Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Brown
Prager Leads Princeton To Win Over Brown And Ivy Title
May 04, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
May 4, 2002
Providence - B.J. Prager scored four goals, including two during a key 36-second stretch of the first quarter, to lead Princeton to a 12-10 win over Brown for the Ivy League championship in front of 3,360 at Stevenson Field.
The Tigers won their eighth straight Ivy League title and ninth in the last 10 years. Princeton had not won an Ivy title in the 25 years prior to that.
The victory also gives third-ranked Princeton the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Tigers are the defending NCAA champion and have won six NCAA titles in the last 10 years. Seeds will be announced Sunday evening.
"I think this year made everyone with the program really appreciate how important an Ivy League championship is," said Princeton coach Bill Tierney. "When we were running through undefeated every year, people may have started to take it for granted. But this year showed how tough the league is, and Brown showed today how tough a team it is." Princeton lost its Ivy opener to Yale, ending a 37-game league winning streak and putting the Tigers in position to have to win each of its remaining games to win the title. Princeton and Brown, ranked 16th, entered the final game of the regular season 4-1 in the league, setting up a winner-take-all game for the title and the bid.
"I thought we bottomed out after we lost to Yale," said Princeton tri-captain Kyle Baugher. "We needed to regroup, and we did. It wasn't easy for us, and I think we showed a lot to come back and win."
Princeton, who won for the sixth straight time to finish the regular season at 8-4, scored 25 seconds into the game on a Drew Casino goal, but Brown's Chas Gessner evened it two minutes later. That set up the key stretch of the game later in the quarter.
Owen Daly scored off a feed from Matt Trevenen to make it 2-1 Princeton with 4:53 left in the first. Casino then won the face-off and got it to Ryan Boyle, who fed Prager for his first of the day nine seconds after the Daly goal. Brown was called for a late hit and a conduct penalty on the play, giving Princeton a two-man advantage and possession of the ball. Prager then scored off a feed from Brendan Tierney to make it three goals in 36 seconds and 4-1 Princeton.
Princeton's lead would stay between two and four goals the rest of the way. It was 6-2 early in the second quarter, 8-4 at halftime and 10-6 at the end of the third quarter.
Princeton appeared to have the game under control with a 12-8 lead in the fourth quarter, but Chazz Woodson made it a three-goal game with 3:56 to play and Jon Thompson made it a two-goal game with 1:30 remaining, setting up a key face-off. Anthony Perna won the draw for the Tigers and flipped it behind his back to Baugher, who brought it into the Brown end to kill the final Bear threat of the day.
"It was a big face-off," Perna said. "I was just thinking about pushing it forward or at least slowing down the fast-break. Once I had it, I saw Kyle and just tried to get it to him."
Daly and Josh White had two goals each for Princeton, while Trevenen and Ryan Boyle had three assists and Tierney had a goal and two assists. John Thompson had four goals and two assists for Brown. Julian Gould made 12 saves for the Tigers, while Mike Levin had 13 for Brown.
Princeton (8-4, 5-1) 5-3-2-2 - 12
Brown (7-7, 4-2) 2-2-2-4 - 10
Scoring (goals-assists)
Princeton B.J. Prager 4-0, Owen Daly 2-0, Josh White 2-0, Drew Casino 1-0, Brendan Tierney 1-2, Ryan Boyle 0-3, Matt Trevenen 0-3, Sean Hartofilis 1-0, Dan Clark 1-0, Mark Pellegrino 0-1
Brown
John Thompson 4-2, Chas Gessner 2-1, Chazz Woodson 2-0, Michael Hughes 1-0, Jimmy Mormile 1-0, Richard Tuohey 0-1
Saves Princeton Julian Gould 12; Brown Mike Levin 13. Shots Princeton 30, Brown 34.