Princeton University Athletics
Prince-Stun
May 27, 2000 | Men's Lacrosse
May 27, 2000
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College Park, Md. - Brendan Tierney scored with 2:05 to play and defense clamped down the rest of the way to cap a remarkable Princeton comeback as the Tigers stunned defending champion Virginia 12-11 in the NCAA men's lacrosse semifinals in front of 24,105 at Byrd Stadium.
Princeton, who had lost to Virginia 15-8 in Week 2 of the season, advanced to the national championship game Monday (10:55, ESPN) against Syracuse, a 14-12 winner over Johns Hopkins in the first semifinal. Princeton lost to Syracuse 16-4 in the regular season, matching the worst loss of Tiger coach Bill Tierney's Princeton career.
The Tigers, seeded third, trailed No. 2 UVa 8-5 in the third quarter when goalie Trevor Tierney stopped Ian Shure from point-blank range. The Tigers trailed by three on three occasions before rallying to outscore UVa 5-2 in the fourth quarter. Freshman Sean Hartofilis scored five goals for Princeton, giving him seven in two NCAA tournament games after he had 12 in 12 regular season games.
Virginia led 9-7 entering the fourth quarter, but Josh Sims scored his third goal with 13:31 to play to make it 9-8. Virginia built two more two-goal leads in the quarter, but Brendan Tierney and Hartofilis scored to answer, and the Tigers finally tied it at 11-11 on an extra-man goal by Chris Harrington with 5:01 to play.
Princeton won the ensuing face-off and held the ball for three minutes before Tierney beat UVa goalie Derek Kenney off a perfect set-up from Josh White to give the Tigers their first lead since 2-1.
Princeton won the next face-off, but UVa stripped the ball. The Cavs had the ball the rest of the way but were unable to get off any good shots as the Princeton defense swarmed one of the nation's top offenses.
Princeton has won five national titles, Syracuse has won six.