A Picture Worth 400 Words

TigerBlog wrote about 400 words on Princeton's 10-8 win over Georgetown in men's lacrosse Saturday.

He could have summed the whole game up with this shot from Brian McWalters, which, if a picture if worth 1,000 words, would have left him with 600 more in the bank:

Yup. That's pretty much everything you need to know about how the game went. 

Princeton was unranked in every preseason ranking and preview that TB saw a few months back except for one that had the Tigers 18th. That was it. 

It bothered him to a certain extent, because he had a sense of what this team could do. He figured the same thing he figured two years ago, when Princeton went from unranked to the top five in five games.

With the schedule Princeton had, TB knew the Tigers would have every chance to make their statement. And that's exactly what happened Saturday afternoon in Washington, D.C.

Princeton opened the season with wins over unranked Monmouth and Binghamton. After that, Princeton was staring down at a gauntlet that started with No. 1 Maryland two Saturdays ago.

TB figured Princeton needed that game to get ready for what was to follow, and it seems he was right. Princeton lost that game 15-10, which left the Tigers with teams ranked No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 in last week's poll on three straight Saturdays. 

Princeton responded with a very impressive effort against the Hoyas, who were the No. 3 team a week ago. TB would say it was Princeton's best defensive effort in 10 years, as Georgetown was held to half its season goal average and the Tigers set the program record for caused turnovers in a game with 17. 

This is a bit of a different Princeton team than the ones in recent years. This is a team that is built the way head coach Matt Madalon loves, strong up the middle of the field.

Erik Peters, the Tiger goalie, was the Ivy League Player of the Week after his 16-save performance. This came after a career-high 19 saves a week ago against Maryland, which leaves Peters with 35 saves in two weeks against teams that very well could reach the Final Four.

In front of Peters, Princeton has a deep group of close defensemen and longstick midfielders and its most athletic group of shortstick defensive midfielders maybe ever. Even without first-team All-American George Baughan Saturday, Princeton played seven different longsticks and five SSDMs, and 10 different players had at least one caused turnover.

Another impressive part of the win is the fact that Princeton is an extraordinarily inexperienced team, at least in terms of games played. Alex Slusher, who had five goals, seems like he's been around for awhile, but he's also only played in nine career games.

In fact, of the 24 players who played in the game, 17 have played in fewer than 10 career games, including seven of 10 starters.

The win over Georgetown was a huge step forward for this team. It's one thing to know you're getting better and see it every day in practice. It's another to have the validation of a big win.

For Princeton, there is no time at all to relax. The Tigers next five opponents are ranked in this week's poll. The Ivy League, in fact is up to five ranked teams out of seven, and the other two are also much improved.

In fact, Princeton is in the process of doing something that very few teams have ever done, or at least it figures very few have ever done.

With the win over No. 3 Georgetown behind them, the Tigers' next opponent is ... the No. 3 team in the country. That would be Rutgers, who comes to Sherrerd Field Saturday at 1 (tickets can be purchased HERE).

Rutgers is unbeaten at 6-0, with two Top 20 wins (Army and Loyola). This figures to be another great game, hopefully with another big crowd (Princeton-Georgetown drew 2,500 fans, many of whom were Tiger alums).

After that? It's the Ivy opener against Penn (fourth in some polls, sixth in others). Then it's Yale (also in the top 20). And then Brown (ditto). And then Boston University (see above).

Princeton? 

The Tigers moved into the top 20 in every poll after the two opening wins and were around 18 or so after the Maryland loss. Yesterday's polls had Princeton either fifth (USA Lacrosse) or seventh (coaches and media polls). 

With that and with Peters' honor, it was a great Monday after a great Saturday for Princeton men's lacrosse. Now another big Saturday is on the horizon, followed by another and another and so on.