IVY PREVIEW: Tigers crave NCAA 3-peat

Riding a 28-game win streak, No. 1 Princeton looks to close in on Cornell's NCAA record. The Penn men's lacrosse team looks to raise the bar from last year's improved 6-6 record (3-3 in the Ivies). The Quakers go into the season voted No. 21 in the nation in the Face-Off Division I Coaches Poll. Standing in the way, however, is the defending national champion, Princeton University. In 1997, the arch-rival Tigers won their second consecutive national title. Princeton won four titles under the direction of coach Bill Tierney. Besides going into the season with a chance to three-peat, the Tigers also carry the burden of a 28-game winning streak and the pre-season No. 1 ranking. The dominance has led to an astounding 103-18 record since 1990. The Tigers will rely on a host of players to reach Cornell's 20-year-old NCAA record-winning streak of 42 consecutive wins. Leading the charge will be the All-American front three of Jon Hess, Jesse Hubbard and Chris Massey. The trio of seniors was responsible for the two highest scoring seasons in Princeton history, over which the Tigers tallied an average of 229. Penn will have to find a way to stop the upperclassmen who carry impressive resumes. Hubbard earned a spot on the U.S. 1998 World Championships team, while Hess was named last year's attackman of the year and NCAA championship game MVP. If the Quakers can stop the attackers, they will run into a stingy defense. The Tigers gave up an average of less than seven goals per game in 15 matches last year. Overall, every team in the Ivy League is ranked in the preseason top-30 except Dartmouth. Brown comes into the season being picked No. 10 after last year's NCAA berth. After an 8-7 record and a shared second-place Ivy finish at 4-2, the Bears dropped their first-round NCAA game against Duke despite defeating the Blue Devils earlier in the season. Also standing in Penn's way is Harvard, which tied Brown last year and ended the season at 7-6. Crimson captain Mike Ferrucci sat out last year with an injury, but returns to the lineup this season. Having solidified nearly every position on its roster, the only glaring weakness on the Harvard squad is the goaltender spot. Five goalies will be vying for this position after four-year starter Rob Lyng graduated. "All of the goalies are young and none of them have experience," Harvard coach Scott Anderson said. "They've struggled a little bit, but a lot of goaltending comes from confidence, and confidence comes from playing and experience." Cornell was selected No. 26 in the country and is expected to improve, according to Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale. The Big Red cannot fall much further than it did last year. Cornell struggled mightily with a 3-11 record, 1-5 in the Ivy League. New Cornell coach Dave Pietramala takes over a team with a lot of returnees. Eight of the Big Red's 10 leading scorers in 1997 will be back. The X-factor this season will be junior transfer attackman Mike Wilber, who earned All-American honors at the junior college level last year. As for the odd team out, Dartmouth enters their schedule as a very young team. The Big Green are hoping to build around the end of last season in which Dartmouth ended April wining three of its final four contests. But the Big Green's top three scorers from last season all graduated, and coach Tim Nelson will rely on sophomores as well as juniors to avoid a downturn into the Ivy League abyss. Rounding out the rankings is Yale at No.30. The Elis joined Cornell as cellar-dwellers, tied for last in the conference and finished with only two more wins than the Big Red.