PRINCETON, N.J. — The swirling wind that swept through the Class of 1952 Stadium perfectly matched the swirling bundle of nerves that Princeton head coach Bill Tierney felt deep inside his stomach.

The problem? With 12:35 left in the second quarter, his team led, 4-0.

You see, Tierney had already picked his poison. Invert the offense like Johns Hopkins did in toppling Syracuse a week earlier. Stuff the defense near the goal and slide early, focusing almost solely on SU’s triad of All-Americans at attack. Then just hope it keeps working.

The problem was — as the Tigers were about to discover during Syracuse’s 11-8 victory on Saturday — some poisons work more slowly than others. And, as Tierney’s stomach told him at that moment, it was just a matter of time.

“I tried not to have very many thoughts at that point,” Tierney said. “But I just kept thinking, ‘It’s too early to get excited.’ (Syracuse) just showed a lot of poise out there. Some teams would have folded, but we knew Syracuse wouldn’t.”

This just wasn’t a game the No. 2 Orangemen (5-1) were supposed to lose. No. 6 Princeton (1-3) had already lost two of its first three. No Syracuse team had lost back-to-back games since 1995. Throw in the revenge factor for Princeton’s victory in last season’s national championship, and Tierney knew, he just knew, that something was going to happen.

That something proved to be the Syracuse midfield, which combined for 10 points — led by three goals and an assist from Spencer Wright — and scored the Orangemen’s last four goals to seal the victory.

Or it could have been a Syracuse defense that gave up four goals and then held Princeton scoreless for over 15 minutes. Or how about faceoff man Chris Bickel winning 14 of 22 faceoffs.

The Tigers dominated the first quarter and kept the game close, but as Princeton defender Damien Davis put it, “Forty minutes is not going to win us a lacrosse game against Syracuse.”

Through the game’s early stages it appeared Princeton might have already wrapped it up. That was until Syracuse attackman Josh Coffman felt something weighing on his conscience.

“I kind of felt responsible because the first shot of the game I hit a pipe,” Coffman said. “If we scored the first goal, that can kind of change momentum a little bit. They don’t get a nice 4-0 start there.”

To ease the burden, Coffman bounced a shot in with 11:50 left in the second quarter to put the Orangemen on the board. Twenty-six seconds later, he hit midfielder Mike Smith in transition to cut the deficit to two. Coffman wasn’t done.

With 8:29 remaining in the half, he cut around the cage and scooped in a one-hand shot. As Coffman furiously pumped his fist, 4-0 had become 4-3.

“That was the turning point,” said SU attacker Mike Powell, who was held to one goal and one assist. “Josh really stepped it up today. He’s known as a silent leader, but when he’s fired up, it really gets everybody going.”

From then on, the game belonged to Syracuse’s defense and offensive midfield, especially Wright. The teams battled back and forth until Princeton took an 8-7 lead when midfielder Matt Trevenen (three goals and one assist) spun around the cage and hit a cutting B.J. Prager for his second goal of the afternoon.

Midfielder Brian Solliday answered just over three minutes later, hitting a whirling slingshot while clutching his sore ribs. Freshman midfielder Jarett Park then took a faceoff straight to the cage to give Syracuse a 9-8 lead with 8:07 remaining. Wright followed with his third goal of the day and then an assist to Sean Lindsay to put the game effectively out of reach.

“For us to be better at the end of the year, we need our middies to step up and get some more goals,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said. “So it was a conscious effort to try to create some things with our midfield today.”

Powell added: “The middies had a field day. And Spencer Wright really took the game over.”

The Syracuse defense was just as stellar. Redshirt freshman goalie Jay Pfeifer finished with nine saves. Syracuse defenders John Glatzel and Sol Bliss held their respective assignments — Ryan Boyle and Sean Hartofilis to one assist each — and Billy St. George held Prager to two goals.

“Defensively, I don’t think we could have played too much better,” Glatzel said.

What’s even scarier for opponents is that the SU attack, save Coffman’s outburst, failed to show up for the second time in as many games. Mike Springer is playing with a hand injury that Powell said is more serious than he’s letting on. And Powell spent long periods of the game near the endline, keeping Davis away from the cage and letting Syracuse go five on five.

Which begs the question: How dominant can SU be if the entire team can play up to its potential?

Pfeifer stopped for a second, then smiled thinking of the ramifications.

“We’re going to be unstoppable once we’re clicking on all cylinders,” he said. “Once the offense is clicking, with the way our defense is playing right now, ooh, it’s scary.”

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Published on March 24, 2002 at 12:00 pm