NCAA Men's Lacrosse Quarterfinals Game Two Coaches and Student-Athletes Quotes
Quarterfinal– Princeton vs. Syracuse
Saturday, May 17, 2003
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Syracuse Coach and Player Quotes
Sophomore Midfielder Mike Powell
On the impact of the crowd:
"That was pretty special for me. To come off the field and stand in front of eight thousand fans who are rooting for you…that's a pretty good head start."
Senior Attack Liam Banks
On his sister, Virginia attack Caitlin Banks
"Tomorrow it's going to be hopefully another good day in the Carrier Dome for the Lady Cavaliers and for my sister, Caitlin. I'll take this time to watch her, and enjoy her in the final game, and hopefully she'll come and watch me next Monday in the final game."
On playing his last game in the Carrier Dome:
"Today felt like a Senior Day for me. It's my last time playing in the Carrier Dome. It's such a huge game going against Princeton…I got into a rhythm today and the crowd was spectacular. I've had such a wonderful time playing here at Syracuse and my emotions were really high. This was the best way to walk out of the Carrier Dome, with the way our team played today."
Senior Midfielder Chris Bickel
On playing his last game in the Carrier Dome:
"I think we played great. We rose to the occasion and just did what a good team does."
Sophomore Goalie Jay Pfeifer
On continuing Syracuse's streak of appearances in the National Semifinals:
"It's something that we have to carry on – it's a Syracuse tradition. It's on everyone's mind…we proved all the people wrong who doubted us this year."
Coach John Desko
On the play of Princeton:
"Congratulations to the Tigers on another wonderful year. In some ways, it felt like a final four game today because of the Syracuse/Princeton match-up. No matter when we play them, it has that feel to it."
On the play of Syracuse
"I'm very happy with how we played. We've been a little up and down this year, but everyone brought their A-game today. These guys did a tremendous job. We're very happy to go back to Raven's Stadium and play in the Final Four once again, and I'm very proud of how these guys played today."
On goalie Jay Pfeifer:
"He has been able to handle pressure very well. Jay's very seasoned now – we had the number one strength of schedule in the country, so he's gone up against the best. He knows what's riding on these games. We've seen him play well at the right time of year, and we hope he has a similar end to the season as he did last year."
Princeton Coach and Player Quotes
Coach Bill Tierney:
"This was another wonderful experience in the long line of Syracuse-Princeton matchups. It was a tough loss obviously. Sometimes you have days like these against a team like that. I told the kids yesterday we weren't playing Gary and Paul (Gait) and Casey and Ryan (Powell), but at times out there today I felt like we were. Congratulations to Syracuse. They were just fabulous today."
Tierney on SU's Liam Banks:
"He stands on the crease, catches the ball after they have taken the ball from one end to the other and throws it in the goal. He's a fabulous player. The game was won in the middle of the field and at their defensive end. I thought Jay Pfeifer was fabulous today."
Tierney on Princeton's ineffectiveness on faceoffs:
"There's a concern here with faceoffs. Over the years, with the exception of '96 and '97, we haven't had faceoff specialists. We have kids who come in and face off and also try to play the game and try to develop them in that way. To be honest, it hurts us. I can blame myself in that, not going out and finding a kid who is willing to do the job facing off. (Chris) Bickel did a fabulous job. They have unbelievable wings. It's just a tough crowd to stop."
Tierney on battling against the mystique of Syracuse's streak of consecutive appearances in the national semifinals:
"I guess they rallied around that more than I would have thought. I really believe that things like streaks and revenge and all of that stuff goes out the window pretty quickly in game. One of the beautiful things about being a Syracuse coach or lacrosse player is that you've got a wonderful group of fans that support you very much. They get noisy and they make it really difficult on the opponents. There's got to be a reason that they have gone to 21 straight final fours. The reason is simple. They've got great players with great coaches and they play great lacrosse."
Junior Ryan Boyle
Boyle on how his hamstring affected his play today:
"I'm in a lot of pain but I felt like it didn't affect me too much. They played a great game defensively. It's not like I've blown up against them in the past. It didn't affect the outcome of the game obviously."
Senior Damien Davis
Davis on the difference between defending Michael Powell in the first meeting of the two schools and today:
"He got a lot of looks out in front of the goal (today). He was blowing up all over the place."
Davis on playing the final game of his career today:
"Going out and getting blown out is not a very nice way to end your career."
