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The 2009 season ended with something of a thud followed by an explosion for the Princeton men's lacrosse team. The thud came when the Tigers were vanquished from the NCAA tournament by eventual runner-up and bitter Ivy League rival Cornell. The explosion came less than a month later, when longtime head coach Bill Tierney announced his decision to leave Princeton for the University of Denver.

The surprises weren't over yet. Associate head coach David Metzbower, who many saw as a shoo-in for the job, declined the offer when it was made to him and instead chose to quit, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. This left Princeton, a team that finished the season 13-3 and at one point was ranked No. 1 in the country, with no coaching staff.

In replacing Tierney & Co., athletic director Gary Walters elected to go with a much younger staff. In stepped former Drexel head coach Chris Bates, a 1990 graduate of Dartmouth. Bates, who once played against a Tierney-coached Princeton team, brought his coaching staff with him.

His top assistant will be Greg Raymond, a captain on the 2005 Johns Hopkins national title team, and a former second assistant at Princeton. Raymond coached Princeton's current seniors and juniors and helped recruit the current sophomores. He will coordinate the defense.

The second assistant is Stephen Brundage, a 2005 graduate of Loyola. Brundage will assist Bates with the offense. The overwhelming sentiment among the players has been very positive regarding the new staff.

As always, Princeton will have a tough go of it in the Ivy League, which features regular-season contests against defending league champion Cornell and up-and-coming Harvard and Brown squads. The Tigers also play a pair of nonconference games in big-time settings by participating in both the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic and Konica Minolta Big City Classic, taking on Johns Hopkins in Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium for the fourth straight year and hoping to repeat their upset win over Syracuse at the all-new Meadowlands.

New Approach

Many remember that in 2009, Princeton played a little more freely on offense than it had in the past and pushed the ball in transition more often than before. This led the team to average a shade under 11 goals per game. This season, the Tigers will be doing even more of the same.

The staff has brought a fundamental philosophical change to Princeton. Tierney's teams have been known historically for their methodical offense, their highly nuanced defense and their generally deliberate pace. The Tigers of 2010 and beyond will have freer rein offensively than they did in the past, will push the ball in transition more and will be more aggressive on defense.

"It's definitely a work in progress," Bates said. "It's a different mentality and I think it takes guys a little time to adjust."

Bates noted that the pace of the game isn't quite up to the speed he would like to see it at, but that the team is adapting well. He and the staff were pleased overall with what they saw in the fall.

Attack-Happy

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Courtesy Robert OgrudekJack McBride is part of a strong returning attack.

Replacing the departed Tommy Davis, who led the team last season with 44 points on 27 goals and 17 assists, will no doubt be a tough task. The attack will be anchored by juniors Jack McBride (35 goals, 7 assists) and Chris McBride (18 goals, 6 assists). The cousins bring a wealth of experience from playing together to the position.

Senior Rob Engelke (9, 4), who saw time on the extra-man unit last season, got the majority of the minutes at the third attack position in the fall. Sophomore Alex Capretta, who was used on the second midfield unit last year, also saw time, as did sophomore Mike Grossman. Freshman Forest Sonnenfeldt, who Bates called a "beast," brings tremendous size at 6-foot-5, 256 pounds and also could see some time at the position.

New-Look Midfield

The midfield was the line hit hardest by graduation. The Tigers lost their best scoring midfielder of the decade in first-team All-American Mark Kovler (34 goals, 9 assists). The team also lost its best feeder from a season ago in honorable mention All-American Rich Sgalardi (18 goals, 24 assists).

The one returning starter on the line is senior Scott MacKenzie (13 goals, 16 assists). It remains unclear who his linemates will be. The coaches rotated Grossman, senior faceoff man Paul Barnes (4, 0), senior Jimmy Davis (0, 1), sophomore Mike Chanenchuk, junior Tyler Moni (2, 1), senior Ryan Morrell, freshman Jeff Froccaro and freshman Chris White at the position.

One of the biggest changes we can expect to see with this group will be an increased use of the second midfield. A season ago, Princeton relied heavily on Kovler, Sgalardi and MacKenzie. The Tigers used the second midfield sparingly and usually used the group only when it was absolutely necessary to give the first line a breather. This season, both lines will get serious minutes.

Solid Back Line

The defense will be Princeton's strongest unit this season, and could well be one of the best in the nation. The Tigers return second-team All-American Chad Wiedmaier, two-year starter Jeremy Hirsch and a host of other experienced players to a unit that held opponents to 7.55 goals per game a season ago.

Hirsch went down early in camp, giving both sophomore Jonathan Meyers and junior Long Ellis the chance to start. Ellis has seen significantly more minutes than Meyers in the past, but most of them have come at long-stick middie and short-stick defensive middie. Bates figures that one of these two will claim the starting spot vacated by graduated third-team All-American Chris Peyser.

Sophomore John Cunningham returns as the starting LSM. Junior Derek Styer and freshman Rob Castelo are competing for the second pole position. At SSDM, Chandler and Davis bring the most experience. Junior Tim Palmer and sophomore Peter Smyth could also factor in. Connor Reilly, who missed much of last season with a concussion that was aggravated repeatedly, will return in the spring. He is also part of the plans, but the coaches remain unsure of exactly where he'll fit in as they have yet to see him play.

Bates noted that the competition between senior goalie Nikhil Ashra and sophomore goalie Tyler Fiorito continues. Fiorito entrenched himself as the starter last season on the way to All-America honorable mention honors. He will continue to start in all likelihood, but not without stiff competition from Ashra. Ashra is a former high-school All-American who got caught between former first-team All-American Alex Hewit and Fiorito and as a result, has never had a clear shot at starting. That hasn't stopped him from competing.

Burning Questions

Princeton has the talent to remain a top-10 team this season. Returning to the top-five form of a season ago will depend on a number of factors.

Will the players adapt to the new coaching philosophy smoothly?

Will the returning stars continue to improve?

And perhaps most important, will the Tigers receive significant contributions from players we haven't seen much from yet?

A season ago, the answers to the last two questions were a resounding yes. Sgalardi came out of nowhere to lead the team in assists, Josh Lesko switched to defensive midfield and gave the Tigers a huge boost in the transition game, and the freshman trio of Cunningham, Wiedmaier and Fiorito proved to be all it had been billed as and more. Another batch of big contributions from previously unproven players and Princeton could be in for another great season.

That being said, it could well take some time before the Tigers are fully adapted to Bates' system. One might need to give Princeton a couple of games before gauging just how good the Tigers really are.

Vikram Rao is a senior writer for The Daily Princetonian, for which he covers Tigers football, wrestling, and lacrosse. For more on college lacrosse, check out Inside Lacrosse ».