Going Back - 2003 NCAA Champs

This is the fourth installment of the "Going Back" series, in which TigerBlog is writing entries that he would have written for events that occurred before the blog started in 2008.

His goal is to do this once per week. He also invites anyone who would like to submit a version of their own to do so.

For this week, he goes back a little more than 17 years, to when the women's lacrosse team won its second-straight NCAA title and third overall. This one was quite a bit different than the one the year before, when Princeton simply ran away from the rest of the field.

In addition to having to tough it out in two tight games, Princeton also had to deal with an incredibly emotional subplot of which it had no control.

Here is what TigerBlog would have been on Monday, May 19, 2002:

The Princeton women's lacrosse team did nothing the easy way this past weekend in Syracuse. 

That is 100 percent sure.

Theresa Sherry's goal in the second overtime gave Princeton an 8-7 win over Virginia in the NCAA championship game Sunday to give the Tigers a second-straight title. To accomplish this, Princeton had to:

* defeat two of the four teams it lost to during the regular season

* win the tournament as an unseeded team

* defeat the No.1 seed in the semifinals

* defeat the No. 3 seed in the final

* rally from a 3-0 deficit in the championship game

* find a way to get the ball back and then tie the game in the final two minutes of regulation of the championship game

* win it in overtime

And really, none of those things even scratches the surface of the surreal environment in the Carrier Dome Friday night, when it was Princeton against top seed Loyola in the semifinals. Loyola had defeated Princeton 9-8 in March at Class of 1952 Stadium, but the rematch was about so much more than just figuring out a physical way to defeat the Greyhounds.

No, this was more emotional than anything else. And if what was going on didn't tug at your emotions, well, then that's on you. 

The phrase "life and death" is often thrown around in sports. This time it applied in the literal sense. 

Loyola head coach Diane Geppi-Aikens brought her team to Syracuse knowing full way that she does not have much time left to live. Geppi-Aikens had fought through brain cancer for nine years, but she got the news last December that it was now back and inoperable.

Not to be deterred, she continued to coach her team every day, and her team was ranked No. 1 heading into the semifinals. In April, she wrote a gripping piece in Sports Illustrated entitled "No Time To Die," which included this:

Doctors told me in January that I might have only a few months left. I have two goals: getting to the Final Four and to my oldest son Michael's high school graduation, both in May. How do I face each
day? I wake up to the sound of my kids cranking up the stereo. Then they run into my room to sing and dance around my bed. I try to be as positive as humanly possible and thank God for one more day with people I love. As I tell my players, you can find inspiration no matter what you're up against.

It was against this backdrop that Princeton had to play. That could not possibly have been easy. In fact, TigerBlog will go as far as to say that he's never seen a Princeton team in any sport who had to face anything like that.

Chris Sailer is Princeton's head coach. She and Geppi-Aikens are close, as is everyone in the women's lacrosse community, and Sailer - herself the kind of coach you'd love your own daughter to have a chance to play for - had to guide her team with the proper respect and empathy for the situation while also staying focused on the fact that the best way to show respect would be to compete its hardest.

And that's what Princeton did. 

The Loyola game was a grind-it-out contest, one that Princeton took 5-3. The key was draw controls, as Princeton won eight of 10 draws and subsequently outshot Loyola 19-7.

The win put Princeton into the final against UVa, who had taken out the Tigers 13-8 seven days after the loss to Loyola in March. This one looked like it would be more of the same when it started out 3-0 Cavs, but Princeton fought back.

Keeping it close and winning it were two different things, though. The Tigers still trailed 7-6 with two minutes to play and Virginia in possession when Alex Fiore made the biggest play of the weekend, with a strip that led to a turnover.

The Tigers didn't waste it, as Whitney Miller tied the game with 1:39 to play, on an assist from Lindsey Biles. That led to the overtime (two three-minute periods), and that led to Sherry's goal, which Princeton then made stand up. 

In doing so, it was championship No. 3 for the women's lacrosse team, and the second in a row.

The 2002 team went 19-1, losing its opener and running through the rest of the season basically unchallenged. In fact, the Tigers outscored their two Final Four opponents by a combined 26-9 last year.

This year? This required a whole different level of toughness, and it ran the spectrum of emotions, including a large dose of empathy for a courageous woman whose inspiration will resonate in the sport forever.

Note - Diane Geppi-Aikens died on June 29, 2003, a little more than one month after the NCAA tournament ended. She did get to see her son's graduation. TigerBlog never met her, but he knows many people who did know her and who consider her one of the strongest and most inspirational people they have ever met. You can read her entire SI piece HERE.