Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Announces 2005 Men's Lacrosse Schedule
November 11, 2004 | Men's Lacrosse
Nov. 11, 2004
The 2005 Princeton men's lacrosse team features a new opponent and a few subtle changes. It also guarantees that the lacrosse season at Princeton will extend beyond the last regular-season game - with or without the Tigers.
Princeton opens the season at home against Johns Hopkins on March 5, and lacrosse at Princeton will extend beyond the May 7 regular-season finale at home against Brown, as Princeton Stadium will be the site of one NCAA tournament quarterfinal doubleheader. Ironically, the only time Princeton has not reached the quarterfinals since 1990 was in 1999, the only other time Princeton hosted the quarterfinal round.
The biggest changes to the schedule are the addition of Butler, who replaces Quinnipiac for an April 17 home game, and the staggering of the early-season schedule. For the first time since 1993, Princeton will not play Hopkins and Virginia both at home or both on the road on the first two weekends of March. Instead, the home game against Hopkins is followed by a Saturday night game in Charlottesville March 12. Princeton is then at Hofstra the following weekend before playing at home against Syracuse for the second year in a row. The switch was necessitated by the NCAA men's basketball tournament, which will be played the same weekend in the Carrier Dome.
The other non-league games are an April 9 (Saturday) game at Rutgers and the April 17 game against Butler, which comes one day after Princeton hosts Harvard.
Princeton opens its Ivy schedule April 2 at Yale. The Tigers are also at Penn and Cornell while hosting Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown. Should Princeton win the league championship, it would establish a league record for consecutive Ivy titles in any sport.
Princeton is also looking to return to the Final Four after last year's team went 11-4, tying Cornell for the league title before beating Rutgers and Maryland in the NCAA tournament to reach the Final Four. Princeton dropped an 8-7 game to Navy in the semifinals in 2004, which marked the 10th time in 13 years Princeton had reached at least the semifinals.
The opening round of the NCAA tournament will be held at campus sites the weekend of May 14-15, and Princeton will host one of the quarterfinal doubleheaders Sunday the 22nd. Johns Hopkins will host the other quarterfinal round the day before. The Final Four will be held at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia Memorial Day weekend.
Princeton looks to replace Ivy Player of the Year and first-team All-America Ryan Boyle, as well as All-America defenseman Ricky Schultz and All-America midfielder/face-off man Drew Casino.
Princeton returns All-Ivy defenseman Oliver Barry and All-Ivy attackman Jason Doneger, who will be joined by Matthew Prager as Tiger tri-captains. Princeton returns seven starters, including 2004 Ivy Rookie of the Year Peter Trombino.
Princeton men's lacrosse, 2005 schedule: JOHNS HOPKINS, March 5; at Virginia, March 12; at Hofstra, March 19; SYRACUSE, March 26; at Yale, April 2; at Penn, April 5; at Rutgers, April 9; HARVARD April 16; BUTLER, April 17; at Cornell April 23; DARTMOUTH, April 30; BROWN, May 7.