Princeton University Athletics
May Madness
May 15, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
May 15, 2001
Princeton vs. Loyola
The site Hostra Stadium * Hempstead, N.Y.
The date Saturday, May 19, 2001 * 2:45 p.m.
The records Princeton: 11-1 (6-0 Ivy League), Loyola: 10-3
The seeds Princeton: No. 2, Loyola: No. 7
The coaches Princeton: Bill Tierney (17th season, 191-60), Loyola: Dave Cottle (19th season, 181-69)
The series Princeton leads 2-1
Last season Princeton defeated Loyola 12-6 * May 22, 1993 (NCAA quarterfinals)
Tournament tested - Princeton's NCAA tournament winning percentage (20-6, .769) is the best in Division I history.
More tournament - Of Princeton's 26 NCAA tournament games, 15 have been decided by one or two goals. Princeton is 13-2 in those 15 games.
The whammy - Princeton is 3-4 against Syracuse and 16-0 against all other teams in NCAA tournament games since 1992.
Just win, baby - Princeton has averaged 12.4 wins per year since 1990. Prior to that, Princeton averaged 6.9 wins per year for the first 79 years of the program. May madness - Princeton is playing in its 12th straight NCAA tournament. Prior to the beginning of its current streak, Princeton had never before played in an NCAA tournament.
Quarter pole - Princeton is 7-3 all-time in NCAA tournament quarterfinals games and has won four straight.
Close shaves - Of Princeton's last 27 games dating to the start of the 2000 season, 26 have been decided by at least three goals. The only Princeton game in the last two years decided by fewer than three goals was the 12-11 win over Virginia in last year's NCAA semifinals.
Seed-lings - Princeton, a unanimous No. 1 in the most recent USILA poll, is the second seed in the NCAA tournament. It is the second time in four years that Princeton has finished the regular season ranked No. 1 and been seeded second, Princeton was seeded No. 2 behind Maryland in 1998.
More seed-lings - Princeton has won five NCAA championships but has been the No. 1 seed only once (1997).
A league of their own - Princeton has won seven straight Ivy League championships and eight in the last nine years.
More league - Princeton has won 37 straight Ivy League games and will enter the 2002 season two games off the all-time league mark of 39, set by Cornell from 1972-79.
Still more league - Princeton outscored its six Ivy League opponents by a combined 88-21 overall, 49-5 at home and 44-13 in the first half.
Last league - Princeton had nine players receive All-Ivy League recognition.
Veterans day - Princeton has used the same starting defensive unit (goalie Trevor Tierney plus longsticks Ryan Mollett, Damien Davis and Scott Farrell) in every game the last two seasons.
D plus - Princeton leads the nation in scoring defense (5.0 goals per game allowed).
More D - Princeton allowed 3.5 goals per game in Ivy League games (21 in six games), the lowest total by a league school in 27 years.
Ryans' hope - Princeton's Ryan Mollett is the 2001 Ivy League Player of the Year. Princeton's Ryan Boyle is the unanimous 2001 Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
More Ryan - Ryan Mollett is the fourth defenseman and the first since 1985 to be named Ivy League Player of the Year.
We're honored - Ryan Mollett was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection. Princeton had four other first-team selections, goalie Trevor Tierney, midfielders Rob Torti and Matt Striebel and attackman Sean Hartofilis.
More honored - Defenseman Damien Davis and attackmen Ryan Boyle and B.J. Prager were second-team All-Ivy League selections. Defenseman Scott Farrell earned honorable mention.
Net results - Trevor Tierney leads Division I in save percentage (.702) and goals-against average (4.80).
More net - Trevor Tierney leads Division I in save percentage (.702) and goals-against average (4.80), but he does not lead Princeton. Backup goalie Julian Gould, who played 73 minutes to 638 for Tierney, had a .724 save percentage and 3.29 goals-against average.
Last net - Trevor Tierney has a career .769 save percentage and 3.67 goals-against average at Hofstra Stadium.
In case you forgot - Trevor Tierney held Duke to one goal while making six saves in 38 minutes in relief of Corey Popham in the 1998 NCAA quarterfinals at Hofsta Stadium as Princeton rallied from an 8-4 deficit for an 11-9 win. Popham returned the next week at Rutgers Stadium to be named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four as Princeton won the national title.
Boyle-ing point - Freshman Ryan Boyle leads Princeton in scoring with 45 points (16 goals, 29 assists). The last Princeton freshman to lead the team in scoring was Kevin Lowe in 1991.
More Boyle-ing - Ryan Boyle's 45 points are the second-highest total ever by a Princeton freshman. He trails only Kevin Lowe, who had 55 in 1991.
Still more Boyle-ing - Ryan Boyle was a four-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week.
Hart-stopping - Sean Hartofilis has scored at least three goals in six straight games.
More Hart - Sean Hartofilis has eight goals in three career NCAA tournament games.
Streaking - B.J. Prager has scored at least one goal in 31 straight games. The Princeton record is 46 straight games, held by Chris Massey '98.
More streaking - Sean Hartofilis has scored at least one goal in 16 straight games.
Eight ball - B.J. Prager scored eight goals against Hobart in Princeton's regular season finale. It equalled the highest single-game total by a Princeton player in the last 50 years.
Been there, done that - Matt Striebel will be appearing in his fifth NCAA tournament, four with the men's lacrosse team and one with the men's soccer team.
Oh say can you see - Princeton midfielders Matt Bailer and Drew Casino sang the national anthem prior to Princeton's regular-season finale against Hobart.
Can you spare a dime? - B.J. Prager has scored 29 goals, Ryan Boyle has an assist on 16 of them.
More dimes - Rob Torti had 12 assists this season after having five his first three seasons combined.
Still more dimes - Matt Striebel is seventh all-time at Princeton with 69 career assists. He needs 15 to tie Bo Willis '53 for sixth.
Goal oriented - B.J. Prager is 14th all-time at Princeton in goals scored with 77. He needs one to tie Samuel Hill '50 for 13th.
20-20 - Ryan Boyle needs four goals to become the 14th player in Princeton history and first since Jon Hess in 1997 to have at least 20 goals and 20 assists in the same season.
More 20-20 - Loyola currently has two players (Gavin Prout, Chris Summers) with at least 20 goals and 20 assists on the season.
30-30 - Only one Princeton player ever, David Tickner in 1976, has had at least 30 goals and at least 30 assists in the same season.
Swish - Two of Princeton's three starting attackmen (B.J. Prager, Ryan Boyle) have made better than 50% of their shots (Boyle .571, Prager .547), the only Princeton player in Bill Tierney's tenure at Princeton prior to this season to have at least a 50% shooting percentage in a season with at least 10 goals was Prager as a freshman (25 for 49, .510).
More swish - B.J. Prager has 77 career goals on 152 career shots, his .507 career shooting percentage is the best in Princeton history for any player with at least 20 goals.
Clunk - Princeton's opponents are shooting 17.6% for the season (60 for 340).
Face it - Princeton (49%) and Loyola (43.5%) have each won fewer than 50% of their face-offs.
Surging - Princeton has won eight straight games.
Back in the day - Princeton and Loyola last met in the 1993 NCAA quarterfinals, where Princeton won 12-6 at Princeton's Palmer Stadium, which no longer exists.
Quarterly report - Princeton and Loyola have outscored their opponents by a combined total of 264-106 in the first three quarters and 65-61 in the fourth quarter.
More quarterly - The average score after the third quarter of Princeton's 12 regular season games was 10.5-3.2.
Nine to five - Princeton held nine of its opponents to five goals or fewer.
Start spreading the news - Princeton was 2-1 and outscored its opponents 25-23 in games played in New York state this season, Princeton was 9-0 and outscored its opponents 127-37 in games played outside New York state this season.
Finally - The last time Princeton won the national championship (1998), the Tigers finished the regular season ranked first at 11-1, were seeded second in the NCAA tournament, received a bye in the first round and then played in the quarterfinals at Hofstra hoping to advance to the Final Four at Rutgers.