Happy Anniversary

TigerBlog and his colleague Cody Chrusciel have spent much of this week doing interviews with members of the 1996 and 2001 Princeton men's lacrosse teams. 

It's been 25 Memorial Days since the 1996 team won the NCAA championship, which was the third for the program and the first of three straight. It's been 20 Memorial Days since Princeton won the 2001 title, the sixth in program history.

Both games were won in overtime. The 1996 championship came on a goal by Jesse Hubbard, assisted by Lorne Smith, on the first possession of overtime to give Princeton a 13-12 win over Virginia. The 2001 win came on a B.J. Prager goal, assisted by Ryan Boyle, to defeat Syracuse 10-9.

There were great similarities between the games. Actually, there were three major ones. 

First, Princeton had been hammered by its championship game opponent in the regular season. Second, Princeton was an underdog in both games (a huge underdog in the Syracuse game). Lastly, Princeton had the game seemingly won in the fourth quarter before the other team tied it, forcing overtime.

You would think all of the momentum would be on the part of the team that had tied the score, but Princeton won both games nonetheless.

TigerBlog was at both games. They are both in among the very best Princeton events he's seen in his many years of covering the Tigers.

The 1996 game matched two of the greatest attack units ever to play lacrosse, Princeton's Hubbard, Jon Hess and Chris Massey and Virginia's Doug Knight, Michael Watson and Tim Whiteley. Hess, Hubbard and Massey were all sophomores in 1996. UVa's group featured two juniors (Watson and Knight) and a senior (Whiteley). In fact, it would be Watson who would be the Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four after his five-goal performance in the final.

Virginia beat Princeton 12-9 in the 1996 regular season in a game that was 11-2 at one point. In 2001, Syracuse defeated Princeton 14-8 in the 2001 regular season, and this after having beaten Princeton 17-4 in the 2000 regular season and 13-7 in the 2000 championship game.

Despite that, Princeton turned both of those around and won in overtime. 

It's been great catching up with those guys this week and reliving those games, of which, not surprisingly, TB remembers almost every detail. Ah, but not every detail - he didn't remember the near-turnover and loose ball push that kept possession with Princeton just before Hubbard's goal in ’96

More than once, TB referred to the players as "kids" when in fact they're all in their 30s and 40s now. How is that possible?

In addition, TB has a written piece coming next week on the unlikeliest hero of the 1996 championship. He's not giving away any names just yet.

This weekend marks the latest NCAA lacrosse championships, with the men and women both about to crown champions. TB will be in Hartford to be the official scorer for the men's event, something he's done for every championship since 2005.

There was no NCAA tournament a year ago. When the season was postponed, Princeton's men were 5-0 and ranked in the top three in every poll. They were, in TB's mind, 100 percent headed to Memorial Day weekend.

This year, there are three Princeton alums who will be competing in Hartford. Top-seeded North Carolina features Connor McCarthy, who was off to a big start for Princeton in 2020 and who scored the game-winner for the Tar Heels in overtime against Rutgers last weekend in the quarterfinals.

The second seed is Duke, which features Michael Sowers and Phillip Robertson. Sowers, who would have barring something unforeseen won the Tewaaraton Award last year had the season continued, has moved into second place all-time in NCAA history in assists and points. He enters the Final Four with 25 more points than any other Duke player this season, and he needs six assists to tie Pat Spencer's career record of 231 (possible) and 19 points to tie Lyle Thompson's record for first in points (not possible).

For context, the semifinal game against Maryland tomorrow will be the 64th of Sowers' career. Spencer played in 68, and Thompson played in 70. Sowers has averaged more points per game than any player in the last 37 years. 

The person charged with stopping Sowers, by the way, is Maryland defensive coordinator Jesse Bernhardt, who formerly held the same position at Princeton. McCarthy's offensive coordinator is Metzy, and if you know anything at all about Princeton men's lacrosse history, you know who Metzy is.

Enjoy the video series that Cody has put together. And enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, even if you're doing something other than watching lacrosse.