Quotes From The 2000 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Pre-Championship Press Conference

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Virginia

Dom Starsia, Virginia Head Coach
“As we were walking past the field it reminds you how quickly time goes. It seems like only yesterday that we were here playing for the championship last spring and we are very pleased, very anxious, and very thankful to be back here with this opportunity again. To work with this group of guys who have done a terrific job — we’ve had a terrific season and I tried to tell them yesterday before the moment slipped away how pleased I am to be a part of this group of young men. They’ve done a great job all year long.”

On Virginia’s semifinal match-up with Princeton:
“I’ve got a veteran team and we understand what’s at stake here. Our job all week has been to prepare to play our best game on Saturday. We’re going to see a very different Princeton team out there than what we saw in March and our effort will be to put the best lacrosse out there and let the chips fly.”

Senior Defenseman Peter Ragosa
On the advantage of having played in the ACC Tournament:
“I think there’s an advantage in playing in such a competitive tournament. It prepares you for being banged up physically and having to come back and prepare for another team in two days’ time mentally. I don’t think it’s much of an advantage, but it’s better that we did it.”

Syracuse

John Desko, Syracuse Head Coach
“We’re very happy with the season that the University has had and I think the schedule that we played helped prepare us for the tournament. I think we played one of the top schedules in the country and a lot of the best teams in the country. We played the other three teams that are here this weekend and I think that’s going to help us prepare for the game tomorrow. We’re excited to be here.”

On the Syracuse lacrosse tradition:
“To be here for 18 years in a row is really exciting and being a relatively new head coach, but a longtime coach at Syracuse, it’s nice to keep that tradition going.”

Junior Goalie Rob Mulligan
On this week’s practice:
“The defense has really been on the same page for the whole week and we’re really coming around. I definitely had a great week of practice and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow to get back in the swing of things and start making some saves.”

Senior Attackman Ryan Powell
On his team’s mission in the Final Four:
“We just come down here on a usual business trip. We can have fun during the rest of the summer. Memorial Day weekend is the time for the Syracuse University lacrosse team to come to College Park and try to win the national championship, which we try to do every year. This is business as usual. We’re going to play to win tomorrow, but our goal is to win the national championship on Monday.”

Princeton

Bill Tierney, Princeton Head Coach
“Last year’s loss was a great motivator to get back this year. It hasbeen on the kid’s minds all year long. We lost to Syracuse last year inthe first round and the better team won and hopefully the kids will comeback and do a great job this year. We do feel fortunate to be back atMaryland and in a Final Four setting with this young team that we have.”

On moving Chris Berrier to defense:
“The move was made when Brian Lieberman got hurt a few weeks back in the Cornell game and we felt thatwe had four good short-stick defenders, two of whom were sitting out at the time. We went to Chris and asked him to play a long pole position. As always with Chris Berrier, he is a true team guy and took it with open arms. Now we are fortunate to have Brian back so we fell even stronger in that position. That’s good when you are playing a team like Virginia.”

On making the championships with a young team:
“I’m getting older. I wouldn’t say surprised, because there has been a traditionbuilt at Princeton that we try to be at Final Fours. I am overly pleased and excited especially for these freshman and sophomores who, in some cases were maligned and in some other cases thrust into a situation where their first two games were at Hopkins and at Virginia. Coming out of that 1-1, I think we felt pretty fortunate. I am thrilled that weare back. This young group has not seemed to get flustered yet, and as I told them this week, I see how they do on the bus ride in when we see 30,000 people in the stands. To this point, they have been cool and they have been business-like and they have done all we could ask and want.”

On the defensive match-ups with Virginia:
“I can’t imagine us being able to be defensively a heck of a lot better than we did against Maryland last week. To hold a great team like that to three goals in three quarters was above and beyond. We have done that going into the fourth quarter a couple of times this season. But, if we are going to be sitting here on Sunday talking about Monday’s game, one thing that we can do that is to have another performance like last Saturday. It’s a pretty big challenge when you think about Virginia and all the things they throw at you and all the directions they come at you.”

On the familiarity with the teams in the championships:
“I think it is interesting, that on the first weekend of the regular season these four teams got together. The match-ups were a little different, but it says a lot for these four teams with the schedules that we all play. I also think it’s a strength issue. It makes you know what it’s going to take to get back here and what it’s going to take to plays these guysagain. We would like to think that it has helped us. We all know each other really well. It’s just a matter of seeing what happens on game day.”

Senior Midfielder Chris Berrier
On helping to bring the younger players along this season:
“With each game, this team evolved. The younger guys ? with ever goal they scored or every defensive play they made — became a little more comfortable in game situations. It’s just a matter of letting them know that this is not high school anymore and that they are Division I players. The reason that they are on the field is that they are just as good, if not better, than the opponent they are going to be facing.”

Johns Hopkins

John Haus, Johns Hopkins Head Coach
“We realize that tomorrow will be a tremendous challenge for our lacrosse team and our lacrosse program. Our team all year really has been put a game plan in work extremely hard during the course of the week in practice – and that’s the key ingredient ? practice. With that in mind, hopefully we come out tomorrow and are competitive against theNo. 1 team in the tournament.”

On the team’s 1-3 start:
“We have been reminded about our 1-3 start about one million times. We have made progress with the most important thing being that any team gets better as the year goes on. I am a believer that teams will have different make-ups and sometimes it willtake a team a month or so, and sometimes it will take teams longer, to gel and to work together as a group. It took us a little bit longer. Right now, we have been playing some pretty decent ball.”

Senior Attackman Dan Denihan
On how the team has come together on offense:
“During the first couple of games we had different people starting. We then moved two freshmen that, I guess, weren’t ready to play in the beginning. But they have grown upa whole lot from March until now. Our ability to score has really helped our team a lot. We are just thankful that they grew up.”

Senior Goalkeeper Brian Carcaterra
On the Syracuse offense:
“They are not shy about shooting. They have as potent an offense as I’ve seen since I’ve been at Johns Hopkins. They are just so well balanced from the first midfield line through their attack unit. They have feeders, shooters and dodgers all across the board. What it is going to take is an unbelievable effort from the guys on my side of the field. For myself, I am in a position where I have to make some plays early on in the game where I can set the tempo. I am confident that I will do so. At the same time, it is going to take an unbelievable effort against a first-rate offensive unit.”

On why Johns Hopkins is ready to be a national championship caliber team:
“I have given that a lot of thought. I think one prime example of us being able to contend for a national championship and us having a better opportunity to fulfill that dream is since April [since the Blue Jay’s victory over Maryland], we have put ourselves in a position that we had to win. When we played Maryland in mid April we were faced with a win or lose situation. If we had lost, we might not have been able to play in the NCAA Tournament. That game was followed by a grueling game against Navy that was followed by Towson and finally Loyola. Not until Loyola did we secure a playoff bid. We were placed in a position where we had to win. The seniors have really stepped up. Dan Denihan and A.J. Haugen have pretty much taken control of this team and showed us how to win and how to overcome a lot of adversity. I don’t think we could have had more adversity than a 1-3 start.”

Junior Midfielder Eric Wedin
On his face-off matchup vs. Chris Cercy of Syracuse:
“In every game, faceoffs are a big part of whoever controls the ball. If you can get the ball on offense you can control the tempo, hopefully. He is a very good face-off man and I am looking forward to going against him again. He is a tough competitor and a good face-off man. It is going to be a good day tomorrow.”

On his relationship with Chris Cercy:
“I have been friends with Chris for about seven years now. I have played against him since I was a freshman in high school. We have always been very competitive on thefield as well as off. It’s another game and another person to go against. I am looking forward to going against him.”