Princeton University Athletics
Finally, It's Princeton and Syracuse Again
May 26, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
May 26, 2002
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Princeton vs. Syracuse
The site Rutgers Stadium * Piscataway, N.J.
The date Monday, May 27, 2002 * 11:00 a.m . Radio/TV WHWH 1350 AM, www.goprincetontigers.com/ESPN
The records Princeton: 10-4 (5-1 Ivy League); Syracuse: 14-2
Seeds Princeton: No. 4; Syracuse: No. 2
The coaches Princeton: Bill Tierney (18th season, 204-59); Syracuse: John Desko (fifth season, 54-11)
The series Syracuse leads 10-6
Last meeting Syracuse defeated Princeton 11-8 * March 23, 2002
We are the champions ... or they are - Princeton and Syracuse have combined to win 12 of the last 14 NCAA championships.
Back for more - Princeton and Syracuse meet in the championship game for the third straight year.
More back - Princeton and Syracuse have combined to make 18 appearances in the championship game in the last 15 years.
The Syracuse factor - Princeton is 4-4 against Syracuse and 20-0 against all other teams in NCAA tournament games since 1992.
In case you forgot - Syracuse defeated Princeton 11-8 on March 23 in front of a Class of 1952 Stadium-record crowd of 5,476.
Oranges and oranges - Princeton and Syracuse have met 12 times since the start of the 1992 season. Syracuse has won seven of those games by a total of 39 goals (5.6 per game); Princeton has won five of those games by a total of six goals (1.2 per game). Final-ly - Princeton and Syracuse meet for the fourth time in the NCAA championship game (1992, 2000, 2001, 2002). Princeton has won two of the first three (1992, 2001); Syracuse has been the higher-seeded team in each of the four title games.
More final - Princeton is 6-1 all-time in NCAA championship games; its only loss in a championship game came against Syracuse in 2000.
More final - Princeton has won six NCAA championships, four of which have come in overtime.
Still more final - Princeton's four NCAA championship overtime goals have been scored by: year opponent goal assist 1992 Syracuse Andy Moe none 1994 Virginia Kevin Lowe Jeff MacBean 1996 Virginia Jesse Hubbard Lorne Smith 2001 Syracuse B.J. Prager Ryan Boyle
History lesson - Princeton enters the championship game with four losses; only one team (Virginia in 1972) has won the NCAA tournament with as many as four losses.
More history - Only twice in the history of the NCAA tournament (Virginia in 1999, North Carolina in 1986) has a team won the championship by defeating two teams in the Final Four after losing to those teams in the regular season. Princeton, who lost to Johns Hopkins and Syracuse in the regular season, would be the third.
Still more history - Syracuse has won seven NCAA championships, the most in the history of the tournament. Princeton has won six.
Coach speak - Princeton coach Bill Tierney has won more NCAA championships (six) than every other active Division I coach combined (five).
More coach - Bill Tierney is tied with Roy Simmons Jr. of Syracuse for the most NCAA Division I tournament championships won by a coach (six each).
Ladies and gentlemen - Princeton's women's team won the 2002 NCAA championship last week, defeating Georgetown in the final. Princeton, who did so in 1994, is the only school to have won the men's and women's NCAA lacrosse championships in the same year.
Surging - Princeton has won eight straight after a 2-4 start.
Tournament tested - Princeton's NCAA tournament winning percentage (25-6, .806) is the best in Division I history.
More tournament - Princeton has played 30 NCAA tournament games in its history. The breakdown by goal differential: goal differential Princeton's record 1 13-1 2 5-1 3 2-0 4 or more 5-4
One for the money - Princeton has played 14 NCAA tournament games that have been decided by one goal and is 13-1 in those games.
More one - Princeton has won each of its last 12 NCAA tournament games that were decided by one goal.
Eye of the Tiger - Princeton has won six NCAA championships in the last 10 years.
More Tiger - Every Princeton men's lacrosse class since the Class of 1997 has played in three NCAA championship games.
On the banks of the ol' Raritan - Princeton has won 12 straight games on the Rutgers campus (seven in the NCAA tournament; five against Rutgers). Princeton's last loss at Rutgers was a 1993 game against North Carolina that was part of a doubleheader played at the old Rutgers turf field due to snow that left Princeton's old Finney Field unplayable.
Just in case - Princeton is 5-1 all-time in NCAA tournament games that have gone to overtime and has won four NCAA championship games in overtime, including last year's.
More in case - B.J. Prager is the only current Tiger with an overtime goal. Prager has scored two, against Syracuse in last year's NCAA championship game and this year against Duke, both on assists from Ryan Boyle.
A league of their own - Princeton won its eighth straight Ivy League championship and earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
More league - Princeton defeated Brown 12-10 in Providence May 4 to win the Ivy League championship. The teams had entered the game tied for the league lead, setting up a winner-take-all game for the league title and the NCAA tournament bid.
Still more league - Princeton is 68-4 in Ivy League games since the start of the 1991 season.
Last league - Princeton had won 37 straight Ivy League games before it lost its Ivy opener to Yale this season. The league record for consecutive wins is 39, set by Cornell from 1972-79.
Poll position - Princeton has been ranked as high as No. 1 and as low as No. 12 in the USILA poll this season. The Tigers have been ranked, at various times, No. 1, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 8, No. 9, No. 11 and No. 12.
Strength of schedule - According to the laxpower.com rankings, Princeton had the second-toughest schedule in Division I (behind Johns Hopkins).
Seed-lings - Princeton has won six NCAA championships; none of them have come when the Tigers were lower than a third seed. Princeton is the fourth seed in this year's tournament.
Goal oriented - B.J. Prager had an NCAA tournament-career high five goals in Princeton's semifinal win over Johns Hopkins.
More goal - B.J. Prager has scored 12 goals in three career Final Four games.
Men of May - Career NCAA tournament points per game vs. regular-season points per game: Player regular season PPG NCAA tournament PPG Sean Hartofilis 2.2 2.5 B.J. Prager 2.6 3.0 Ryan Boyle 3.7 3.2 Brad Dumont 1.1 1.4 Owen Daly 1.1 1.1 Brendan Tierney 0.9 1.0
Hart-stopping - Sean Hartofilis has 19 goals in eight career NCAA tournament games.
Welcome Matt - Matt Trevenen has scored three goals this season, all of which came in the Syracuse game.
No Josh-ing - Josh White has at least one goal in each of his last nine games; prior to that, he had never had goals in consecutive games in his career.
More Josh-ing - Josh White has 15 goals in his last eight games; he had 10 goals for his career prior to that.
D plus - Scott Farrell held Johns Hopkins' leading scorer Bobby Benson without a goal or assist in the semifinal game Saturday.
Good as Gould - Julian Gould led the Ivy League in goals-against and save percentage in all games and in league games only.
More Gould - Julian Gould made five of his 12 saves against Johns Hopkins in the fourth quarter Saturday.
Veteran's day - Ryan Boyle and Damien Davis have started every game of their careers; Scott Farrell has started each of the last 51 games.
Aw, shoot - B.J. Prager has 33 goals on 63 shots (52.4%) for the season.
More shoot - B.J. Prager has 117 career goals on 236 career shots (49.6%); his shooting percentage is the best in Princeton history for any player with at least 20 career goals.
Can you spare a dime? - Brendan Tierney is second among active Princeton players in career assists.
I'm honored - Princeton sophomore Ryan Boyle is the 2002 Ivy League Player of the Year.
More honored - Ryan Boyle is the second player in league history to be Ivy Rookie of the Year as a freshman and Player of the Year as a sophomore (Princeton's Jesse Hubbard was the other).
Still more honored - Princeton had four first-team All-Ivy League selections: A Ryan Boyle, A B.J. Prager, M Brad Dumont and D Damien Davis. Boyle and Davis were unanimous selections.
Moving up the charts - B.J. Prager has 117 career goals, fourth-best all-time at Princeton and three away from tying Justin Tortolani '92 for third all-time at Princeton.
More charts - Ryan Boyle, in two seasons, has 70 career assists, eighth all-time at Princeton. He needs four to tie Matt Striebel '01 for seventh.