Princeton University Athletics

A – Again

Princeton and Rutgers meet for the 103rd time in a series the Tigers lead the series 67-32-3, including a 11-5 Tiger win a year ago. Here are the most played rivalries in Division I men’s lacrosse:

143 - Cornell vs. Hobart

128 - Johns Hopkins vs. Maryland

112 - Princeton vs. Yale

110 - Hobart vs. Syracuse

109 - Cornell vs. Syracuse

106 - Harvard vs. Yale

104 - Army vs. Navy

102 - Princeton vs. Rutgers

B – Big Deficit

Princeton defeated North Carolina 11-9 last Sunday despite being outshot 56-33. This was largest margin by which Princeton has been outshot and still won since Matt Madalon became head coach.

C – Century

Chad Palumbo enters the game against Rutgers with 96 career points (59G, 37A), while Colin Burns enters the game with 90 points (62G, 28A). Should they reach 100 points, they would be the 39th and 40th players in program history to do so.

D – Defense

Princeton allowed 23 goals in its first two games and has allowed 16 in the two since. The last two opponents (Syracuse and North Carolina) average 29.4 goals per game in their non-Princeton games.

E – Excellent

Princeton has already defeated three teams who has been ranked No. 1 this season — Maryland, Syracuse and UNC.

F – First Quarter

Princeton allowed 11 goals in its first two first quarters this season (Penn State, Maryland) and has allowed only one in the last two first quarters (Syracuse, UNC).

G – Goalie

Ryan Croddick made 25 saves in the 11-9 win over North Carolina Sunday, giving him the highest save total by a Princeton goalie since Chris Corcoran made 26 against Navy in 1985. Croddick’s performance earned him the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week Award, as well as the Division I Player of the Week Award from USA Lacrosse Magazine and The Lacrosse Network. Croddick had a .432 save percentage in the first two games this season and has a .709 save percentage in the two since. He has made 21 career starts and has at least a .600 save percentage in 11 of them (including last year against Rutgers, when he made 24 saves while allowing five goals.

H – Harland

The winner of the Princeton-Rutgers game gets the Harland (Tots) Meistrell Cup, named for the man who restarted lacrosse at both schools in 1920 (Rutgers) and 1921 (Princeton), after both had dropped their teams in the late 1800s. Two fun Tots facts: 1) He looked a lot like the actor James Caan and 2) he became an expert on training dogs and even wrote several books on the subject.

I – Interesting

Since Matt Madalon became Princeton head coach, Princeton has been outshot by at least 10 in 20 different games. The Tigers are 10-10 in those games (including last year’s Rutgers game, in which the Tigers won 11-5 despite being outshot 53-38). Also under Madalon, Princeton has outshot its opponent by at least 10 on 41 occasions and is 36-5 in those games.

J – Joe Jung

Rutgers SSDM Joe Juengerkes is a 2024 Princeton graduate. Juengerkes, who scored a goal against Princeton in last year’ 11-5 Tiger win, has three goals, one assist, five caused turnovers and 15 groundballs through six games this season.

K – Kabiri

Nate Kabiri is the reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week after he had two goals and one assist against Syracuse and then three goals and three assists against North Carolina. Kabiri leads all current Princeton players in career goals (71), assists (60) and points (131). Kabiri is the only Princeton player ever with at least 30 goals and at least 25 assists as a freshman and sophomore.

L – Leaders

Colin Burns is one of Princeton’s three captains, along with Cooper Kistler and Chad Palumbo. Burns is Princeton’s eighth junior captain in the last 25 years, along with George Baughan, Michael Sowers, Bear Goldstein, Tom Schreiber, John Cunningham, Jason Doneger and Ryan Boyle.

M – Midterms

Princeton comes into the Rutgers game after midterm week.

N – Number Three

Princeton is ranked third in the Kane Inside Lacrosse media poll, the USILA coaches’ poll and the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll. Rutgers is ranked 15th by Inside Lacrosse, 16th by the USILA and 12th by USA Lacrosse Magazine.

O – On A Roll

Princeton is 47-21 dating to the start of the 2022 season and 28-10 dating to the start of the 2024 season.

P – Postseason

Princeton has played in each of the last four NCAA tournaments, with one Final Four and one quarterfinal appearance. Princeton has also won two of the last three Ivy League tournaments and reached the final of the other. In all, Princeton is 8-5 in postseason games in that time.

Q – Quite A Stat

Matt Madalon has a theory that a team should win the overwhelming amount of time when its face-off percentage and save percentage added together exceeds 1.000. In his career as Tiger head coach, his team has had 69 games in which its FO percentage added to its save percentage is greater than 1.000; its record in those games is 60-9, including the wins over Syracuse and North Carolina last weekend.

R – Reynolds

Freshman Parker Reynolds had no points against Penn State and now has had two in each game since, with two goals against Maryland and Syracuse and two assists against UNC.

S – Stahl

Junior defenseman Jack Stahl held Syracuse’s Joey Spallina to no goals and no assists with three caused turnovers last Friday night after Spallina had 17 points in two previous games against Princeton. Stahl then held UNC’s Owen Duffy to one goal in Sunday’s win. Spallina and Duffy have 24 goals in 10 games in which they weren’t guarded by Stahl.

T – Turnovers

Princeton leads the Ivy League and is eighth in Division I in fewest turnovers per game at 13.25.

U – Unique

The 2026 season marks the 25th anniversary of Princeton’s sixth NCAA championship. Princeton’s NCAA titles have come in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2001 — no school has won three straight since Princeton did so in 1996-98.

V – Vana

Jake Vana had his first career multi-goal game in the win over Maryland, including what proved to be the winning 13th goal. Vana, a sophomore, had one goal and one assist as a freshman.

W – Wade

Tucker Wade’s goal with 3:28 to go against North Carolina (where his father Ryan was a first-team All-American in the 1990s) that broke a 9-9 tie was the 50th of his career. Wade, a junior, became Princeton’s first sophomore midfielder to be first-team All-Ivy since Tom Schreiber in 2012.

X – Face-Off X

Andrew McMeekin is the only Princeton player with at least two seasons of at least 100 groundballs.

Y – Yearly

Colin Burns and Nate Kabiri are in Year 6 of playing together, between club ball, Georgetown Prep and now Princeton. Burns and Kabiri are the only two current Princeton players who have started every game of their careers.

Z – Zinger

Princeton has five players whose fathers competed at Princeton, two of whom played lacrosse. Freshman Evan Calkins is the son of Ed Calkins, a midfielder on the 1992 NCAA championship team. Sophomore Kevin Morrow is the son of David Morrow, the 1993 Division I Player of the Year. Sophomore Porter Malkiel is the son of Jon Malkiel, a member of the 1992 and 1994 NCAA title teams. Junior Cooper Mueller is the son of Kit Mueller, the 1990 and 1991 Ivy League men’s basketball Player of the Year. Gus van Metzsch is the son of Roland von Metzsch, a football offensive lineman in the early 1990s.

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