.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Just Win-Ship, Baby
May 13, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
May 13, 2001
Just say it. You know he wants to. He must. Just stand up and shout it at the top of your lungs.
"I want to be the guy who scores eight goals in a game. I want to be the Player of the Week." Nah. Forget it.
Winship Ross wouldn't mean it anyway.
In the world of sports as we know it today, where even the most routine act seems to require a gesture of self-congratulations, there are few stories anywhere as refreshing as that of Winship Ross. He is the ultimate team player, playing the ultimate team position, and he wouldn't trade a second of it for any fleeting glory. Instead, he wants to finish his career with the ultimate team prize, a national championship.
Ross, a defensive shortstick midfielder for the Princeton men's lacrosse team, opens pursuit of that goal this Saturday at Hofstra (2:45), when his second-seeded Tigers meet the seventh-seeded Loyola Greyhounds in the NCAA quarterfinals. Few if any players are as crucial to Princeton's quest for a sixth national championship in the last 10 years as Ross, few if any people realize that. "It's almost cheating playing with him," says Princeton defenseman Ryan Mollett, the Ivy League Player of the Year. "It's very rare to find a guy who can play defense the way he can, and it's even rarer to find a guy who can do it like he can with a shortstick."
Mollett grabbed the Ivy League's top individual honor, and he was also a Player of the Week during the season. Ross was nominated for the award once, after throwing a blanket over a Dartmouth offense in a 19-2 Princeton win. Neither Dartmouth goal came when Ross was on the field, and the Big Green managed just 14 shots for the game.
He didn't win.
"That stuff isn't important to me," Ross says. "It's hard to get recognition when you don't put up goals and assists or play with a longstick, but that's doesn't bother me. I'd much rather win."
Ask people about Princeton lacrosse, and the list of names mentioned goes pretty deep before it gets to Winship Ross. There were nine Princeton players honored on the All-Ivy team, three on attack, three on the midfielder, three on defense and one in the goal. Winship Ross's name did not appear anywhere on the list.
The problem for Ross - and his fellow shortstick defensive middie Kyle Baugher - is that he's playing a position that does not lend itself to anything statistical. Ross has played probably more minutes in his career than any current Tiger senior except goalie Trevor Tierney, and he has never scored a goal. In addition, the glamour position defensively is held by the longsticks, who make the spectacular hits and strips.
"Winship is amazing," Mollett says. "Usually offense try to isolate their offensive guys against defenders with shortsticks, but Winship doesn't let anyone get by. You can't play offense if you can't dodge shortsticks, and Winship takes people right out of their offense."
It wasn't always like that. Ross was born in Atlanta, but he grew up outside of Annapolis in Harwood, Md. He began playing rec-league lacrosse in the first grade.
"Lacrosse is a small community," Ross says. "You get to know the guys from the other teams. I've played against five or six guys in college who were on my first rec league team."
Ross went to St. Alban's School, where he was a pretty fair goal-scorer. Like many before him, Ross was switched to defense when he arrived at Princeton. It's a transition that has the plus side of allowing players to get on the field at a younger age and the minus of playing four years in relative individual obscurity.
"It's harder for some than for others," says Princeton head coach Bill Tierney, who in recent years has had great success at the position with Ross, Baugher and others such as Ben Strutt, Derek Katz, Gardner LaMotte, James Mitchell and Chris Berrier. "The bottom line is that these guys took great pride in the job. What's interesting about Winship is that he wasn't one of the higher profile names in this class, but he's played more than almost all of them. He was the only one who had an instrumental role in the 1998 championship game. When your team is good, you have your guys who are going to get their individual accolades. But as I talked about with the team, you're not going to get them without teammates like Winship Ross and Kyle Baugher."
Ross has steadily improved during his career, and he takes his place now on a defense that can only be termed as great. The Tigers lead the nation in scoring defense, allowing but 5.0 goals per game (60 in 12 games). They also allowed 21 goals in six Ivy League games, the best per game average (3.5) in 27 years. In Princeton's only competitive Ivy game, the Tigers rallied past Cornell 7-4 after trailing 4-1 early in the third quarter. Princeton held the Big Red scoreless for the final 28 minutes of that game.
The defense led Princeton to an 11-1 regular season and No. 1 national ranking. The Tigers have won 37 straight Ivy games, two off the all-time league record set by Cornell from 1972-79.
"Our defense depends on everyone being on the same page, working together as a unit," says Ross. "We know someone is there to help when you make a mistake. You obviously have to give credit to Coach T and the staff. We trust his gameplan and defensive strategy. It's a matter of execution from there. For us, we've played together for so long, I feel like we've really jelled as a unit."
Ross, a history major, may try to play professionally, perhaps in the new outdoor league, or he may look for a job in the financial sector. Before that, however, he hopes he has three more lacrosse games to play.
"When I came here, all the recruits were offensive players in high school," Ross says. "It was tough. It was probably the worst feeling at first when they moved me to defensive midfield. But I knew I'd have the opportunity to prove myself. Obviously I wish I could stay on offense. At the same time I recognize that we have better offensive players and they should get in. They have a better chance of scoring. I think everyone respects everyone's role on this team."
The opposite end of the spectrum from Ross is B.J. Prager, the crease attackman who has scored at least one goal in 31 straight games, including eight against Hobart in Princeton's last regular season game. In three seasons Prager has been the Ivy Rookie of the Year, a three-time All-Ivy selection and an All-America.
"When I score goals, it's a reflection of what everyone else on the team does," Prager says. "Any credit I get is because of them. Winship is an amazing player, and he doesn't get the credit. He's the best takeaway guy on our team, and he plays with a shortstick. I think he's a first-team All-America."
He won't be, of course. Not playing the position he plays. But that's okay with him.
"Sure I'd like to score a goal," Ross says. "But I get most excited when I strip the ball from my guy. When you get in the game and do the job right, people recognize that."
Winship Ross came to Princeton from the same high school that produced Jesse Hubbard, a three-time All-America and four-time All-Ivy selection who scored 163 goals as a Tiger. No player in school history has ever scored more.
Few, if any, have prevented as many as Winship Ross.