Princeton University Athletics
Four Teams, Three Games, Two Days, One Championship
April 18, 2000 | Men's Lacrosse
April 18, 2000
Princeton vs. Cornell
The site Class of 1952 Stadium * Princeton, N.J.
The date Saturday, April 22, 2000 * 12:05 p.m.
The records Princeton: 7-1 (4-0 Ivy League) Cornell: 8-2 (4-0 Ivy League)
The coaches Princeton: Bill Tierney (15th season, 175-52) Cornell: Dave Pietramala (third season, 21-15)
The series Princeton leads 31-26-2
Last meeting Princeton defeated Cornell 9-6 *?April 24, 1999
Today's Note of the Day
Big game hunting - The winner of the Princeton-Cornell game will earn the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The winner of the Princeton-Cornell game will clinch at least a tie for the Ivy League title, and the tiebreaker for the automatic bid is head-to-head.
Five more notes no media person should be without
Weekend update - The Class of 1952 Stadium hosts the nation's second-ranked team (Syracuse), fourth-ranked team (Princeton) and seventh-ranked team (Cornell) this weekend. Princeton and Cornell meet at noon Saturday, followed by Syracuse-Penn. Princeton and Syracuse then meet at 1 p.m. Sunday. Coach speak - Princeton head coach Bill Tierney recruited and coached Cornell head coach Dave Pietramala when Tierney was an assistant coach at Johns Hopkins. Tierney and Pietramala were part of Hopkins' 1987 NCAA championship team.
A league of their own - Princeton has won 29 straight Ivy League games dating to a 1995 loss at Cornell.
More league - The record for consecutive Ivy League wins is 39, held by Cornell in the mid-'70s. Princeton could not reach that mark until the 2002 season.
Still more league - Princeton has outscored its first four Ivy opponents by a combined total of 25-5 in the first half.
Others receiving votes
Last league - Princeton has won five straight Ivy League titles.
The whammy - Princeton is 14-0 all-time against Ivy League teams at the Class of 1952 Stadium.
Goal oriented - No Princeton player has between seven and 20 goals.
Oranges and oranges - Princeton and Syracuse have combined to win seven of the last nine and 10 of the last 12 NCAA championships.
Oranges and reds - Princeton and Cornell are the only Ivy League schools ever to win the NCAA tournament.
Can you spare a dime? - Matt Striebel has 15 assists, and 10 of them have come on goals by B.J. Prager. Striebel has assisted on 10 of Prager's 22 goals.
Quarterly report - Princeton has held 12 straight Ivy opponents to either no goals or one goal in the first quarter.
More quarter - Princeton's first four Ivy League opponents have combined for one first quarter goal this season.
Sizzling - B.J. Prager has scored 15 goals in his last four games.
Flag day - Princeton, which had been averaging four penalties per game prior to last week, was called for 11 against Harvard.
No Joshing - Josh Sims has 87 career goals. He needs seven to tie Lorne Smith '99 for the most ever by a Tiger midfielder (and for sixth place all-time at Princeton).
Streaking - B.J. Prager has scored at least one goal in 19 straight games and 20 of 21 for his career.
Four speed - B.J. Prager's career high is four goals, which he has achieved five times, including three of the last four games.
The omen - Damien Davis has held each of the last three players he has guarded without a goal.
A perfect 10 - Princeton has not allowed an Ivy League opponent to score more than 10 goals in a game since Yale in the 1990 NCAA quarterfinals, a span of 59 games.
Class struggle - Princeton's seniors and juniors have combined for 39 goals, Princeton's freshmen and sophomores have combined for 59 goals.
Spread it around - Princeton has nine players with at least four goals through eight games. Last year, for the entire 13 game season, Princeton had seven players with at least four goals.
On the other hand - Josh Sims and B.J. Prager have combined for 44 of Princeton's 98 goals (44.9%).
Fresh faces - Princeton has four freshmen with at least five goals (Josh White, Owen Daly, Sean Hartofilis, Brad Dumont) for the first time since Justin Tortolani, Highley Thompson, Ed Calkins and Mal Meistrell in 1989.
More fresh - Princeton has had a freshman score the first two goals of the game each of the last two weeks (Owen Daly vs. Brown, Brad Dumont vs. Harvard).
Face-it - After winning 43 of its first 100 face-offs, Princeton has won 51 of 86.
Dee-fense, Dee-fense - Princeton's starting defense in 1999 consisted of five seniors. Princeton's starting defense in 2000 consists of two juniors, one sophomore and two freshmen.
Be all you can be -?Princeton freshman Josh White is playing lacrosse for the first time in three years after going into the Army after high school.
Sibling rivalry -?Of the 44 players on the Princeton roster, nine (21%) have a brother who has either played for the Tigers or currently plays for the Tigers.
You gotta be a football hero -?Of the 44 Princeton players, 26 played high school football.
More honors-?Josh Sims has an opportunity to become Princeton's second three-time first-team All-America. Sims, a first-team All-America the last two years, would join Scott Bacigalupo '94 as the only Princetonians to accomplish that feat.
Still more honors -?Trevor Tierney, Princeton's starting goalie, was named the Mercer County high school lacrosse Player of the Decade by the Princeton Packet. His brother Brendan, a sophomore attackman at Princeton, was named Mercer County high school lacrosse Player of the Decade by the Trenton Times.
Tournament tested - Matt Striebel played in the NCAA tournament last fall in soccer. Striebel has been to three NCAA tournaments and played on three Ivy League champions.
More tournament -?Princeton did not play in the NCAA tournament in any year prior to 1990. Princeton has played in every NCAA tournament since.
Even, steven -?Princeton has won the national championship every even-numbered year since 1992.
Trophy case -?Princeton has won five national championships in the last eight years.
Doing dishes -?Matt Striebel had seven assists in the first five games of the season. He has eight in the last three.
Net results -?Trevor Tierney has a career goals-against average of 4.93 in Ivy League games and a career save percentage of .670 in Ivy League games.
More net -?Cornell's Justin Cynar and Princeton's Trevor Tierney rank 1-2 in the Ivy League in goals-against average (for all games).
Still more net -?Trevor Tierney ranks first and Cornell's Justin Cynar ranks second in goals-against and save percentage in Ivy League games only.
Brotherly love -?Cornell's Justin Cynar is the second-straight Cynar that Princeton will face in goal. Princeton defeated Cynar's brother Keith of Harvard last Saturday.
More omen -?Damien Davis has a goal and an assist for the only points this season by a Princeton longstick.
Poll cats -?Of Princeton's four remaining games, three are against teams ranked in the top 15 this week: Cornell, Syracuse and No. 15 Hobart.
D plus -?Princeton (54 goal allowed) and Cornell (60) rank 1-2 in the Ivy League in scoring defense. Harvard is third with 80.