Throwback To 2003

TigerBlog very vividly can remember back more than 17 years now, to a Friday afternoon in 2003, when he drove from Princeton to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.

It was going to be a big lacrosse weekend for Princeton in Central New York.

The NCAA women's Final Four would be there, with a game Friday night between Princeton and Loyola, followed by the men's quarterfinal Saturday between Princeton and Syracuse and then hopefully the Princeton women in Sunday's championship game. Yes, it was a big weekend, and a convenient one at that.

For the record, the Princeton men lost to Syracuse 15-5 in the quarterfinals. The Princeton women defeated Loyola 5-3 in the semifinal and then Virginia 8-7 in overtime in the final.

David Rosenfeld, who had previously had two stints in Princeton's Office of Athletic Communications, was then the women's lacrosse contact at Loyola. For some reason, he rode from Princeton with TB and with Mark Eckel, then a sportswriter for the Trenton Times.

Why was David with us? Hmmm. TB can't remember that part.

TB flashed back to that weekend the other night, when the Princeton women's lacrosse team held a "Tiger Throwback" to go back to that Final Four. Chris Sailer, the head coach then and now, was joined by three players from the 2003 team: Theresa Sherry, Whitney Miller Nye and Rachael Becker DeCecco.



It was a really good event, and the players and coach all did a great job.

TB remembered a lot about the championship game, but especially the turnover that Alex Fiore caused (with help from Elizabeth Pillion) to get Princeton the ball back down one with less than two minutes to go, which then led to Miller Nye's tying goal. And then there was the OT, when Sherry scored what would be the game-winner (women's OT was two three-minute periods back then).

There were all kinds of rules that were different then. There was no shot clock (which explains why the scores were so low). There were no boundaries, so the player closest to the ball went it went out of bounds got the ball, regardless of who actually knocked it out. There were no man-down situations because of cards. Most amazingly, there wasn't a single eight-meter shot by either team in the championship game.

There was one part TB didn't remember, and that was the job that Becker DeCecco did on Amy Appelt in the final seconds of regulation in the final. The game was tied at 7-7 and UVa had the ball and a chance to win it, only to have Becker DeCecco completely wiped out Appelt, who isolated on her and counted the time down before going into her move, much like Michael Jordan would have.

Of course, Becker DeCecco was no ordinary defender. In fact, she remains the only male or female defender ever to win the Tewaaraton Award as the top player in college lacrosse. 

Still, if you talk about the 2003 NCAA women's lacrosse Final Four, you have to talk about the biggest story leading into it, and that was Loyola coach Diane Geppi-Aikens. Her team was the No. 1-ranked team in the country, and they were trying to win a championship for their coach, who was dying from brain cancer.

It was an awful story, but also an inspiring one. Here was Loyola, generating national news as it rallied around its courageous coach, who did not have much time left.

Geppi-Aikens, who was a revered figure in women's lacrosse, approached her situation with great grace and courage. It was not an easy position for Princeton to be in, since there wasn't a Tiger there who didn't respect what Loyola was going through and Geppi-Aikens' spirit.

As it turned out, Geppi-Aikens died a little more than a month after the game. TigerBlog admired the way Princeton approached that game, and the honor that Princeton brought to Geppi-Aikens and the moment.

As for the call Monday night, TB took some notes as he watched.

First, there was Sailer, who said that her team "didn't have a lot to defend; it had a lot to earn." This was reflected in its t-shirts, which said "Different Team, Same Dream."

He remembered Sherry's goal, but he didn't  remember the spin move that started her drive to the cage. He did remember that Sherry's goal, in the second OT period, gave Princeton its only lead of the game.

Sherry talked about how they learned to endure and be tough, and how those lessons apply in this surreal time. Becker DeCecco, who has done broadcasting now for ESPN+, did what most great players do - credited her teammates.

And for the last word, TB will go to Miller Nye. After the video ended and Princeton started to celebrate, she summed it all up perfectly.

"I get chills every time I watch it," she said.