Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Ranked No. 1 In Preseason Men's Lacrosse Poll
December 18, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
Dec. 18, 2001
Princeton, the defending NCAA men's lacrosse champion, was named the No. 1 team in the country in the preseason, according to the Face-Off Magazine coaches' poll.
The Tigers received 32 of 46 first-place votes and finished with 917 points. Syracuse, whom Princeton defeated 10-9 in overtime last Memorial Day to win the 2001 championship, had 893 points and 12 first-place votes to finish second. Johns Hopkins (third) and Towson (fourth) had one first-place vote each.
Princeton did not have a single player named to the 15-man preseason All-America first team, while Syracuse had four and Ivy League rival Cornell had two. Princeton did have five second-team selections, two third-team selections and one honorable mention selection.
Princeton has won six of the last 10 NCAA championships, while Syracuse or Princeton has won the championship 12 of the last 14 years.
"It's nice to see that there's respect for the program," Princeton coach Bill Tierney said. "But knowing what we lost and what a team like Syracuse has coming back, we're realistic to know preseason rankings don't mean much. But still, it's something interesting to look at." Princeton went 14-1 a year ago, losing only to Syracuse 14-8 during the regular season. The Tigers went 6-0 in the Ivy League, winning their seventh straight Ivy championship and pushing their league winning streak to 37 straight, two off the all-time record set by Cornell in the mid-'70s.
Princeton opens its season with games at Johns Hopkins and Virginia before returning home to host Hofstra, Syracuse and Rutgers before opening the Ivy League schedule. Princeton also has a home game against Duke April 5. The Ivy season opens with games against Yale and Penn, and wins in both of those games would tie the league record. Should Princeton win those two, it would have a chance to break the record at Harvard April 13.
The Tigers graduated first-team All-Americas Ryan Mollett (defense) and Trevor Tierney (goalie), as well as first-team All-Ivy middies Rob Torti and Matt Striebel and veterans such as Winship Ross and Chris Harrington.
Princeton does return its attack unit intact, led by preseason second-team All-Americas Ryan Boyle and Sean Hartofilis and third-team pick B.J. Prager, the Most Outstanding Player of last year's Final Four. Boyle, the Ivy Rookie of the Year last year, assisted on Prager's game-winning goal in overtime against Syracuse in the championship game.
Other Princeton players honored by Face-Off Magazine in the preseason issue include junior defenseman Damien Davis, junior middie Owen Daly and and sophomore middie Drew Casino, who were named second-team All-America. Scott Farrell, a defenseman, was named third-team All-America with Prager, while middie Brad Dumont was an honorable mention pick.
2002 Division I Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll
( ) - First place votes
1. Princeton (32) 917
2. Syracuse (12) 893
3. Johns Hopkins (1) 754
4. Towson (1) 751
5. Virginia 678
6. Maryland 652
7. Georgetown 621
8. Loyola 587
9. Duke 572
10. Hofstra 471
11. Notre Dame 456
12. Umass 455
13. North Carolina 385
14. Navy 341
15. Cornell 209
16. Penn State 161
17. Brown 150
18. UMBC 145
19. Bucknell 133
20. Army 92
21. Delaware 87
22. Ohio State 52
23. Hobart 46
24. Rutgers 44
25. Harvard 30
Others receiving votes: Penn 23, Denver 20, Butler 15, Yale 14, Fairfield 11, Villanova 9, Stony Brook 7, Hartford 5, Quinnipiac 1.