Lisa And Theresa

The latest edition of the "First 50" podcast was released yesterday.

It features two of the great women athletes Princeton has ever seen. How good was the first one?

Consider her resume:

* three-time first-team All-American
* NCAA champion
* two-sport athlete
* Ivy League Player of the Year
* Ivy League Rookie of the Year
* three-time first-team All-Ivy League after being second-team All-Ivy as a freshman
* von Kienbusch Award winner

And the second one? Consider hers as well:

* three-time first-team All-American
* NCAA champion
* two-sport athlete
* Ivy League Player of the Year
* Ivy League Rookie of the Year
* three-time first-team All-Ivy League after being second-team All-Ivy as a freshman
* von Kienbusch Award winner

Yes, they're remarkably similar. 

TigerBlog didn't realize just how similar they were until he wrote up some notes for his co-host, Mollie Marcoux Samaan, in advance of the podcast. 

The two women are Lisa Rebane Ewanchyna ’96 and Theresa Sherry ’04.

TigerBlog saw both of them play a lot of their games, and he can tell you from firsthand observation that certain players just have the ability to get to the goal when most others could not. Call it ferocity or savviness or grit or instinct or whatever you want, but both of them had a lot of it.

There have been five women who have been a three-time first-team All-American in women's lacrosse at Princeton. Rebane and Sherry were two of them. 

For those who are wondering, the other three were Amory Rowe ’94, Cristi Samaras ’99 and Rachael Becker ’03. 

For Rebane and Sherry, the similarities go way deeper.

For instance, Rebane was Princeton's all-time leading goal scorer when she graduated with 162 goals (she still ranks fourth all-time). How many goals did Sherry score? Yup, 161.

Sherry is seventh all-time at Princeton in draw controls. Rebane is eighth. Sherry had three more for her career.

There's more.

In fact, you can make a very strong case that the two biggest goals ever scored for Princeton women's lacrosse came in two Final Four overtimes, both against Virginia. 

The first was in 1994 in the semifinals. Princeton had led 13-10 before UVa score three times in the final two minutes to tie it. The Tigers were able to regroup and pull it out 14-13.

The other goal was in the 2003 NCAA final. In this one, Princeton needed a late goal in regulation to force the OT. Once there, Princeton won it 8-7.

Who had the goal in 1994? Rebane. Who had the goal in 2003? Sherry. Rebane, by the way, added two more goals in the 1994 championship game, which Princeton won 10-7 over Maryland. 

Sherry's other sport was soccer, in which she was also an All-Ivy League player. She was a member of three Ivy League championship teams and four NCAA tournament teams inn her falls.

As for Rebane, she was also a first-team All-American in field hockey, as well as a three-time first-team All-Ivy League selection. That's six first-team All-Ivy selections and four first-team All-American selections. That's not too bad.

She also was a two-time Ivy League champion in field hockey, making two NCAA appearances as well. 

Both have been very involved in coaching in their professional careers. TB was interested to hear what they said about their philosophies, and of course what they said about what they took from their Princeton lacrosse coach, Chris Sailer.

Rebane's freshman year was 1992-93. Sailer's first year at Princeton was 1987, meaning it was Year 6 for her when Rebane first played for her.

Sherry came through the program a decade later. Sailer is still here. 

What did they see from their coach back then? Are they surprised she is still coaching today? What have been the main reasons for her sustained success?

Well, you can listen to the podcast. In fact you can listen to it here.

If you want the archive of all of the podcasts so far, you can hear them all at goprincetontigers.com/50years. You can go there for all kinds of content related to the 50th anniversary celebration.

The podcast with Rebane and Sherry was the fifth in the series. There will be another one in two weeks, and then there will be more after the new year.