adam
03-06-2005, 08:43 AM
By Dave Curtis
Inside Lacrosse
PRINCENTON, N.J. - What Johns Hopkins brings back from last year’s final four has most of Division I lacrosse anxious enough.
But yesterday’s 9-6 victory over Princeton at Class of 1952 Stadium featured a host of new faces that may match their more popular teammate’s talents.
There’s Jake Byrne to team with Peter LeSeuer and Kyle Barrie on attack, There’s freshman Paul Rabil to run with Kyle Harrison in the midfield, and Jesse Schwartzman to stop shots and scream at defenders in the back.
Each player, whether new to his position, new to the starting lineup or new to college lacrosse all together, dominated at times yesterday. They helped the Blue Jays build a 9-3 lead and show they deserve their No. 1 national ranking.
“It was the perfect tone-setter,” said Harrison, who scored once, assisted on two other goals and snatched a team-high seven ground balls. “We thought this game would be a lot closer than it was. You can take a lot of pride in a victory like this.”
The victory thrilled a small pocket of blue and white-clad fans who chanted “Let’s Go Hopkins!” throughout the final three quarters. The few hundred folks helped compose a stadium-record crowd of 6,325 fans, who filled the bleachers and stood two-deep at the fences behind the goals.
Leave it to national player of the year candidate to spoil the Princeton party. After the Tigers won the opening face-off, he stole a pass and charged downfield. No defender challenged, so Harrison fired from 15 yards out on the left wing and gave Hopkins a 1-0 lead 39 seconds in.
The goal started a six-goal run for the visitors, covering the game’s first 20 minutes and forcing Princeton coach Bill Tierney to pull goalie Dave Law in favor of Matthew Larkin after one quarter. Three of the goals came from highly touted freshmen, two from Rabil and one from Stephen Peyser.
Byrne, a sophomore who played midfield last year, scored the other three. He finished his first career start, and his first collegiate game on attack, with four points.
“It was the unselfishness of the offense,” Byrne said. “Harrison did his job, which is pretty much to draw two (defenders) and get the ball to me. And then I did my job.”
Lou Braun did his job, too. The senior middie helped Hopkins win 10 of the game’s first 13 face-offs, keeping Princeton out of sync on offense.
“It was frustrating,” Tigers coach Bill Tierney said. “We didn’t have the ball that much, and we were back on our heels an awful lot.”
Princeton closed to 7-3 at the half, with Scott Sowanick scoring a hat trick in the last eight minutes of the second quarter. But the Tigers matched their first quarter scoring in the third thanks in part to goaltender Schwartzman.
After Thursday’s late-afternoon practice, Schwartzman didn’t know whether he or teammate Scott Smith would start in the game. But coach Dave Pietramala gave him the starting assignment over the phone, and the sophomore, who started twice last season, stopped 10 Tigers shots.
“I was a little surprised when I heard I’d be starting,” Schwartzman said. “We had rotated in the scrimmages, and (Smith) did a great job also. But I thought I did a good job.”
Two third-quarter goals, including sophomore middie Jamison Koesterer’s second career score, made it 9-3 Blue Jays. It stayed that way until the final 10 minutes, when a Tigers rally highlighted by Sowanick’s career-high fourth goal, made the final score respectable.
A year ago, Hopkins thumped Princeton 14-5 and rolled through the rest of the regular season, its lone hiccup coming in overtime at Virginia . A repeat would thrill its coach, who said he was concerned before the game how his players would start the year.
“I thought we underachieved during our scrimmages,” he said. “But my seniors assured me that we would be OK.”
And his new starters fulfilled that promise.
Inside Lacrosse
PRINCENTON, N.J. - What Johns Hopkins brings back from last year’s final four has most of Division I lacrosse anxious enough.
But yesterday’s 9-6 victory over Princeton at Class of 1952 Stadium featured a host of new faces that may match their more popular teammate’s talents.
There’s Jake Byrne to team with Peter LeSeuer and Kyle Barrie on attack, There’s freshman Paul Rabil to run with Kyle Harrison in the midfield, and Jesse Schwartzman to stop shots and scream at defenders in the back.
Each player, whether new to his position, new to the starting lineup or new to college lacrosse all together, dominated at times yesterday. They helped the Blue Jays build a 9-3 lead and show they deserve their No. 1 national ranking.
“It was the perfect tone-setter,” said Harrison, who scored once, assisted on two other goals and snatched a team-high seven ground balls. “We thought this game would be a lot closer than it was. You can take a lot of pride in a victory like this.”
The victory thrilled a small pocket of blue and white-clad fans who chanted “Let’s Go Hopkins!” throughout the final three quarters. The few hundred folks helped compose a stadium-record crowd of 6,325 fans, who filled the bleachers and stood two-deep at the fences behind the goals.
Leave it to national player of the year candidate to spoil the Princeton party. After the Tigers won the opening face-off, he stole a pass and charged downfield. No defender challenged, so Harrison fired from 15 yards out on the left wing and gave Hopkins a 1-0 lead 39 seconds in.
The goal started a six-goal run for the visitors, covering the game’s first 20 minutes and forcing Princeton coach Bill Tierney to pull goalie Dave Law in favor of Matthew Larkin after one quarter. Three of the goals came from highly touted freshmen, two from Rabil and one from Stephen Peyser.
Byrne, a sophomore who played midfield last year, scored the other three. He finished his first career start, and his first collegiate game on attack, with four points.
“It was the unselfishness of the offense,” Byrne said. “Harrison did his job, which is pretty much to draw two (defenders) and get the ball to me. And then I did my job.”
Lou Braun did his job, too. The senior middie helped Hopkins win 10 of the game’s first 13 face-offs, keeping Princeton out of sync on offense.
“It was frustrating,” Tigers coach Bill Tierney said. “We didn’t have the ball that much, and we were back on our heels an awful lot.”
Princeton closed to 7-3 at the half, with Scott Sowanick scoring a hat trick in the last eight minutes of the second quarter. But the Tigers matched their first quarter scoring in the third thanks in part to goaltender Schwartzman.
After Thursday’s late-afternoon practice, Schwartzman didn’t know whether he or teammate Scott Smith would start in the game. But coach Dave Pietramala gave him the starting assignment over the phone, and the sophomore, who started twice last season, stopped 10 Tigers shots.
“I was a little surprised when I heard I’d be starting,” Schwartzman said. “We had rotated in the scrimmages, and (Smith) did a great job also. But I thought I did a good job.”
Two third-quarter goals, including sophomore middie Jamison Koesterer’s second career score, made it 9-3 Blue Jays. It stayed that way until the final 10 minutes, when a Tigers rally highlighted by Sowanick’s career-high fourth goal, made the final score respectable.
A year ago, Hopkins thumped Princeton 14-5 and rolled through the rest of the regular season, its lone hiccup coming in overtime at Virginia . A repeat would thrill its coach, who said he was concerned before the game how his players would start the year.
“I thought we underachieved during our scrimmages,” he said. “But my seniors assured me that we would be OK.”
And his new starters fulfilled that promise.