Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Draws Albany In NCAA Men's Lacrosse With Tough Road Looming
May 04, 2003 | Men's Lacrosse
May 4, 2003
Princeton and Syracuse will NOT meet in the NCAA men's lacrosse championship game for the fourth straight year. And if the Tigers get there, it won't be because it was handed to them.
Princeton learned its NCAA tournament draw Sunday night. The path to a seventh NCAA championship and ninth NCAA final will be anything but easy.
It starts Saturday afternoon (time TBA) against America East tournament champion Albany. Princeton is the fourth seed; Albany is unseeded.
Albany is 10-5 and the champion of the America East Conference. The teams have four common opponents: Johns Hopkins, Yale, Rutgers and Quinnipiac. Albany lost to Hopkins, Yale and Rutgers while defeating Quinnipiac; Princeton went 3-1 against that group with a loss to Hopkins.
"It's exciting to play a team that we've never played before," says Princeton coach Bill Tierney. "I don't know much about them. I know their coach Scott Marr played for me when I was at Johns Hopkins. I know they played Hopkins during the regular season. After that game, we'll see." They certainly will. Should the Tigers win defeat Albany, things will get very interesting very quickly.
The Princeton-Albany winner will advance to the quarterfinals May 17 to face the winner of the game between Syracuse and Dartmouth. That game will be played at the Carrier Dome at Syracuse on a day sandwiched around the NCAA women's Final Four.
Princeton and Syracuse have great history. Princeton and Dartmouth have an intriguing present.
Since the start of the 1992 tournament, Princeton is 20-0 against all other teams and 4-5 against Syracuse. The Tigers and the Orangemen have combined to win 13 of the last 15 NCAA titles, and they have met in the championship games in 1992, 2000, 2001 and 2002, winning two each.
In addition, the teams played March 22 at the Carrier Dome in a riveting game. The Tigers rallied from an 8-4 third-quarter deficit to defeat the Orangemen 11-10.
Princeton had defeated Dartmouth 14 straight times before the Big Green hammered the Tigers 13-6 two weeks ago to create a three-way tie for the Ivy title. Dartmouth then won the automatic bid to the tournament by winning the random draw conducted by league executive director Jeff Orleans.
Princeton is 3-3 against teams in the field with wins over Rutgers, Hofstra and Syracuse and losses to Johns Hopkins, Virginia and Dartmouth.
The draw:
Opening Round (May 10-11):
Army (8-7) at No. 1 Johns Hopkins (11-1)
Penn State (7-6) at Towson (8-5)
Albany (10-5) at No. 4 Princeton (10-3)
Dartmouth (11-2) at Syracuse (8-5)
Ohio State (9-4) at No. 3 Maryland (10-3)
Hofstra (11-5) at Massachusetts (12-2)
Mt. St. Mary's (10-7) at No. 2 Virginia (11-2)
Georgetown (10-3) at Rutgers (10-4)
Quarterfinals
Saturday May 17 at Syracuse
Princeton/Albany winner vs. Syracuse/Dartmouth winner
Maryland/Ohio State winner vs. Massachusetts/Hofstra winner
Sunday May 18 at Towson
Johns Hopkins/Army winner vs. Penn State/Towson winner
Virginia/Mt. St. Mary's winner vs. Rutgers/Georgetown winner
Semifinals
Saturday May 24 at Ravens Stadium in Baltimore
Championship game
Monday May 26 at Ravens Stadium in Baltimore