Princeton University
Georgetown
Final 0:04
May 18, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
May 18, 2002
Hempstead, N.Y. - Another NCAA tournament. Another one-goal game. Another Princeton win.
Ryan Boyle scored with four seconds remaining to give Princeton a 14-13 win over Georgetown in the NCAA quarterffinals in front of 5,561 at Hofstra Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The victory sends fourth-seeded Princeton to its ninth Final Four, where the Tigers will meet the winner of Sunday's game between Massachusetts and Johns Hopkins in the semifinals Saturday (May 25) at Rutgers Stadium at noon.
It was also the latest chapter in Princeton's remarkable NCAA tournament success in one-goal games. The Tigers have now won 12 straight NCAA games that have been decided by one goal and improved to 13-1 all-time in one-goal NCAA games. Each of Princeton's last five NCAA wins has come by one goal, including all three a year ago as the Tigers won their sixth NCAA title in 10 years. "We've been in this situation a million times," said Princeton senior B.J. Prager, who had three goals against Georgetown. "We know what to do. We don't hope we're going to win when we're in a game like this. It's almost like we know that we're going to win, and we do what we have to do."
Princeton, whose 24-6 NCAA record is the best in Division I history, won its seventh straight to improve to 9-4. Georgetown ended its season at 12-3. Princeton improved to 9-3 in quarterfinal games, including wins in six straight. Four of those have come at Hofstra Stadium, by a total of six goals. Princeton is now 17-2 in NCAA games decided by one or two goals.
"We don't panic when it gets tight," said Princeton coach Bill Tierney. "We work very hard in practice, and we try to put a lot of pressure on them all week. This is why kids come to Princeton, to win games like this."
Like many, it wasn't easy. The Tigers led 7-2 in the second quarter before Georgetown scored two straight, cutting it to 7-4. From there, the teams alternated the next nine goals, making it a 12-8 Princeton lead late in the third quarter.
Georgetown, though, came storming back, finally putting together consecutive goals and actually making it three straight to cut it to 12-11with 12:19 remaining. Prager then scord his third goal to make it 13-11 with 5:54 to go, but even that lead wasn't safe.
Mike Hammer's fourth goal for Georgetown made it 13-12 with 4:43 to play, and it stayed that way until Walid Hajj tied it at 13-13 with 44 seconds to go in regulation. Georgetown, who had trailed since it had been 2-2 late in the first quarter, then won the face-off, but Hammer was stopped on a low shot by Julian Gould, who cleared the ball to Brian Lieberman.
Princeton called timeout when it crossed midifield with 13 seconds to play. Boyle took the ball off the restart, used a screen from Dan Clark and went to the goal, splitting two defenders to get in front and then burying the game-winner with four seconds to go.
Kyle Baugher won the ensuing face-off as time ran out.
"I was looking to feed the ball," Boyle said. "I got a good pick and started to the goal. There was nobody to pass to, and then I figured time was running out, so I might as well keep it. I felt the defense coming over the top of me, so I stepped through, and that gave me a cleaner look at the goal. After I scored, I just kept running. I wasn't sure how much time was left, but I knew it wasn't much."
Sean Hartofilis led Princeton with four goals, giving him 18 in seven career NCAA tournament games. He also scored off a feed from Brad Dumont with one second left in the first half to make it 10-6 at intermission.
Prager and Josh White had three each, while Boyle had two goals and one assist. Owen Daly had the other two Princeton goals, and Matt Trevenen and Dumont had one assist each.
Hammer and Trevor Walker had four each for Georgetown. Steve Dusseau, the nation's leading goal-scorer coming in, was held to one goal and one assist by Princeton's Damien Davis.