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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton And North Carolina Meet In Women's Lacrosse Final Four
May 15, 2002 | Women's Lacrosse
May 15, 2002
Princeton, N.J. - Chris Sailer's Princeton Tigers are in the Final Four once again and this time there is no Maryland standing in the way of a national championship. Instead, another ACC school; the third-seeded North Carolina Tarheels, look to knock off a determined Princeton squad that finished the year as the nation's top-ranked team in the IWLCA Poll.
The Tigers advanced to their third straight Final Four with an 11-5 victory over Notre Dame in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Three consecutive Final Four appearances is the longest current streak among all Division I schools. Georgetown, Cornell and Friday night's opponent, UNC, join the Tigers in this year's field.
Princeton comes in at 17-1 overall with a school record 17 straight wins. The Tigers won the outright Ivy League title with a perfect 7-0 conference mark. Princeton entered the tournament with a No. 2 seed despite being the country's top-ranked team. Georgetown, the only team to defeat Princeton, received the tournament's top seed. The Hoyas' only loss of the season came at the hands of North Carolina, which received the No. 3 seed. The Tarheels are making their third Final Four appearance after winning the ACC tournament and they are currently enjoying a school record 12-game winning streak. Like the Tigers, UNC has won 17 games this season and after the first two rounds of this year's national tournament, the Tigers and Tarheels have each scored 36 goals in NCAA playoff action.
"We've never played Princeton and I'm excited to see them," says North Carolina coach Jenny Slingluff Levy. "Even though we're not tournament tested in the NCAA like Princeton is, I believe the ACC tournament prepares us for this Final Four match-up."
Princeton has played three ACC schools this season, defeating all three. North Carolina is 3-0 in neutral site games while Princeton is yet to play a neutral site contests this year. Both teams have played from ahead in most of their games with Princeton 17-0 when leading at the half and North Carolina 12-0 when up at the intermission.
"We haven't felt any pressure all year," says Princeton coach Chris Sailer. "We just go out and play hard and have fun."
The Tigers have been on a tear all season long, breaking school records for most wins (17), goals (263) and points (386) in one season. All of those records were set in 1994 when Princeton won its national championship.
Princeton will play in its ninth Final Four when it takes the field on Friday night. The Tigers won the national title in 1994 and have lost to Maryland in each of its last four Final Four appearances, losing to the Terps in the 1995 and 2000 championship games and the 1996 and 2001 semifinals. Maryland has won seven straight NCAA titles, winning each year since Princeton took the title in 1994.
"We're looser this year," says Sailer. "We have more weapons across the board. If we just go down there with the talent we have and play the way we have all year, we should be alright."
The Tigers play in the second of two games on Friday, May 17. Georgetown and Cornell play in the first game at 5:30 p.m. and Princeton vs. UNC will follow with a scheduled start time of 7:30 p.m. This year's games will be played on Curley Field in Baltimore, Md. The NCAA championship game is Sunday, May 19 at 1 p.m.
Friday's game can be heard live on www.GoPrincetonTigers.com. For tickets to this year's Final Four, call (410) 617-5013.
Princeton-North Carolina Notes in PDF Format
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