Princeton Men's Lacrosse: 2020 Season Outlook

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

February 05, 2020 | Men's Lacrosse

The 2020 Princeton men's lacrosse team will be looking to do what the 2018 and 2019 teams fell just short of doing – playing in May. The last two seasons have been marked by near-miss after near-miss, including an overtime loss to eventual NCAA champion Virginia last year and Ivy tournament tiebreakers that proved to be unfriendly each of the last two years.

Princeton will certainly be challenged in its quest to return to the postseason, with its six games in the always brutal Ivy League and a non-league schedule that includes a trip to Virginia and back-to-back games against Big Ten foes Johns Hopkins and Rutgers.

Matt Madalon is now in his fourth year as full-time Princeton head coach, and he has the second-best winning percentage by a Princeton coach, behind Bill Tierney, since World War II.

Here is a position-by-position look at the 2020 Tigers:

Attack
Starters returning – Chris Brown (34-17-51), Phillip Robertson (18-0-18), Michael Sowers (37-53-90)
Starters lost - none
Other returning letterwinners – Jack Crockett (1-0-1)
Other letterwinners lost - none
Newcomers – Weston Carpenter, Christian Ronda, Alex Slusher

The Matt Madalon era has been marked by teams that can certainly score and usually rank in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense. Last year was in fact the lowest for a Madalon-coached Princeton team, when the Tigers finished 11^th. The Princeton offense starts for the fourth straight year with the player who is already the leading scorer in program history. Michael Sowers, a first-team All-American and Tewaaraton Award finalist last year, has already set the program record with 255 career points, so every point he scores this year will put that much more distance between him and anyone else who has ever played at Princeton. Sowers needs 58 goals and 27 assists to have those career records, and should he match last year's assist total of 53, he'd become the sixth Division I player to reach 200 and would break Darren Lowe's Ivy record of 204. Sowers, who figures to be one of the top three picks in the PLL draft, is not Princeton's only offensive weapon. Junior Chris Brown has scored at least one goal in all 27 games of his career, and he comes off a 51-point sophomore year that earned him no postseason league honors, largely because of the large shadow of Sowers. Make no mistake though – Brown is a strong, quick, determined veteran finisher who is on pace to end his career among the top scorers in program history. Senior Phillip Robertson is one of Princeton's five captains and himself a proven goal-scorer who two years ago led Division I in scoring percentage. Among those who will be pushing for playing time is freshman Alex Slusher, who is a member of the U.S. U19 roster.

Offensive Midfield
Starters returning – Alexander Vardaro (12-5-17)
Starters lost – Emmet Cordrey (30-19-49), Charlie Durbin (21-3-24)
Other returning letterwinners – Jamie Atkinson (7-4-11), Nicholas Bond, Luke Crimmins (3-0-3), Will Kusnierek (2-0-2), Connor McCarthy (4-2-6), Beau Pederson (10-3-13), Carter Zavitz (1-0-1)
Other letterwinners lost – Alexander Fish, Dawson McKenzie (0-1-1), Strib Walker
Newcomers – Tommy Barnds, Bear Lockshin

Princeton loses two starters from its first midfield from a year ago. Charlie Durbin went on to Major League Lacrosse, and Emmet Cordrey made the huge jump from 13 career points to 49 as a senior. Still, Princeton is very, very deep here despite the two big graduation losses. Sophomore Alexander Vardaro is back after a 12-goal, five-assist rookie year, and his classmate Beau Pederson was also in double figures with 10 goals and 13 points. Senior Connor McCarthy has been a starter for much of his career when he's been healthy, and junior Luke Crimmins has also been a solid scorer when he's been healthy. Sophomores Will Kusnierek and Nicholas Bond also have shown flashes, and Princeton could use its shortstick defensive middies as two-way players.

Defensive Shortstick Midfield
Starters returning – Luc Anderson (0-2-2, 10CT, 30GB), Jake Stevens (5-3-8, 11CT, 60 GB)
Starters lost - none
Other returning letterwinners – Jasper Arnold, Zack Struckman, Chase Williams
Other letterwinners lost – Mike Morean (5-2-7, 3CT, 14GB)
Newcomers – Sam English

There aren't many teams in the country with more underrated shortstick defensive middies, and there aren't too many teams with better ones either. Sophomore Jake Stevens had a monster freshman year in which he trailed only Virginia's Ryan Conrad in ground balls per game on the face-off wings, and he put up major numbers across the board – five goals, three assists, 11 caused turnovers and an amazing 60 ground balls while earning second-team All-Ivy honors. His classmate Luc Anderson is also a terror on the wings and in transition, and he had 10 caused turnovers and 30 ground balls as a freshman. Add to this group football defensive back senior Chase Williams, who has been Princeton's top SSDM at times, senior Jasper Arnold, who played a great deal last year, and freshman Sam English, who is on the Canadian U19 roster, and you have a group that is deep and for the most can play offense as well.

Longstick Midfield
Starters returning – Andrew Song (3-0-3, 16CT, 56GB)
Starters lost - none
Other returning letterwinners – Nick Bauer (2CT, 4GB), Luca Lazzaretto (1CT, 4GB), Terrell Seabrooks
Other letterwinners lost – Charlie Tarry (8CT, 12GB)
Newcomers – Luke Moriarty

Junior Andrew Song has been Princeton's top LSM since Day 1 of his freshman year, and in addition to all of that experience, you can add international experience with China in the 2018 World Championships. Song had 56 ground balls last year and has 104 for his career, to go along with five goals, which shows you his ability in transition. Senior Nick Bauer, another captain, has played both LSM and close defense in his career, and sophomore Luca Lazzaeretto showed good size and athleticism as a freshman. Luke Moriarty is a very highly regarded option as well.

Defense
Starters returning – George Baughan (1-1-2, 22 GB, 23CT), Arman Medghalchi (14GB, 7CT), Cathal Roberts (0-1-1, 11GB, 6CT)
Starters lost – Aran Roberts (0-1-1, 11GB, 6CT)
Other returning letterwinners – Owen Engel, Jacob Stoebner, David Sturtz (6GB, 6CT)
Other letterwinners lost
Newcomers – Ben Finlay, Ian Murray

Princeton at one point had six defensive coordinators in six years. Now it enters Year 3 with Jeremy Hirsch (the 2010 captain) in charge of the unit. Junior captain George Baughan has already established himself as one of the top defensemen in the country and one of the best ever to play at Princeton. A unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection last year and a preseason second-team All-American, Baughan is as good a one-on-one cover man and takeaway defender as there is in Division I, and he has been among the national leaders in caused turnovers in each of his first two seasons. Beyond Baughan Princeton returns three players who started at least one game on D last year. Senior Arman Medghalchi started nine games last year and has 36 career starts, while sophomore Cathal Roberts had five starts last year and senior David Sturtz had two. Medghalchi has proven himself to be a strong cover man as well, while Roberts and Sturtz are both big, physical defenders. Even with that much experience, Princeton could still have two freshmen make major contributions with Ben Finlay and Ian Murray.

Goalie
Starters returning – Jon Levine (11.61 GAA, .473 save percentage), Erik Peters (11.44 GAA, .528 save percentage)
Starters lost - none
Other returning letterwinners – Ben Churchill (10.98 GAA , .750 save percentage)
Other letterwinners lost - none
Newcomers – Griffen Rakower

After four years of having Tyler Blaisdell in goal, Princeton went into last year without a goalie who had ever started a game. Now the Tigers enter the season with two goalies who started at least five games last year. Senior captain Jon Levine started the first five before Erik Peters started the final nine, and they will push each other heading into 2020, along with sophomore Ben Churchill and freshman Griffen Rakower.

Face-off
Starters returning – Jack-Henry Vara (120x252)
Starters lost - none
Other returning letterwinners – Ralph Chrappa (9x25), Philip Thompson (35x77)
Other letterwinners lost - none
Newcomers – Tyler Sandoval

Princeton returns its three main FOGOs from last year with junior Jack-Henry Vara and seniors Philip Thompson and Ralph Chrappa, and those three are joined by freshman Tyler Sandoval. Whoever takes the face-offs will be helped by Princeton's wingmen, especially Jake Stevens, Luc Anderson and Andrew Song.