It's Princeton Lacrosse 2022 A To Z
February 15, 2022 | Men's Lacrosse, Women's Lacrosse
Before the opening face-off and the first draw of the 2022 Princeton men's and women's lacrosse seasons, here's a complete look at what to expect from both teams, literally going from A to Z.
A – Any
Any, as in Any conversation about Princeton lacrosse in 2022 has to start with the realization that this is the final season for Chris Sailer as head coach of the Tiger women. Sailer, a member of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, has coached Princeton to three NCAA championships and 15 Ivy League titles, 26 NCAA tournament appearances and 418 wins as she enters her 36th and final season.
B – Baughan
George Baughan was a first-team All-American in 2020, as well as a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection and honorable mention All-American in 2019. Baughan is one of the great one-on-one cover men that Princeton has ever seen.
C - Captains
Princeton has eight captains this year between its two teams, with five on the men’s side (Jamie Atkinson, George Baughan, Chris Brown, Erik Peters and Andrew Song) and three on the women’s side (Marge Donovan, Olivia Pugh and Kyla Sears).
D – Donovan
Marge Donovan, who has competed on the U.S.A. Sixes team and has national team potential in the future, will anchor the Princeton women’s defense and will also be a force on the circle on the draws.
E – English
Sam English had one goal and one assist as a shortstick defensive midfielder in the five games in 2020. He’s back now as a first-line midfielder; with his transition game and ability to get to the cage, expect him to be among Princeton’s leading scorers this time around.
F – Five
Princeton’s women have five seniors who took last year off to be able to play together again. Those five – A Kyla Sears, D Marge Donovan, D Mary Murphy, D Olivia Pugh, G Sam Fish – will all be in their fourth season as starters.
G – Goalies
Sam Fish will be the starting goalie for the women’s team once again. In fact, Fish has started every Princeton women’s lacrosse game since early in the 2018 season, when she earned the job as a freshman. Erik Peters is back for the men’s team after having started every game since midway through the 2019 season, though Princeton has had three goalies – Peters, Griffen Rakower and Michael Gianforcaro – who have looked sharp in the scrimmages.
H – Home games
The Princeton men will be play eight of their 13 regular season games on Sherrerd Field. The women will play only seven of their 15 games at home, but they start with two home games in the first eight before finishing with five home games in the final seven.
I – Ivy League
The Princeton women have won six straight Ivy League championships and are picked to finish first again in the preseason poll. The Princeton men were voted fourth in the preseason poll.
J – Jake
Jake Stevens is a do-everything midfielder who will play on the first midfield line and on the wings on face-offs and who has been an All-American shortstick defensive midfielder in the past. Stevens reminds you of another alum of Princeton and Culver – Canadian national team member and PLL Midfielder of the Year Zach Currier.
K – Kyla
Kyla Sears, among her other accomplishments (see “R”), is a master at creating free position opportunities. She is already Princeton’s career leader with 46 free position goals. Sears also ranks 1-2 on the single-season free position list.
L – Leaving On A Jet Plane
The Princeton women will be flying out to California for spring break. While there, the Tigers will play games at Southern Cal and San Diego State.
M – Madalon
Matt Madalon is now in his seventh season as Princeton head men’s coach. His .615 winning percentage is the second best at Princeton since 1950, trailing only Bill Tierney. Madalon coached Princeton to a top three national ranking in 2020.
N – Next Up
After its openers against Monmouth and Binghamton, Princeton’s men have a five-week stretch of this: at No. 1 Maryland, at No. 3 Georgetown, home with No. 8 Rutgers, home with No. 10 Penn, at No. 7 Yale. That’s five straight Saturdays of teams ranked in this week’s USILA Top 10.
O – Opening Weekend
The women open their season at Virginia at noon this Sunday (Feb. 20).
P – Preseason All-Americans
Princeton has three preseason Inside Lacrosse All-Americans: Marge Donovan and Kyla Sears for the women and George Baughan for the men.
Q - Quarters
For the 2022 season, women’s lacrosse games will now be played in four 15-minute quarters, as opposed to the traditional two 30-minute halves.
R – Record Chasers
Kyla Sears and Chris Brown are both chasing significant Princeton records as they enter their senior years. Sears is 78 points away from the school career record for points (285, held by Olivia Hompe). Brown has a goal-scoring streak of 32 games (that would be every game of his career) for the second-longest streak in program history, behind Chris Massey’s 46.
S – Seniors
Both teams have larger-than-usual numbers of seniors after several chose to take last year off from school. There are 21 seniors between the two teams, and of those 21, there were 13 who were not enrolled a year ago.
T – Taukus
Grace Taukus had an incredible start to her career, with 17 goals in five games, including at least two in every game, and a team-best .708 shooting percentage.
U – U21
Alex Slusher is a member of the United States U21 team that will compete in the World Championships this August in Limerick, Ireland. Slusher was a starting middie in 2020 as a freshman, and he has moved back to his natural attack position for the 2022 season. Sam English is still in the running for the Canadian team, which has yet to be announced.
V – Videoboard
Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium, the home of the Princeton men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, features a brand-new videoboard – the largest in the Ivy League – for the 2022 season.
W – Watchlist
Princeton has three players on the preseason Tewaaraton Watchlist – women’s players Marge Donovan and Kyla Sears and men’s player George Baughan.
X – Face-off X
The Princeton men have not finished a season having won at least 50 percent of their face-offs since 2012. The 2022 Tigers have three FO specialists – returnees Tyler Sandoval and Jack-Henry Vara and freshman Coby Ginder.
Y – Youth movement
Even with all of the returning players, both the men and women will be relying heavily on players who have yet to step on the field for a college game. Among those players are Nina Montes, Sophie Whiteway, Sammy Filippi and Samantha DeVito on the women’s side and Pace Billings, Marquez White, Coulter Mackesy, Colin Mulshine and Michael Bath on the men’s side.
Z – Zavitz
Carter Zavitz is a senior who has had a very accomplished box career in Canada. He is one of four Canadians on this year's men's team, along with Sam English, Jake Stevens and Braedon Saris, all of whom are from Ontario.
