Ryan Boyle - College Career

College Career

He attended college at Princeton University, graduating in 2004 where he was a four-time All-American, including being named First Team Attack twice. Ryan led the Tigers to three NCAA Final Four appearances, two National title games and a National Championship in 2001. He finished his career with 70 goals and 162 assists good for 232 total points.

He was a first team USILA All-American Team selection in 2003 and 2004, a second team selection in 2002 and a third team selection in 2001. He was also first team All-Ivy League in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and a second team selection in 2001. He was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2001 and the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2002 and 2004. He was the second player to be named Rookie of the Year as a freshman and Player of the Year as a sophomore. He was one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy in 2004. He was a 2004 USILA Scholar All-American.

Princeton earned NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship invitations each year of Boyle's four-year career and won the 2001 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament. They were Ivy League champion or co-champion each year of his career: The 2001 team was 6–0 undefeated outright champions; the 2002 team was 5–1 outright champions; the 2003 and 2004 teams were 5–1 co-champions.

The arrival of freshman Boyle necessitated that senior Matt Striebel move from attack to midfield and the demotion of head coach Bill Tierney's son, Brendan, to the bench. Striebel had previously orchestrated the Princeton offense from behind the goal and both players had started in the 2000 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship game, but on March 25, 2001, which was the first practice after the team lost 14–8 to Syracuse, Tierney made the switch. Striebel and Boyle would later earn two golds medals and a silver medal together in World Lacrosse Championship play and three MLL Steinfeld Cups together with the Philadelphia Barrage.

In the 2001 game against Dartmouth to clinch the Ivy League championship, he scored three goals and had two assists as part of a 14-point 3-game stretch. In the 2001 NCAA championship tournament quarterfinal 8–7 victory over Loyola, he had three assists including two that broke a 4–4 tie in the second half. He added two assists in the semifinal 12–11 victory over Towson State. In the 2001 NCAA championship game, Boyle assisted on B. J. Prager's overtime game-winning goal against Syracuse from behind the net. It was one of a game-high three assists for Boyle in the 10–9 victory.

In the 2002 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament, he scored the game-winning goal in the quarterfinal game against Georgetown with four seconds left in regulation time. The goal came on a broken play after the designed play from the time-out with 13 seconds left did not work. On the day Boyle had two goals and three assists in the 14–13 victory. He added three assists in the semifinal 11–9 victory over Johns Hopkins. In the championship game against Syracuse, he scored two goals in the first quarter but was held scoreless for the rest of the 13–12 loss.

Boyle's 2003 tournament performances were not notable. In the 2004 victory over Brown to earn a share of the Ivy League championship, he had four assists. In the 2004 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament opening round, he scored a career-high four goals as Princeton defeated Rutgers 12–4. In the quarterfinals, he had two late goals and assisted on Peter Trombino's overtime game-winning goal against Maryland. He then had a goal (to tie the score at 5) and three assists in the 8–7 semifinals loss to Navy. He made the All-tournament team.

Boyle holds several Ivy League conference records: single-season assists (32, 2003), career assists (86, 2001–04) and career points (120, 2001–04). Note that the Ivy League records are for conference games only. Boyle (2003) tied Jon Hess (1997) for the Princeton single-season assists record with 48. He was also a NCAA national statisitcal champion in several statistics: points per game (2003, 4.54), assists per game (2003, 3.77), assists per game (2004, 2.93), assists (2003, 49), assists (2004, 44).