Sports: January 22, 1997


MEN'S HOCKEY ATOP ECAC
Early-Season Results Send Tiger Historians Scrambling Deep Into the Record Books

Team speed and a strong work ethic have helped the men's hockey team (12-4-2 overall, 7-3-1 ECAC) get off to its best start since 1932-33, when Princeton finished the season 15-4. Before this year's Christmas break, the Tigers' 13 points had tied them with Cornell for first place in the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a spot they would hold at least until league play resumed in January. Princeton has not held the top spot at any point in the season since 1984-85 and has never won an ECAC title.
For the first time in 90 years, the Tigers swept both Harvard and Yale, beating the Crimson 6-2 at home and 2-1 in Cambridge, and defeating the Elis 4-2 at home and 4-3 in New Haven. Princeton lost only one of its seven games in December (Maine beat the Tigers 6-1 on the 21st), and by year's end, Princeton had won four more games than it had in all of last season, when it was 7-19-4.
The Tigers can atone for a crucial ECAC setback, a 3-1 home loss to Cornell on November 23, when they visit Ithaca on January 31. The Big Red are a big team this year, and they used their size to advantage at Baker Rink, wearing Princeton down with aggressive body checks.
To keep themselves in contention for a title, the Tigers will need continued excellent play from their offense, led by forwards Scott Bertoli '99 and captain J. P. O'Connor '97, and solid goaltending from its tandem of netminders, Erasmo Saltarelli '98 and Nick Rankin '99.
-Paul Hagar '91

TURNOVERS AND POOR SHOOTING PLAGUE WOMEN CAGERS
The women's basketball team traveled to the snowy Pacific Northwest over the holidays and got, well, snowed. The Tigers lost 65-51 to Pacific University in the opening round of the Seattle Times Husky Classic on December 27, and were dumped 64-52 by Northern Arizona University in the consolation round the next day.
The cross-country jaunt dropped Princeton's record to 1-8 just before the start of the Ivy league season, but second-year coach Liz Feeley says that the team's record does not really concern her. "I'm not even counting these games right now. We have two games to go before the Ivy League season starts, and that's how we're looking at it."
The Tigers then lost to George Washington, 62-42, on January 4 and played St. Peter's three days later. They began their Ivy season with home games against Brown and Yale on January 10 and 11, respectively.
Princeton's opponents so far have been a cut or two above the Ivy League average-a fact that is lost on neither the coach nor her players. "We're ready to storm into the Ivy League," Feeley says with conviction. "It's something we've been talking about and preparing for all along."
Before an eight-day Christmas break, Feeley's squad had suffered a disappointing 62-50 loss to Delaware on December 18. Throughout its first nine games, Princeton has been beset by an alarmingly high turnover rate and sub-35 percent field-goal shooting. The team's only win so far came on December 14, when the Tigers beat an unimpressive Fairleigh Dickinson team, 70-53.
The win followed on the heels of a 72-50 drubbing by a high-powered Rutgers team on December 11, in a sparsely attended contest at Jadwin.
Feeley sees the Tigers' shooting woes as the product of an adjustment period. "We're getting good looks, and the shots will start falling. The coaching staff isn't worried about that. I think each of the players is beginning to feel more comfortable with the shots they're taking, and I think we're getting used to each other as teammates. There are a lot of new faces on the floor."
As for the turnovers, she adds, "We certainly need to be taking better care of the ball. Right now we're pressing ourselves too much on offense. It's like every possession is do or die." She says the turnover rate, like the low shooting percentage, will improve as the team pulls together as a unit.
Fierce winter storms wrought havoc throughout the state of Washington during Princeton's visit, and the Husky Classic on December 27 and 28 did not escape. Heavy snow prevented Northern Arizona, Princeton's scheduled first-round opponent, from arriving on time. As a result, the Tigers played Pacific Friday night, and the tourney bracket was scrapped. "It didn't end up being a tournament at all," said Feeley. "The next day we just got assigned Northern Arizona, and Washington played Pacific."
Pacific came into the first night's contest 0-6 and hungry for its first win. Also nicknamed the Tigers, the Pacific squad built up a 31-22 halftime lead despite the best efforts of sophomore forward Leigh Ann Drohan, who netted six of her team-high 10 points in the first 20 minutes. From a 31-22 halftime score, Princeton watched its opponent run off eight unanswered points in the opening minutes of the second half to take a 19-point lead.
But rather than roll over, Princeton fought back. A pair of three-point baskets by freshman guard Maggie Langlas helped spur a rally that would carry the team to within two points.
It was 53-51 with 3:45 remaining, but unfortunately that was all the Princeton players had in them. Pacific's defense shut Princeton down completely after that and scored the game's final 12 points.
Junior guard Zakiya Pressley, a Seattle native and a former first-team all-stater, had a tough time in her homecoming, shooting 1-for-11 from the floor for a total of seven points. Senior cocaptain Kim Allen had nine points, but shot 2-for-7. Overall, Princeton was 16-for-48 from the floor.
The meeting with Northern Arizona turned out to be another unhappy showing for Princeton. The Tigers were down 37-20 by the end of the first half and were well on their way to a distressing 30 turnovers. In the second half, they managed to make up a little ground. The defense, which is currently keeping opponents to 64 points per game, stayed tough, holding Northern Arizona to 27 points in the half. Princeton cut into the lead slightly, but lost 64-52.
Once again, shooting was a problem for the Tigers. Princeton was 17-for-50 (34 percent) from the floor. Only Drohan and freshman guard Erica Bowman, with 12 points apiece, found their way into double digits.
Feeley says she was pleased with the team's intensity throughout the contest-especially in the "stressful and hectic conditions" of the snowbound tournament. After the Northern Arizona game, with the airport snowed in and the driving treacherous, the Tigers found themselves with an unexpected 24 hours to kill in their hotel. Rather than sit around and wait, the team got in a lifting session in the hotel fitness center and commandeered a ballroom for an impromptu aerobic workout. "It was a good chance for the team to bond," said Feeley.
-Rob Garver
Rob Garver is an editor at Town Topics.

HOLIDAY HOOPS: NEW STYLE, SAME RESULTS FOR MEN'S BASKETBALL
In the bowels of Milwaukee's Bradley Center, where the men's basketball team (8-3 overall) had just upset Marquette, 66-62, in the final of the First Bank Classic, sending 15,010 fans home unhappy and putting Marquette coach Mike Deane into an apparent psychotic state, an effervescent Brian Earl faced the assembled media. Earl, a sophomore guard who scored 24 points against Marquette and earned the tournament's most-valuable-player award, was answering questions regarding the differences between current coach Bill Carmody and his predecessor, Pete Carril.
It was well known that Earl had had his problems with the legendary Carril. He had not appreciated being yelled at, had grown weary of the grinding repetition of the Carril style, and had seriously considered transferring from Princeton. The guard scanned the press room as if looking for spies. (Carril was 2,000 miles away in Sacramento with his new charges, the NBA's Kings, where he is an assistant coach.)
"There are a lot of differences between Coach Carril and Coach Carmody," said Earl. "We take more chances now. We can run." Run?! There had been moments against Marquette when the Tigers appeared to be engaging in a rather normal college basketball game. Several players, including three-time captain and Carril favorite Sydney Johnson '97, had let fly with open three-pointers when barely seven or eight seconds of a potential 35-second possession had expired-and never once had Carmody even gotten to his feet. Carril would certainly have been stalking the sidelines in full writhing grimace.
In a season that has already yielded a number of remarkable games, the victory over Marquette on December 7 seemed especially sweet. It wasn't Carmody's first win. That had come four days earlier in a 75-54 laugher at Lafayette. Nor was it his first close game against top-caliber opposition. Carmody drew Indiana in the first round of the preseason National Invitational Tournament on November 20.
Against the Hoosiers, Carmody's Tigers looked impressive from the start. They befuddled Indiana with back-door cuts, made timely three-pointers, and held the lead throughout the first half. But Knight, in Carmody's words, "went small" on Princeton, pulling seven-foot center Jason Collier in favor of 6' 8" Andrae Patterson, while the Hoosiers clamped down on defense. A tight zone put an end to the Tigers' lay-ups, and Reed and A. J. Guyton hectored Princeton's long-distance shooters. After taking a 40-37 lead with about 10 minutes left, the Tigers failed to score during a fatal 4:45 span, and Indiana emerged with a 59-49 win.
To reach the final against Marquette, Princeton had gotten by a scrappy and smart Rice team by playing nearly perfect basketball for the first few minutes of each half. The Tigers led the Owls 15-1 before cruising to a 28-18 halftime margin and scored the first 10 points of the second stanza with a sweet mixture of artful back cuts, open three-pointers, and steel-trap defense. The final minutes of the Rice game were worrisome, as the Tigers consistently threw the ball away against full-court pressure and missed seven free throws in the final minutes, letting the Owls flutter within five points, but they won, 59-54.
Marquette, which had been ranked in the top 25 in preseason polls and featured a front line that averaged 6' 10", appeared unprepared for the Princeton style. The Tigers jumped ahead 9-1 and then 19-6 with balanced scoring and some fine low-post work from center Steve Goodrich '98. Alas, another horrendous scoring drought ensued: over a 7:14 span, Princeton was outscored 12-1, and the Golden Eagles took a 27-26 lead. But a long three-pointer at the buzzer by guard James Mastaglio '98 put the Tigers back on top. Except for a brief moment early in the second half, they would not trail again.
Whenever Marquette threatened, Earl or forward Gabe Lewullis '99 would swish a jumper from beyond the arc. When Marquette had climbed to within one with 34 seconds remaining, a diabolical out-of-bounds play freed guard Mitch Henderson '98 for a totally uncontested lay-up. Two cool free throws by Johnson sealed the outcome.
Next, a home game against Bucknell of the Patriot League on December 10. The Tigers got a big lead yet again: 31-22 at halftime, 45-26 a few minutes later. It was time to put in the freshmen, empty the bench, and . . . Wait a minute! The Bison went on a 14-2 run. The Tigers threw the ball away, threw it away again, a lot. Discipline evanesced. Princeton needed a basket with three seconds left to tie, and fell apart completely in overtime, losing 74-62. Would a Carril team ever have lost a 19-point lead? To anyone?
The Tigers then squeezed by Monmouth in West Long Branch, 48-46, on December 14, in what is becoming quite a little rivalry. The Hawks won at Jadwin last year, and ex-Carril assistant Wayne Szoke seems intent on becoming a regular in the NCAA tournament. Four days later another Patriot League team, Lehigh, came to Jadwin and outscored Princeton 40-28 in the final 22 minutes. Fortunately, the Tigers, who won 73-42, had run off the game's first 26 points, and had led 45-2 before the Engineers found their scoring touch.
Three days before Christmas, a rare sellout crowd greeted Dean Smith and his North Carolina Tar Heels, making their first appearance at Jadwin in a quarter of a century. Like Knight, Smith didn't permit his charges to be fazed by Princeton. The Tar Heels denied the back door almost entirely and consistently got the ball inside for easy points. UNC pulled to a 16-point lead midway through the second half, but a dazzling shooting performance by Mastaglio (18 points) got the Tigers within three points with a minute to go. North Carolina made its free throws and escaped with a 69-60 win (for more on UNC, see box, p. 29).
Princeton closed 1996 by winning the Sun Classic Tournament in El Paso on December 28. (The last Tiger team to win two in-season tourneys was the 1990-91 squad, perhaps Carril's best, which finished the season 24-3.) Lewullis scored 15 points and Johnson 14 in a scrappy, 46-38 win over Texas A&M, and then Carmody's run-and-gun team resurfaced in a 76-64 romp over host Texas-El Paso. Princeton played almost flawlessly against the Miners, shooting a sizzling .553 from the floor (including 14 of 29 three-pointers) and turning the ball over just three times.
Standing at 8-3 on the verge of the Ivy season (which began with a trip to Brown and Yale on January 10 and 11), Princeton has shown three things. First, it's still got a great defense. Second, it will most likely win when Earl can score from outside. And third, it can still play with anybody.
-Peter Delacorte '67
Peter Delacorte is a freelance writer who lives in San Francisco.

TIGERS SCARE TAR HEELS, BUT LOSE, 69-60
A capacity crowd (the first since 1991), television coverage (ESPN2), and a Hall of Fame coach (Dean Smith) stalking the visitor's bench all meant that a major basketball power-the University of North Carolina-had arrived to play Princeton. On December 22, the 12th-ranked Tar Heels became the most prominent team to play in Jadwin Gym in 20 years, in a capstone to the 250th celebration.
The visitors didn't waste time pondering history once the game started. With unrelenting precision, UNC built a 52-36 lead. But then, Princeton found answers against a zone that had been stifling. And after finally making some baskets, Princeton set up a press that was surprisingly effective against the quick Carolina guards. The lead was cut to 63-60 with 1:23 left, but the Tigers would not score again.
The game left Tiger fans excited, and the comeback against UNC went a long way toward erasing the nightmare of the Bucknell game 12 days earlier, in which Princeton lost a huge lead and the game. The nationally broadcast game may help bring other top teams to the dangerous confines of the Tigers' arena. Said coach Bill Carmody, "We make a lot of phone calls trying to get teams. Coach Smith didn't have to come here-he took a shot, and maybe someone else will now, too."
-Matthew T. Henshon '91

SCOREBOARD
Men's Basketball
(8-3 overall; 0-0 Ivy)
Bucknell 74,
Princeton 62 (OT)
Princeton 48,
Monmouth 46
Princeton 73, Lehigh 42
No. Carolina 69,
Princeton 60
Princeton 46,
Texas A&M 38
Princeton 76, UTEP 64
Princeton 54,
Manhattan 49

Women's Basketball
(1-9 overall; 0-0 Ivy)
Rutgers 72, Princeton 50
Princeton 70,
Fairl. Dickinson 53
Delaware 62, Princeton 50
Pacific 65, Princeton 51
No. Arizona 64,
Princeton 52
Geo. Washington 62,
Princeton 42

Women's Ice Hockey
(6-9 overall; 3-1 Ivy;
5-4 ECAC)
Brown 13, Princeton 1
Providence 5, Princeton 2
Princeton 7, Yale 1
Princeton 5, Cornell 1
Princeton 11,
St. Lawrence 1
Men's Ice Hockey
(12-4-2 overall; 7-3-1 ECAC)
Princeton 4, Army 4
Princeton 4, Yale 3
Princeton 7,
Massachusetts 2
Princeton 6, Union 3
Maine 6, Princeton 1
Princeton 5, Notre Dame 2
Princeton 3,
Notre Dame 2 (OT)
Princeton 6,
Rensselaer 0
Union 5, Princeton 4

Men's Squash
(4-0 overall; 2-0 Ivy)
Princeton 9,
Franklin & Marshall 0
Princeton 8, Cornell 1
Princeton 9, Navy 0
Princeton 9, Brown 0

Women's Squash
(3-0 overall; 2-0 Ivy)
Princeton 9,
Franklin & Marshall 0
Princeton 9, Cornell 0
Princeton 9, Brown 0

Men's Swimming
(3-0 overall; 2-0 EISL)
Princeton 133, Brown 85

Women's Swimming
(2-1 overall; 1-1 EWSL)
Brown 186, Princeton 114


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