The 2002 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the 32nd annual

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

hosted by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

to determine the team champion of men's

college lacrosse College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse in Canada is ...

among its Division I programs, held at the end of the 2002 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse season.

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

defeated

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

in the final, 13–12. The Orangemen's victory—for their record-tying seventh official championship and second in three years—was led by

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a serie ...

, who had four goals and three assists. The game was a rematch of the 2001 championship game, which was won by Princeton. The championship game was played at

Rutgers Stadium SHI Stadium is the football stadium at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. Rutgers Scarlet Knights football, Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's lacrosse, and women's lacrosse use the venue for home games. It is located on the Busch Campus at ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

Piscataway, New Jersey Piscataway () is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, in the Raritan Valley. At the 2010 United States Census, the population was 56,044, an increase of 5,562 (+11.0%) fr ...

, with 19,706 fans in attendance. This was the final championship played on a college campus before later tournament finals were moved to larger

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

venues.

Overview

For Princeton, the loss snapped a 12-game tournament win streak in games decided by one goal. The Tigers' only previous tournament loss by one goal was in 1991, prior to the first of Princeton's six national titles.

, who was named the tournament most outstanding player and later would be named national player of the year, scored the game-winner with 11:35 left in the championship game. Syracuse won three straight one-goal games in the tournament, and the win gave head coach

John Desko John Terry Desko is a retired lacrosse head coach. Desko coached the men's lacrosse team at Syracuse University for 22 seasons from 1999 to 2021. Desko took over as head coach in 1999 from Hall of Fame coach Roy Simmons Jr. Early life The Des ...

his second championship in four years. All-Tournament Team: Michael Powell, Solomon Bliss, John Glatzel, Tom Hardy and Jay Pfeifer of Syracuse; Damien Davis, Brad Dumont and B.J. Prager of Princeton; Adam Doneger of Johns Hopkins; and

Johnny Christmas John Christmas (born August 16, 1982 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania) is an American retired lacrosse player. He played for the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League and for the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse. Christmas played at ...

of Virginia.

Bracket

* * = Overtime

References

External links

Title Game WriteupYouTube 2002 NCAA Men's Lacrosse National Championship
{{NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championships NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament

NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament determines the annual top men's field lacrosse team in the NCAA Division I. This tournament has determined the national champion since the inaugural 1971 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse ...

Lacrosse in New Jersey

Overview

Bracket

See also

References

External links