Championship weekend has distinct New Jersey feel
It has been 18 long years since the proud six-time national champion Princeton University men’s lacrosse program last played in the Final Four.
That’s all changing this weekend when the Tigers face top-ranked Maryland in the second of two semifinals at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., on Saturday afternoon.
“Everyone is just really thrilled,” said Princeton’s sixth-year coach Matt Madalon, who has the team back in the NCAA field for the first time since 2012. “We’ve got a lot of outreach and support. Reunions are a really big deal on Princeton’s campus and it’s a celebration of all alumni that come back and it happened to be this past weekend. The amount of folks who left reunions and came over to watch the quarterfinals was remarkable. It gives me chills right now. It means the world for our program.
“We have such a proud and storied alumni base that continues to help our program day in and day out, so for us to get this program back to the national stage and championship weekend makes everybody proud.”
Championship weekend will have a distinct New Jersey feel.
While the orange and black of Old Nassau is reintroducing itself to the Final Four, the scarlet and white from the banks of the mighty Raritan is making its maiden voyage into championship weekend.
Rutgers, which had been 0-7 in the quarterfinals prior to last weekend’s victory over Penn, faces Cornell in Saturday’s opening contest.
“It’s great for New Jersey,” said 11th-year Scarlet Knights coach Brian Brecht. “The youth and high school participation numbers have been going through the roof over the last 5-10 years. Lacrosse is at its highest it’s ever been and having the state university of New Jersey here at Rutgers playing in a Final Four for the first time … I think you see with our attendance on gameday, we’ve always had great fans. Our alumni have been great, the local alumni that come back, all the local youth and high school
players who come to our regular season Big Ten games, and then the first round of the NCAA Tournament having 5,000plus on campus.
“Certainly excited for the sport of lacrosse in New Jersey. Obviously, having two teams from the state of New Jersey in the Final Four gets the excitement and the juices flowing even more for the young players to continue having fun playing the game they love.”
Princeton and Rutgers met during the regular season, with the Tigers taking a 16-11 victory on March 11. If both win on Saturday, they would meet in Monday afternoon’s championship game.
“We couldn’t be more proud,” Madalon said. “Brian Brecht has done an outstanding job with his program and we used to play a mid-week game and we both agreed to move it to a weekend to continue to highlight New Jersey lacrosse and two premier programs in the state. With Monmouth and NJIT as well, we’ve spoken about a four-way tournament. Really proud of both the programs and with (offensive coordinator Jim) Mitchell on our staff, a former Rutgers guy, he’s pretty proud for those guys, too.”
Maryland (16-0) is led by Tewaaraton
Finalist Logan Wisnauskas (55 goals, 40 assists) and has steamrolled through the opposition, including a 15-10 victory over Princeton on Feb. 26.
“It’s such a well-run team,” Madalon said. “Their consistency year in and year out of making it to championship weekend, it’s just not surprising with the job they do over there. For us, it’s creating the best version of ourselves and trying to limit the mistakes. Maryland does an outstanding job of attacking in all facets of the game. It’s a really complete program and a complete team that is playing at a high level.”
Terrapins coach John Tillman insisted that despite being the heavy favorite, they are well aware of the danger Princeton can present.
“They are really humming at the right time,” Tillman said. “They are playing with a lot of confidence, playing fast. They look like a really refreshed team.”
Princeton is 1-2 against the other teams in the semifinals.
While the Tigers have that win over Rutgers, they lost to Maryland (15-10 on Feb. 26) and Cornell (18-15 on April 30).