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Princeton Runs Past English Under-19 Team
The traffic report sounded so natural on the radio, even with the Irish brogue and the unfamiliar roadways. It was Tuesday morning in Dublin, and the commuters were on their way into the city for another day of work. The Princeton's men's lacrosse group, in Day 7 of its travels, was heading away from the heart of the city, to the campus of University College Dublin, where Princeton was to play its third and final game of its tour.
The opponent on this sunny, breezy, cool morning was the English Under-19 team, which will be playing in the world U-19 championships in Vancouver, B.C., in two weeks. Princeton would defeat the English U-19 team 15-4, scoring the first 10 goals of the game.
This was hardly about winning or losing a lacrosse game, of course. This game came after the Tigers had played two nailbiters against the full English national team in Spain, winning 9-7 and 8-7 against a team preparing for the European championships in Finland in August. The game against the U19 team figured to be a comfortable win for Princeton, and it was.
The game was played on a FieldTurf field lined for rugby, with rugby goalposts rising behind the lacrosse goals. There were no lines for a crease in front of the goals, so white cones were substituted.
UCD is as close to an American university as you're going to find in Ireland. It is the largest college in the country by student population, with nearly 15,000 students, and most of the students live in on-campus dorms, a rarity for Irish colleges. The entire University sits on a sprawling campus, as opposed to most Irish colleges that are spread out in the cities.
The English team arrived after Princeton, and leading the opponent onto the field was Ravi Sitlani, or "Baggy" as he is known, the same Baggy that the Princetonians first met in Spain. There were hugs all around for Baggy, and after the field was readied, it was time to play. Zack Goldberg started the scoring just 45 seconds in, and Princeton would outshoot the English 18-1 in the first quarter, which ended at 8-0.
The outcome was never in doubt, but there was drama to the end. Princeton tried to get a goal for Rob Toresco, the football player who came over the lacrosse team in midseason, but Toresco could not convert any of his chances from the crease. He ran into every sort of bad luck as he tried to score, and when the game had ended, he had taken six shots without converting one. Freshman Chris McBride spent most of the final 10 minutes behind the net trying to feed Toresco.
As soon as the game ended, there were sighs from the Princeton players. Toresco sprinted directly over to Tiger head coach Bill Tierney and gave him a huge hug, thanking him for trying.
Toresco was probably the most unlikely Princeton player to be on the trip, but that doesn't diminish the story of senior Jim Weiss, a Texan who played his final lacrosse game in Ireland. Unrecruited by Princeton out of Lamar High School in Houston, Weiss made the team as a walk-on and developed into a valuable shortstick defenseman. He scored Princeton's fourth goal against the English U-19ers.
"It's been a great time at Princeton," Weiss said. "It's great to go out with a goal. People were fired up to play. I thought we played hard."
The game Wednesday was the final one together for the 16 Princeton seniors and the final one period for most of them. Alex Hewit, Dan Cocoziello and Peter Striebel were all drafted by Major League Lacrosse, but the other 13 are unlikely to play serious lacrosse again. Weiss, for his part, is headed to law school after a year or two break.
It was an interesting dynamic for the seniors on this trip. They weren't looking to impress the coaches anymore, weren't aiming for more playing time next year. Yet on the field, as Weiss said, they all played hard. They took the three games very seriously. While it may not have been the time or place they were hoping for, they still did go out on a three-game winning streak.
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Princeton Runs Past English Under-19 Team
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