A Forever Team

TigerBlog stood on the sideline at Lincoln Financial Field Monday just as the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse game reached halftime. 

Next to him was Jon Hess, Princeton Class of 1998, who was holding the championship trophy that he and his teammates won. Actually, make that one of the three championship trophies that he and his teammates won, in 1996, 1997 and 1998.

Each year, the NCAA honors the Division I champion of 25 years earlier at halftime of the current year's title game. For most teams who are fortunate to be there, it's a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For that matter, it's a zero-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the overwhelming majority of Division I men's lacrosse players.

For the Princeton Class of 1998, this was the third time being honored — and it would been four had it not been for the pandemic. Four times from three championships? The 1997 team was honored in 2015 after being voted the greatest team of all time (that was Princeton's 15-0 team), but the 1996 team was not honored due to the pandemic. Instead, Princeton's 1996 team and Syracuse's 1995 team were included in the 2022 ceremony.

In fact, since Princeton won those three straight championships, no team has been able to match it. Before that, it had only been done twice, once by Johns Hopkins (1978-80) and once by Syracuse (19880-90).

As Hess and the rest of the team prepared to heat out onto the field, all around him and TB were happy, smiling, energetic guys in their 40s, a group of guys with kids and mortgages, a goup with varying amounts of hair, a group where some look like they could step right on the field and play against — and more than anything a group of people who as college students accomplished something unique and special.

Right when halftime started, TB may have said the wrong thing: "Can you believe it's been 25 years?"

TB first caught up with them Monday at their pregame tailgate. It's hard to describe the emotions of when they all get together, but it's something hard to miss.

It's been a quarter century since they went out on their own, almost universally to accomplish great things post-Princeton. The bond that they share, though, is as unbreakable as any that has been forged during their playing days.

It all starts with Hess, of course. The 1997 Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four and one of the greatest feeders college lacrosse has ever seen, Hess is just a natural leader. Every member of any team he's ever played on has simply been drawn to him and followed his lead. The older he's gotten, the more he's developed that skill, though it was abundant from the day TigerBlog first met him back in 1995.

TB has always thought a sign of that was the fact that the attack line he played on his final three years is always, always referred to as "Hess, Hubbard, Massey." Yes, that's alphabetical, but TB has always considered that nobody would ever start with anyone else, even guys in various Halls of Fame.

Hess, Hubbard (that's Jesse) and Massey (that's Chris) started on attack in 1996, 1997 and 1998. For their careers they combined to score an insane 618 points in 60 games, a figure that would have been about 100 or so higher had it not been for the all the blowouts they found themselves watching from the sideline in the fourth quarter. If you're counting only the final three years, that's 534 points in 45 games.

They also scored 127 points in 11 career NCAA tournament games, going 10-1 in the postseason. They were 43-2 overall in their final three years, with the aforementioned three NCAA titles.

They were hardly a one-man (three-man) show, of course. In fact, the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 1998 wasn't one of them but goalie Corey Popham, who was also there Monday. The 1998 team had eight All-Americans that year; all eight were in attendance. In all, there were six members of that team who would at some point of their careers be first-team All-American, and all six were there as well.

They took their 1998 trophy with them out on the field at halftime, joined by their head coach Bill Tierney and offensive coordinator David Metzbower. It would be hard to calculate the number of pictures they too and all of the different combinations who were represented. It's clear that this was a moment they all wanted to remember.

There are other memories they all share as well, back before you could take pictures on a cell phone. There was the loss to Virginia in Week 2 to end a 29-game winning streak and inject maybe the slightest bit of doubt about a three-peat. There were the rallies from the same 8-4 third-quarter deficit in the third quarter in the quarterfinals against Duke and semifinals against Syracuse, which also saw first-team All-American defenseman Christian Cook (who was there) go down with an ACL tear.

And then there was the first half of the final against a Maryland team that Princeton defeated 19-7 in the 1997 final, when the Tigers employed Tierney's 19-goal rule and passed the ball around for the final five minutes. 

This time, it was 3-3 at the half. If ever there was a time to be nervous, this was it. 

TigerBlog's biggest memory of that day was after Tierney didn't a quick TV interview before heading into the lockerroom at Rutgers Stadium. As he and TB walked along, TB didn't say anything. Tierney then looked at him and said "we'll be fine."

Maybe he was talking himself into it. Maybe he knew all too well who was in that lockerroom waiting for him. Maybe he knew Hess would make sure everyone knew what was at stake.

Final score? Princeton 15, Maryland 5. History made.

That's the kind of team it was. And now it's 25 years, gone in a blink. Gone, but never to be forgotten, and always to be remembered, celebrated and held in the highest of awe. 

The 1998 Princeton men's lacrosse team. It's not just a championship team.

It's a forever team.