Princeton University Athletics
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Princeton Faces Georgetown, UVa In Event To Combat Parkinson's
October 06, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
The Most Valuable Player of Division I men's lacrosse last May was just starting down a path that led to overtime of the NCAA finals when he basically put an end to Princeton's season by himself.
Scott Rodgers, the goalie from Notre Dame, shut out Princeton for the final 22 minutes and made five of his 14 saves in the fourth quarter to leave Princeton feeling pretty empty after its 8-5 loss in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Perhaps what Rodgers did after that, when he put together one of the great NCAA tournament runs of all-time in leading the Fighting Irish past Maryland and Cornell and then into overtime against heavily favored Duke, took some of the sting out of that loss.
Now, nearly five months later, the Tigers are putting the finishing touches on the fall season, which will include participating this Saturday in the "Play For Parkinsons" tournament at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va.
The event, presented by the ProjectSpark Foundation, will feauture four of the top teams in Division I. The day begins at 9 a.m. with a game between Army and Georgetown, and Army will take on Virginia at 11. Princeton then plays Georgetown at 1, followed by a 3:00 game against Virginia in the day's finale.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for kids ages 5-12. Children under five will be admitted for free.
The ProjectSpark Foundation was founded by Christian Cook and his sister Lauren after their mother Diane was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2008. Lauren played lacrosse at Davidson, while Christian is a 1998 Princeton grad and one of the great defensemen in school history.
Christian Cook was a 1998 first-team All-America and the winner of the William Schmeisser Award as the top defenseman in Division I. He was a two-time first-team All-Ivy League selection, and he helped Princeton win the NCAA championship in 1996, 1997 and 1998. No team has been able to win three straight NCAA titles since.
Princeton went 11-5 a year ago and won the first Ivy League tournament championship, as well as a share of the Ivy League regular-season championship.
The lone captain of the 2010 Tigers was Jeremy Hirsch, who wore the same No. 37 that Cook did when he played at Princeton. Hirsch, a three-year starter on defense as well, is one of three starters who graduated, along with attackman Rob Engelke and midfielder Scott Mackenzie.
The 2011 team will have three captains - senior attackman Jack McBride, senior midfielder Tyler Moni and junior longstick midfielder John Cunningham.
McBride and his cousin Chris McBride will return as starters on attack. The first offensive midfield returns to sophomore starters, Ivy League Rookie of the Year Mike Chanenchuk and Jeff Froccaro, and Cunningham is joined by returnees on defense including goalie Tyler Fiorito and defensemen Chad Wiedmaier and Long Ellis.
Among the other returnees are attackmen Alex Capretta and Forest Sonnenfeldt, offensive midfielders Chris White, Tucker Shanley and Luke Armour, two-way middie Moni, defensive middies Peter Smyth and Connor Reilly and longstick midfielder Jonathan Meyers.
The fall season for Princeton, which concludes next week with more practices and an intrasquad game, has featured a game against the alumni and a reception honoring former Princeton goalies that drew more than 130 former players.