Like every Princeton senior, Jason Doneger must complete an approximately 100-page thesis by April 4. Considering he started preparing for it over three years ago, he should be fine.

After scoring nine goals off the bench as a freshman, Doneger pondered the team’s stacked attack position. He determined the following year offered the best opportunity to pursue his dream of studying abroad.

Doneger, whose Tigers welcome Syracuse to Class of 1952 Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m., studied in Madrid the first semester and interned in a Washington D.C. courtroom the second semester.

Fittingly, his thesis combines his predilection for the Spanish language and politics. The paper examines changes in Hispanic voting trends during the last several presidential elections.

But this topic almost never occurred when his highly anticipated year of travel was suddenly jeopardized.

One week after arriving in Madrid, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks devastated America. The tragedy struck close to Doneger’s Long Island hometown of Hewlett.

‘I felt guilty not being home when everything was going on,’ Doneger said. ‘My parents were obviously pretty concerned.’

Boston University, which ran his program, discussed canceling all of its worldwide programs. Particular concern surrounded Madrid because terrorist cells were arrested in the city. Eventually, the immediate shock subsided and classes continued.

Doneger said the Spanish people were sympathetic toward Americans at the time, but he kept a low profile anyway.

‘You never know who is around,’ Doneger said. ‘I didn’t want to be that American with my backwards hats, my mesh lacrosse shorts and reading the American newspaper on the subway.’

Despite the shroud of suspicion, Doneger passionately fulfilled his longtime goal of completely immersing himself in Spanish culture.

He cherished that his host family spoke no English. He blossomed in his classes, all of which were conducted entirely in the native tongue. He trekked across the nation to appreciate its vast history.

Even simple everyday activity captivated the metropolitan New York City boy. The slow pace of life, with its siestas in the middle of the day and dinner around 9 or 10 p.m. revealed an entirely new society to him.

‘He grew so much from that experience,’ said Valerie Doneger, Jason’s mother. ‘He became extremely independent and fluent in the language that he loves.’

When BU nixed the scheduled second semester in Madrid due to safety concerns, the school gave Doneger the option of enrolling in one of its domestic internship programs. Washington D.C.’s was a no-brainer for the political science major.

For four months he scrutinized the prosecution of misdemeanor crimes at The Corporation Counsel, otherwise known as the district attorney’s office of the District of Columbia.

It appears odd for an eventual All-American to take a year away from school, considering Doneger was the first player in Princeton coach Bill Tierney’s 18-year career to travel abroad. Because of Princeton’s academic requirements, the extra commitment ensured Doneger’s fifth year of college, which also meant he could play the standard four seasons of lacrosse.

‘To be honest,’ Tierney said skeptically, ‘when he decided to do it at first, we said, ‘hmmm, this is something new, what do we think about this?”

He needn’t have worried. Tierney would soon learn what Larry Glenz, Doneger’s high school coach at Lynbrook, discovered long ago.

‘Jason is a different type of jock,’ Glenz said.

Not only are Doneger’s academic passions noteworthy, but his career as an accomplished classically-trained pianist proves difficult to ignore.

As early as 3 years old, he banged around on family friends’ keyboards. However, he was refused lessons until he learned to read. Not the notes, rather words in general.

By eighth grade, his music saturated several of the Big Apple’s grandest stages – Halls christened Carnegie, Cami and Steinway. He was likely the only person chosen to perform in the selective competitions for which ivory-tickling remained a hobby, not an all-consuming livelihood.

‘It was a great experience because at a young age it taught me how to remain poised in pressure situations, and how to perform in front of other people,’ Doneger said.

When his increased athletic commitments prevented him from continuing competitively during high school, he still accompanied Lynbrook’s band and orchestra in countless concerts.

During the 2001 NCAA Tournament Final Four weekend at Rutgers his freshman year, he and fellow teammate David Willard rocked the grand piano one night at the New Brunswick Hilton. For more than 30 minutes they outdid each other with one rousing solo after another, all from memory.

‘All the people in whole atrium and the whole hotel that were in earshot stood there in awe of these two guys,’ Tierney said.

While never embracing music with the same commitment after his year away from Princeton, disdaining nearly all thoughts of lacrosse for six months actually served to invigorate his game.

‘That was really kind of nice,’ Doneger said. ‘It was the first time in the long time to put my stick down. It revived me a little bit.’

A self-described atrocious shooter from outside four feet, Doneger nevertheless led the Ivy League in goals the last two seasons.

That he returned to the field like playing Albert Pieczonka’s ‘Tarantella’ in A-minor – without missing a beat – was testament to his pure athletic ability. Before starring in lacrosse and football at Lynbrook, he listed baseball, soccer and tennis as his favorite sports growing up. He even wrestled for one year.

As if that’s not enough, he qualifies as an avid skier and snowboarder. His Carnegie Hall debut followed a month of practice wearing a cast on his broken arm courtesy of a Vail, Colo., snowboard park.

Oh, and besides piano, his lips buzzed on a trumpet’s mouthpiece in high school, too.

So that little thing called a thesis that’s due in 11 days? Please. Forget that his preparation has lasted three years. Try his whole life. His diverse, extensive rsum surely enables him to lead a top-tier lacrosse team while his academic career builds to its final crescendo.

‘Jason is one of the finest captains we’ve ever had here,’ Tierney said. ‘Often times I talk about Jason as being one of my five all-time favorite Princeton lacrosse players.

‘He’s just that kind of special young man.’

Published on March 22, 2005 at 12:00 pm