Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
No. 5 Princeton To Host No. 2 Virginia At Princeton Stadium
March 09, 2006 | Men's Lacrosse
March 9, 2006
The Princeton men's lacrosse team, fresh from knocking off defending NCAA champion Johns Hopkins to end the Blue Jays' NCAA record 37-game home winning streak, faces yet another big-time test as the second-ranked Virginia Cavaliers come to town for a game that will be played in Princeton Stadium, not at Class of 1952 Stadium.
The game is part of a Sunday doubleheader at Princeton Stadium, both ends of which will be televised by ESPNU. The Princeton women take on Duke at 11 a.m., followed by Princeton-Virginia men at 2 p.m.
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Princeton vs. Virginia
The site Princeton Stadium • Princeton, N.J.
The date Sunday, March 12, 2006 • 2:00 p.m.
The records Princeton: 2-0, Virginia: 5-0
The rankings Princeton: No. 5 USILA/No. 5 Inside Lacrosse,Virginia: No. 2 USILA/No. 2 Inside Lacrosse
The coaches Princeton: Bill Tierney (19th season overall, 233-75), Virginia: Dom Starsia (24th season overall, 247-100)
Radio/TV www.goprincetontigers.com/ESPNU
The series Tied 10-10
Last year Virginia defeated Princeton 11-7 • March 12, 2005
T for 2? - The Princeton win over Johns Hopkins last week was the 199th at Princeton for Tiger head coach Bill Tierney, who also won 34 at RIT.
More T - Bill Tierney, who is in his 19th season at Princeton, has won 199 games as the head coach of the Tigers. Prior to Tierney's arrival, it took Princeton the previous 37 seasons to win 199 games. History lesson - Princeton and Virginia have played 20 times; each team has won 10.
Point, counterpoint - Virginia's offense leads Division I with 17.2 goals per game; Princeton's defense is seventh in Division I, allowing 5.0 goals per game.
No place like Homewood - Princeton's 6-4 win over Johns Hopkins last Saturday snapped the Blue Jays' NCAA-record 37-game home winning streak. It also snapped the Blue Jays' 17-game winning streak, dating to the 2004 NCAA semifinals.
Playing from ahead - Princeton has played 120 minutes in two games. The Tigers have had the lead for 91:40, trailed for 3:57 and been tied for 24:23.
Quick strike - Princeton has scored in the first minute of each of its first two games.
May madness - Princeton and Virginia have combined for 18 Final Four appearances in the last 14 years.
More madness - Either Princeton or Virginia or both has appeared in each of the last 14 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse Final Four.
Polling place - Princeton is ranked fifth in both the Inside Lacrosse media poll and USILA coaches' poll. Virgnis is ranked second in both polls.
More polling - The top six spots in both the Inside Lacrosse media poll and USILA coaches' poll are identical: Maryland is No. 1, followed by Virginia, Duke, Navy, Princeton and Cornell.
I'm honored - John Bennett, who forced seven turnovers in one-on-situations while leading a defense that limited Johns Hopkins to four goals and 32 shots, was named the first Ivy League Player of the Week this past week.
Injury update - Princeton junior midfielder Mike Gaudio will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL, suffered last week against Johns Hopkins. Gaudio scored Princeton's second goal aganist the Blue Jays, giving him one goal in 13 straight games prior to his injury.
The One and Trombino-nly - Peter Trombino is the only active player in Division I men's lacrosse who has scored an overtime goal in an NCAA tournament game.
Trip-le double - After not scoring a goal last year as a freshman, Trip Cowin has scored one goal in each of his first two games this season, including the game-winner against Hopkins last week.
Class struggle - Princeton has scored 22 goals to date this season. The breakdown by class: eight by the freshmen, four by the sophomores, eight by the juniors, two by the seniors.
Tommy boy - Tommy Davis scored three goals against Canisius to become the first Princeton player to score three goals in the first game of his freshman year since Jesse Hubbard in 1995.
Yes, Virginia - Bill Tierney is 6-8 against Virginia in regular season games and 3-0 against Virginia in NCAA tournament games. All three NCAA wins have come in the Final Four, all by one goal.
More Virginia - Virginia is 8-4 against Princeton since the start of the 1995 season for the highest winning percentage of any opponent Princeton has played at least twice in that time span.
Fab 14 - Princeton has 14 players on its roster who played in the NCAA semifinal against Navy in 2004.
Goal oriented - Virginia has scored at least 20 goals in each of its last two games. In 1,055 games all-time, Princeton has never scored 20 goals in back-to-back games.
Back-to-back - Freshmen Josh Lesko and Mark Kovler both have at least one goal in each of the first two games. The last time Princeton had two freshmen do so was two years ago (current juniors Scott Sowanik and Peter Trombino).
Peter, repeater - Peter Trombino did not have a point for the first 39:29 of Princeton's game against Hopkins. Trombino then scored two goals in a span of 1:40 and and added an assist four minutes later during a 4-0 run as the Tigers erased a 3-2 deficit to build a 6-3 lead.
More Peter - Peter Trombino has scored at least one point in every game of his career. The only Princeton player to do so in every game for four years is Kevin Lowe '94.
Snapped - After having scored at least one point in every game last year and the first game this year, Scott Sowanick did not score against Johns Hopkins.
Face it - After winning 19 of 24 face-offs against Canisius, Princeton won 5 of 13 against Hopkins.
Save it - Alex Hewit made six of his seven saves in the second half last week against Johns Hopkins.
Welcome to the Jungers - Zachary Jungers will be starting on close defense this year after being the top longstick midfielder most of the last two years. Jungers did start three games at close defense in 2004 when Tim Sullivan was injured.
Long and short of it - Princeton tri-captain Ryan Schoenig started on close defense and also played shortstick defensive midfield in Princeton's win over Canisius last week.
Hot Coco - Dan Cocoziello became the first defenseman ever to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Year when he won the honor a year ago. Cocoziello was the second straight Princeton player to win the award, after Peter Trombino in 2004.
Working overtime - Peter Trombino has one career goal (against Maryland in the 2004 NCAA quarterfinals) and one career assist (against Penn last season) in overtime games; no other current Princeton player has a career point in overtime.
Bling, bling - Princeton's four coaches have combined for 21 NCAA championship rings. Bill Tierney has six as Princeton head coach and two as an assistant coach at Johns Hopkins; David Metzbower and Bryce Chase have six each at Princeton; Greg Raymond has one as a player from Johns Hopkins a year ago.
Princeton Lacrosse '06 ... By The Numbers
0 goals scored in the first quarter by both teams in last year's Princeton-Virginia game
1 largest deficit Princeton has faced through two games; Princeton's only deficit was 3-2 last week against Johns Hopkins
2 Princeton wins in the first two weeks of the 2006 season; Princeton did not win its first game until April a year ago
3 Princeton players on the preseason Tewaaraton Trophy watch list: D Dan Cocoziello, A Peter Trombino, M Scott Sowanick
4 Princeton alums on the U.S. national team for the upcoming World Championships: G Trevor Tierney, M Matt Striebel, A Ryan Boyle, D Christian Cook
6 NCAA championships won by Princeton in the last 14 seasons
10 number of consecutive Ivy League championships won by Princeton before finishing second a year ago
13 consecutive games with at least one goal by Mike Gaudio, who will miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL against Hopkins a week ago
14 current Princeton players who played in the 2004 NCAA semifinal game against Navy
19 consecutive wins for Johns Hopkins goalie Jesse Schwartzman before Princeton handed him first career loss last weekend (despite Schwartzman's 14 saves to keep the game within two)
29 career games for Peter Trombino, who has started and scored at least one point in each of them; only one Princeton player, Kevin Lowe '94, has ever done so for four full seasons
33 seconds into the first quarter that Princeton scored against Canisius in first game
47 seconds into the first quarter that Princeton scored against Johns Hopkins
199 wins at Princeton for head coach Bill Tierney, who also won 34 games at Rochester Institute of Technology
1,055 games Princeton has played all time without ever scoring at least 20 goals in back-to-back games; Virginia has scored at least 20 goals in each of its last two games