Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Heads To St. Louis For Fall Men's Lacrosse Event
October 08, 2004 | Men's Lacrosse
Oct. 8, 2004
A year ago, Bill Tierney took the Princeton men's lacrosse team to St. Louis in the fall knowing that his team had Ryan Boyle, a handful of other experienced players and a ton of question marks.
This weekend, when Princeton returns to the same event, Tierney has a slightly different perspective. The 2005 Tigers will feature a ton of experienced players, a few question marks and no Ryan Boyle. Replacing Boyle, however, may prove to be tougher than replacing the 11 who graduated the year before.
Princeton, who traveled to St. Louis Friday afternoon, will practice Saturday and have a team dinner at the home of player Dave Willard. The Tigers will then scrimmage Notre Dame Sunday morning and play a game against Butler in the afternoon before returning home. The 2004 season was brought with it as much uncertainty as any year Tierney has had at Princeton. The Tigers were basically starting over last season, with only four players who had ever started a game prior to the opener. Instead of falling apart, though, Princeton went 11-4, won another Ivy League championship and then advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament, where Princeton fell by one goal to Navy.
As the 2005 season approaches, Princeton has seven returning starters, as well as significant depth everywhere and one of the best freshman classes Tierney has had. Princeton returns two starting attackman, five of its top six offensive midfielders, its top three longstick midfielders, two starting close defensemen and its starting goalie.
The key to the season, though, will be replacing Boyle, a two-time first-team All-America and two-time Ivy League Player of the Year. Boyle led Princeton in scoring each of his four years, and he saved his best for his senior year, when he gave Princeton every big play it needed in every spot. He graduated second all-time in Princeton history in scoring and assists.
The other key graduation losses were first-team All-Ivy selection Ricky Schultz on defense and second-team All-Ivy midfielder/face-off man Drew Casino.
The Tigers do return senior Jason Doneger, an honorable mention All-America who scored 36 goals a year ago, and Peter Trombino, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year after a 24-goal, 11-assist season that saw him score at least one goal in all 15 games and send Princeton to the Final Four with his overtime goal against Maryland in the quarterfinals. Sophomore Scott Sowanick, a middie last year, had 13 goals and 10 assists as a rookie; he could move to attack this year. Whitney Hayes (11 goals, 15 assists) is another sophomore coming off a big freshman season.
In addition to those three, Princeton has veteran middies like Mac Bryson (three goals against Navy in the semifinal loss) and Jim O'Brien (six goals, two assists), as well as a host of others who have seen plenty of time.
Defensively, Princeton returns first-team All-Ivy selection Oliver Barry and fellow starter Tim Sullivan. Longstick midfielders Zachary Jungers, John Bennett and Tony Vita are all back, as are veteran defenders Ryan Schoenig (longstick or shortstick defense), Grant Hewitt (shortstick) and Jared Keating (shortstick).
Dave Law is back after a season in which he had a 7.76 goals-against averaage. Matthew Larkin, who backed up Law, also returns.
Princeton will also get immediate contributions from the freshman class.
The Tigers open the season March 5, 2005, at home against Johns Hopkins.