Princeton University Athletics
Not 2 Bad
May 06, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
May 6, 2001
Princeton's unanimous No. 1 ranking in the USILA poll meant little to the NCAA tournament selection committee, who seeded the Tigers second in the NCAA tournament.
This was no big deal to anyone with the Princeton program.
The Tigers, seeded second to No. 1 Syracuse, will face the winner of the opening round game between Georgetown and Loyola in the quarterfinals Saturday, May 19, at Hofstra.
"It's fair," said Tiger attackman B.J. Prager, who scored eight goals in Princeton's 16-7 win over Hobart Saturday. "Syracuse handled us pretty easily when we played. But we're playing with a lot of confidence now, a lot of chemistry. We just have to go out and play."
Princeton's only loss in its 11-1 regular season came at the hands of Syracuse 14-8 in Week 4 back in March. The Tigers have won eight straight since, while Syracuse has since lost twice, to Johns Hopkins and Loyola.
The Tigers have won five NCAA titles. The last one, in 1998, came after Princeton ended the regular season ranked No. 1 but entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed. In fact, Princeton has only been seeded first once, in 1997. "We're not the least bit disappointed," said Princeton coach Bill Tierney. "The important thing is to be in the top four and get a bye. After that, it's all a matter of the draw. You have to play someone good."
Syracuse and Princeton will play in the quarterfinals at Hofstra. Maryland, seeded third, and Johns Hopkins, seeded fourth, also received first round byes and will play in the quarterfinals at Maryland May 20.
Syracuse will play the winner of the opening round game between No. 8 Virginia and Hofstra, to be played Sunday at Army. The other game at Army matches No. 5 Notre Dame and Bucknell, with the winner to play Johns Hopkins.
The Loyola-Georgetown game will be played Saturday at UMBC, where the other game matches No. 6 Towson and Duke, with the winner to play Maryland.
The semifinals and finals are at Rutgers, May 26 and May 28.