Mackesy, Peters Take Ivy Honors; TIgers Move Up In Polls; Baughan One Of 20 Up For Senior Class Award

Erik Peters and Coulter Mackesy were honored for what they did this past Friday night, the team itself was honored for what it's done this season so far and George Baughan was honored for his career as a whole.

It was a busy Monday for Princeton men's lacrosse.

Peters and Mackesy swept the Ivy League's weekly awards after their dominant performances in the 16-11 win over Rutgers. Peters was named the league Player of the Week for the second-straight week after making a career-high 21 saves against the Scarlet Knights, while Mackesy was the league Rookie of the Week after his four-goal, two-assist performance.

Peters, who has made 57 saves in his last three games, is now third in Division I in save percentage at .629 and fifth in Division I in saves per game (15.6). Mackesy came into the game with two goals and two assists in his first four collegiate games, including no goals and no assists in his first start on attack, before exploding against the Scarlet Knights.

With the new week came the new rankings, and they were extraordinary for the Ivy League, which has six ranked teams and a seventh receiving votes. The league's seven teams are a combined 26-6, and no team has lost more than one game.

Princeton is ranked third in both the Inside Lacrosse media poll and the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll and fourth in the USILA coaches' poll. This weekend marks the first league games, and Princeton will be open with No. 6 Penn Saturday at 1. To show you how tough Princeton's schedule has been lately, Penn is the lowest ranked team the Tigers will have played in a four-game stretch, as the last three have been against teams ranked No. 1 (Maryland), No. 3 (Georgetown) and No. 4 (Rutgers). Princeton was ranked seventh by the coaches and media last week and fifth by USA Lacrosse.

As for the Baughan, the 2020 first-team All-American defenseman was named as one of 20 candidates for the Senior Class Award. According to the award criteria, "to be eligible, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior or graduate student and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character, and competition."

Baughan certainly qualifies on all counts. He is in Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs, one of the most challenging majors at Princeton. His senior thesis topic is the Global War on Terror and 9/11 and the impact it had on Chinese counter-terrorism towards the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. He wrote two junior papers, including one entitled " State Surveillance and Security in Xinjiang: The Role of the Private Sector," which he presented to the Council on Foreign Relations in NYC and to the State Department and White House officials in Washington D.C. His other JP was entitled "Air to the Throne? How Environmental Activists Upended Airport Expansion in England and Beyond."

Baughan is a two-time Princeton captain, which is a rarity in the history of the program. He has had to battle through injuries as a freshman, sophomore and now senior, and he has done so while simultaneously working as hard as he could to get back and being as supportive of his teammates as possible.

"George Baughan is an inspiration to every one of his teammates and coaches," Tiger head coach Matt Madalon says. "His work ethic is as impressive as that of any player I've ever coached, and he does everything he can to support his teammates and help our program in any way he can. With his academic record and leadership on our team and in the community, as well as his ability as a defenseman, he is the perfect representative of Princeton lacrosse."

The list of 20 will be trimmed to 10 finalists by a committee, and those 10 names will be placed on a ballot for fans to vote.

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