No. 2 Orangemen Travel to Princeton for a Rematch of Last Year's National Championship Game
3/21/2002 11:13:38 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Game 6: at #8 Princeton
Sat., March 23, 2002, 1:00 p.m., Class of 1952 Stadium
Syracuse lost a 9-8 decision at Johns Hopkins last Saturday, its first setback of the season. The Orangemen are now 4-1 on the year and dropped one spot to No. 2 in the STX/USILA Coaches Poll, while Hopkins climbed one spot to No. 1.
This week, SU faces another elite lacrosse program in Princeton, the eighth-ranked team in the nation and the defending national champion. The Tigers are 1-2 so far this season. They notched their first win of the year last week with a 12-4 victory against Hofstra. Princeton lost to Johns Hopkins, 8-5, on March 2, and then dropped a 13-11 decision at Virginia on March 9.
This will mark the 16th meeting between Syracuse and Princeton. The series began in 1922. The Orangemen own a 9-6 advantage in the all-time series and have won four of the last five meetings. Princeton won the most recent clash, a 10-9 overtime victory in the 2001 national championship game. Last year during the regular season, SU posted a 14-8 triumph against the Tigers at the Carrier Dome. In its last trip to Class of 1952 Stadium, SU defeated Princeton, 16-4, on Easter Sunday 2000. The Orangemen won their seventh national title by defeating Princeton, 13-7, on Memorial Day 2000 at Byrd Stadium in College Park, MD.
Orangemen Wrapping Up Five-Game Road Swing
This marks the fifth-straight game for Syracuse on the road. The Orangemen will be looking to win their fourth game during this stretch at Princeton. The challenging haul began March 2, in Charlottesville, Va. against then No. 5-ranked Virginia. It continued through the high altitude of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado for back-to-back matches against Air Force and Denver. The team bus drove into Baltimore last weekend to drop the team off at historic Homewood Field to battle the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. This week, the long road swing continues on to Princeton, N.J. for the long-awaited rematch of the 2001 national championship game between the Orangemen and Tigers.
SU will make it five consecutive weekends on the road when they travel to Brown for a noon contest against the Bears on March 30. However, the Orangemen will get a boost from their hometown crowd before that. In between the Princeton and Brown matches is a Wednesday night home game against Hobart on March 27.
From 1997-2001, Syracuse posted a 33-11 record away from home. The Orangemen have won 18 of 22 road games in the new millennium.
Bouncing Back from Defeat
Only once in the past 10 years has the Syracuse lacrosse team lost two games in a row during the same season - that was during the 1995 season when Virginia (15-7) and Johns Hopkins (14-13 OT) beat the Orangemen in back-to-back contests at the Carrier Dome.
The Orangemen, who have only lost 28 games since 1992, usually bounce back from losses by posting wins in their very next outing. Since 1992, SU has followed up a regular-season loss with a win 18 out of 19 times.
To illustrate Syracuse's resiliency even clearer, look how the team has responded after losses during the course of the past 20 years. Since 1982, there have been only two times when SU has posted two or more consecutive losses (1982 and 1995).
To take it a step further, the Orangemen's average margin of defeat since 1992 is 2.39 goals. Out of the 28 games SU has lost in the past 10 years, half of them have been decided by just one goal. Syracuse hasn?t lost by more than one goal in the new millennium and the Orangemen have lost five games since 2000.
The Syracuse-Princeton Rivalry
Syracuse or Princeton has won 12 of the last 14 national championships. The Orangemen have appeared in 12 national title games, while the Tigers have appeared in seven national championship games since 1992. Princeton has won six titles. Syracuse has won seven.
Syracuse and Princeton have met three times in the NCAA finals. The Tigers own a 2-1 record against the Orangemen in championship contests, winning in 1992 and 2001. SU beat Princeton for the crown in 2000.
Syracuse and Princeton are two of just 10 schools to have competed in the NCAA Division I Championship game. The Orangemen have participated in the finals 12 times. Only Johns Hopkins owns more appearances (14). Here are the other schools that have contended for a Division I title and the number of times they reached the finals: Maryland (9), Princeton (7), Cornell (6), Virginia (6), North Carolina (5), Navy (1), Towson (1), Loyola (1).
Michael Powell So Far in 2002
Sophomore attackman Michael Powell (Carthage, N.Y./Carthage), the Preseason Player of the Year, scored a career-high five goals and had a game-high eight points in Syracuse's 18-11 season-opening victory against No. 20-ranked Army. The eight points were a personal best for Powell and it marked the most points registered by an Orangeman since the 2000 NCAA quarterfinals when older brother, Ryan Powell, torched Georgetown with four goals and four assists.
Against Virginia, Powell scored four goals and had two assists. In Denver, he had three goals and three assists in each of SU's two games. Against Johns Hopkins last weekend, Powell was held to one assist. It was only the third time in his career (first time this season) that he was held without a goal. Last year, the only games he did not score a goal were against Notre Dame in the NCAA semifinals and at Hobart.
In 21 career games, Powell has registered at least five points, 11 times. He had three games last season in which he posted six points (vs. Loyola, Brown and Virginia).
Presently, Powell leads the team in scoring with 27 points (15 goals, 12 assists), or a 5.40 point-per-game average.
He is three points away from reaching the century mark in career points. He is the owner of 97 career points (45 goals, 52 assists). Powell has never been shut out of a game. He has either scored a goal or had an assist in all 21 games of his career.
Springer Needs Two Goals at Princeton to Notch His 100th Career Goal
Junior attackman Michael Springer (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) is SU's third-leading scorer with 14 points (10 goals, four assists). Against Hopkins, he was held to just one goal. It was only the fourth time in 36 career games that Springer had fewer than two points. He scored four goals and had one assist in the win against Denver to move into 17th place on SU's all-time goals chart. He currently owns 98 career goals and will become the 17th player in school history to reach the century mark in goals if he can manage two more. In his 36 games for the Orangemen, Springer has recorded three or more goals 21 times. Springer averaged 2.84 goals per game in his first two seasons at SU.
Syracuse Shooters Run into a Hot Hopkins Goalie in Nick Murtha
Johns Hopkins goalie Nick Murtha was tremendous against the Orangemen. He finished with 18 saves to help limit Syracuse to its fewest amount of goals since the 1999 NCAA First Round when the Orangemen beat Princeton, 7-5.
SU scored eight goals on 39 shots against Hopkins. It was the Orangemen's lowest shooting percentage (.205) in a game since last year's national championship contest against Princeton (.188).
Coffman Breaks Into School's Top 25 All-Time Scoring List
Out in Denver, senior attackman Josh Coffman (Carthage, N.Y./Carthage) totalled seven goals and one assist in two games. With the offensive explosion, he cracked the school's top 25 for all-time scoring. Coffman is currently 22nd with 146 career points (92 goals, 54 assists). His 92 goals place him 20th on the all-time goals ledger at SU. He registered four goals in the win against Denver, tying his career high. Coffman also tallied four goals in the win at Virginia.
Out of 54 career games, Coffman has recorded at least four points 18 times. During his first three seasons at SU, he played primarily at midfield. At that position on the field, Coffman was considered one of the best in the nation, as evidenced by his first-team All-America accolades last season and his preseason All-America nods at midfield this year.
Syracuse is 33-8 when Coffman scores a goal. He has 15 hat tricks to his credit during his time at SU.
Pfeifer Has His Best Game of the Season So Far at Johns Hopkins
Jay Pfeifer (Towson, Md./Gilman) is Syracuse's starting goaltender. He redshirted last season during Rob Mulligan's final campaign. Pfeifer took the year to get comfortable and learn the Syracuse system. He won the job this season because of his ability to make saves and clear the ball. His overall chemistry (i.e. communication, leadership) with the rest of the Syracuse defense was a factor as well.
Against Virginia, Pfeifer had a terrific game. After allowing six goals in the first quarter, he settled down to record 18 saves, including 10 in the second half. He was solid in the win against Denver with 11 saves against the Pioneers, including 10 following the game's opening quarter. Pfeifer has strong lacrosse genes. His father, Jerry, played lacrosse at Johns Hopkins and served as an assistant coach for the Blue Jays. Last weekend at Homewood Field, Pfeifer had his best performance of the season. He made 15 saves, including a few at point-blank range. He also showed his ability to come out of the cage and initiate the break.
