season
as the Tigers’ coach. Thompson’s teams have lost five straight
to the Quakers. “We have to figure out how to win the next one,”
he says, “not worry about the past.”
By B.T.
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Lindsey Biles ’05 provides quickness on the attack. (Beverly Schaefer) |
Women’s
lacrosse aims to defend title at home
Princeton will host the Final
Four; top-ranked Tigers want to be there
In women’s lacrosse, the N.C.A.A. Final Four is nearly three months away. For Princeton, it seems a lot closer. The University will host the national championship for the first time since 1990, and the two-time defending champion Tigers want to make sure they are on the field for the opening draw May 21. “We can’t help thinking about it,” says cocaptain Theresa Sherry ’04. “But we try to focus on first things first.”
The Tigers, ranked No. 1 in three national preseason polls, have a string of immediate goals to address, with five of the nation’s top 10 teams on the schedule in March: Loyola, Virginia, Duke, Penn State, and Georgetown. The Ivy League is as strong as ever this year, after placing three teams in the 16-team N.C.A.A. tournament last season, and Princeton lost three All-Americans to graduation.
On the bright side, the Tigers return nine of the players from the starting lineup in last year’s national championship game against Virginia, including Sherry, who netted the game-winning goal in overtime. Coach Chris Sailer cannot say enough about her dynamic senior star, who has split time at midfield and attack during her career. “She’s not afraid to take the ball through traffic,” Sailer says. “Somehow, she keeps her cradle tight and gets through things. She’s explosive, she can get herself open, and she’s got a rocket shot.” Sherry has established herself as a go-to player when the game is on the line – four of her team-high 42 goals last season were game-winners.
The Tigers have remarkable depth at attack, which should help keep defenses from focusing on Sherry. Lindsey Biles ’05 and Leigh Slonaker ’05 head a group of seven players vying for time, and Sailer is looking for a few to rise to the top. Biles likely will supply quickness up front, while Olachi Opara ’06 will look to add a more powerful dimension to the offense. In the midfield, Sherry and Elizabeth Pillion ’05 provide experience, but youth could be just as important, with freshmen Kathleen Miller, Christine Dobrosky, Alex Gangler, and Caitlin Reimers competing for playing time. Sailer notes that the freshmen are versatile; Reimers can move back to defense, and Miller can also play attack.
Defensively, Princeton will miss Rachael Becker ’03, winner of the Tewaarton Trophy, lacrosse’s equivalent of the Heisman. Goalie Sarah Kolodner ’05, in her third season as the starter, is one of Princeton’s most experienced players in the back. “She had a lot of help from the defense in the last two years,” Sailer says. “Now, she’s going to be helping them out.” Kolodner’s confidence in the cage is growing, which should take some of the pressure off defenders Mary Beth Hogan ’04, Lauren Vance ’06, and Katie Norbury ’04, the other cocaptain. All three played important roles last season, and Norbury expects high energy on both ends of the field. “We’re young, we’re fast, and we’re going to make a lot of exciting plays,” she says.
Sailer says that competing for a national championship at home would
be as good as it gets, for both the players and coaches. But after 17
years at Princeton, she knows that each season has unique challenges.
“It’s our hope that we’re going to realize our potential,”
she says. “Hopefully, with the talent that we have, that will be
good enough to get us where we’d like to go.” This year, it
happens to be within walking distance.
By B.T.
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Franny McKay ’05 helped Princeton to an 8—2 record. (Beverly Schaefer) |
sports SHORTS
WOMEN’S SQUASH finished the regular season 8—2, its best record since 1999—2000. In the final three matches February 14—15, the Tigers lost to No. 2 Trinity and beat Williams and Amherst. Franny McKay ’05 and Anina Nolan ’07 each went 3—0 for the weekend. In MEN’S SQUASH, a February 14 loss to No. 1 Trinity marked Princeton’s third setback of the season, but Yasser El Halaby ’06 kept his undefeated individual record intact.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY inched closer to last year’s program record of 20 wins, winning four straight through February 14 to improve to 16—6. Left winger Gretchen Anderson ’04 was chosen as one of 10 finalists for the Kazmaier Award. Named for former Princeton hockey standout Patricia Kazmaier ’86, the award is given annually to the nation’s top female collegiate player. MEN’S HOCKEY slid in the E.C.A.C. standings with an 11-game winless streak through February 14.
MEN’S SWIMMING beat Navy February 7 and Army February 14 to finish the E.I.S.L. regular season 8—0. The team climbed to No. 22 in the national rankings. WOMEN’S SWIMMING swept the Ivy League dual season, finishing its 7—0 run by beating Columbia February 5.
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK won five events and dominated the distance runs en route to a first-place finish in the H-Y-P meet February 14. The Tigers edged Yale by a single point and beat Harvard by 20. MEN’S INDOOR TRACK finished eighth in a talented field of nine teams at the Sykes-Saback Challenge Cup in Pittsburgh February 14.
A 6—3 advantage in the épée led MEN’S FENCING to a 14—13 win over Penn February 11. WOMEN’S FENCING lost to the Quakers, 18—9.
Close losses to Dartmouth away (63—56, February 6) and Columbia at home (60—65 in overtime, February 14) dropped WOMEN’S BASKETBALL to 3—4 in the Ivy League. The Tigers beat Cornell February 13 behind Rebecca Brown ’06’s 25 points.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL scored 3—0 wins over three teams, including the host, to win the St. Francis (Pennsylvania) Invitational February 14—15.
March 5 marks the beginning of the BASEBALL season for Coach Scott Bradley’s Tigers, who start their nonleague schedule at Old Dominion. Princeton, the defending Ivy champion, will look to build some pitching depth after losing five of its top seven starters. Pitcher Ross Ohlendorf ’05, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2002, looks to rebound after missing parts of last season with an injury. Catcher Tim Lahey ’04 (11 home runs in 2003) and centerfielder B. J. Szymanski ’05 (.330 career batting average) should drive the Tigers’ offense.
In SOFTBALL, outfielder Melissa Finley ’05, last year’s
Ivy League Player of the Year, returns to the diamond with hopes for a
third consecutive Ivy championship and a third trip to the N.C.A.A. tournament.
Seven returning starters in the field back All-Ivy pitcher Erin Snyder
’06, who struck out 199 batters in 170 innings last year. Princeton
faces challenges early in the season, with a trip to the Leadoff Classic
in Columbus, Georgia, and a spring break journey to southern California.
The Ivy schedule begins April 3 at Penn.
By B.T.
