Princeton University Athletics
As Boyle And Striebel Enter The Hall Of Fame Together, A Look Back On How They Met As Tigers
October 19, 2019 | Men's Lacrosse
Ryan Boyle is angry.
The sounds coming through the phone a few minutes ago were unmistakably those of the Manhattan morning. Now Boyle is in a cab, unhappy about the route being taken to the Brooklyn Bridge.
"Which way are you going?" he asks.
The answer, given in either an Eastern European or Middle Eastern dialect, is not to Boyle's liking.
"What are you doing? We could already have been there."
"Maybe," the accent says, "you'd like to fly there? Maybe you'll drive and I'll sit back there?"
Matt Striebel is apologetic.
The sounds coming through the phone now suggest rain, heavy rain. Striebel explains that he's in the car, driving through "a torrential New England rain," and hopes that he can be heard. He thinks otherwise, and for that, he's sorry.
Windshield wipers slosh back and forth as Striebel's voice races, going much faster, presumably, than the car. He talks college basketball, throws out the name of a mutual friend, asks about life in general, all to the metronomic cadence of the wipers.
The conversation with each lasts about 20 minutes, and they talk about the other for maybe 10 of those 20 minutes.
They are two of the best players in the history of the sport of lacrosse, Matt Striebel and Ryan Boyle are, sure-fire Hall-of-Famers one day. In a sport where there has been a direct correlation between the marketing of its superstars and an unimaginable explosion of the game in the last 10 years, there haven't been too many players who have been more in the eye of the hurricane than Striebel and Boyle.
They are lacrosse icons, instantly recognizable and awe-inspiring on any field where kids are carrying sticks.
They are lacrosse winners with few equals. They each have won six major lacrosse championships, on the collegiate, professional and international levels. Each time one has won such a title, the other was on the team. Without the other, they are ringless.
They are teammates. They are in business together. They are like brothers, these two, something that, in their own quite distinct styles, they scream out during their 20 minutes on the phone.
And yet, it all could have been so much different.
There could have been resentment. There could have been disappointment. There could have been anger. There could have been none of those shared championships.
They could have been enemies.
It's been 10 years since their first championship, accomplished on Memorial Day 2001, when both were members of the 2001 Princeton men's lacrosse team that won the sixth NCAA title in school history.
Their 20 minutes on the phone a decade later are a reminder of just how amazing that championship was - and how remarkable their story is.
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