Pace Billings Named To Final Four All-Tournament Team And Other Men's Lax Notes

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Pace Billings was named to the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse Final Four all-tournament team in a vote of the media after Monday's championship game. Billings, a sophomore longstick midfielder from Denver, had a caused turnover and ground ball in the Tigers' 13-8 semifinal loss to Maryland.

Billings was a key part of a defense that held Maryland to nearly six goals below its season average.

Princeton's defense also held three NCAA tournament opponents to a total of 28 goals, an average of 9.7 per game. The Tigers played all three of its NCAA opponents in the regular season and improved on the goals allowed in all three cases, going from seven to five against Boston University (wins of 12-7 and 12-5), 14 to 10 against Yale (lost 14-12, won 14-10) and 15 to 13 against Maryland (losses of 15-10 and 13-8).

The Terrapins completed their perfect season with a 9-7 win over Cornell Monday. Maryland, who was the No. 1 scoring offense team in the country, had its third- and fifth-lowest scoring totals against Princeton; it had its two lowest scoring totals in the two games after it played Princeton.

The 2022 Princeton men's lacrosse team led Division I in ground balls per game, at 38.53 per game. The Tigers were also third in the country in caused turnovers per game with 10.27, and the 159 caused turnovers for the season were the most in program history.

Princeton also set the school record for the most goals ever scored in a season with 237. This season also marked the first time in program history that the team had as many as seven players with at least 20 goals (Alex Slusher 46, Chris Brown 31, Sam English 30, Coulter Mackesy 28, Alexander Vardaro 26, Christian Ronda 23 and Jake Stevens 22).

Brown finished his career with 101 goals and 78 assists, including 31 goals and 41 assists as a senior, which made him the second player in program history to have a season of at least 30 goals and 40 assists (Michael Sowers did it twice). He ranks 10th all-time at Princeton in career points, 11^th in career assists and tied for 13^th in career goals. After having 37 assists for his first three seasons combined, Brown put up the 41 assists this year and ranked sixth in Division I in assists per game. He also had at least one point in every game of his career, making him the third Princeton player to play in four seasons and do so.

Slusher's 46 goals tied him for fifth-best in a season at Princeton. Mackey's 28 goals tied for second among Princeton freshman, and his 43 points were the fourth-best total ever by a Princeton freshman.

Midfielder Jake Stevens had 22 goals and 65 groundballs, which made him the only Princeton player in the last 26 years to have those numbers other than Zach Currier. Tyler Sandoval had a face-off winning percentage of .536; only Currier (2017) and Bobby Lucas (2012) had a higher percentage in the last 15 years.

Goalie Erik Peters made 217 saves on the season, which is the third-best single-season total in program history and the most by a Princeton goalie since 1975, and his 13.60 save per game ranked sixth in Division I. Peters made 45 saves in the three NCAA games and had a .616 save percentage in the postseason.

In addition to being the top ground ball team in the country and finishing third in caused turnovers, Princeton finished the regular season ranked in the top 10 in Division I in scoring offense (fifth), scoring margin (sixth), points per game (seventh), shooting percentage (eighth) and winning percentage (ninth).

Princeton returns two starting attackman, six of its top seven offensive midfielders, four close defensemen who played in the Final Four, three of its top four LSMs, four of its top five SSDMs, and its top two face-off men.

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