No. 3 Princeton Hosts Manhattan In Tuesday Night Lacrosse

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PRINCETON (1-0) vs. MANHATTAN (2-0)
Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023 • 6 pm
Sherrerd Field • Princeton, N.J.
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For the only time this regular season, the Princeton men's lacrosse plays a midweek game. As it does so, it begins an unprecedented stretch in program history.

Princeton, off a 22-9 opening day win over Monmouth Saturday, takes on Manhattan, the defending MAAC champion who brings a 2-0 record to Sherrerd Field for Tuesday night's game (face-off at 6).

Princeton vs. Manhattan
Five Storylines

No. 1 vs. No. 1
Yes, it's really, really early. Also yes, this game matches the No. 1 scoring offense team in the country (Princeton) against the No. 1 scoring defense team in the country (Manhattan).

Princeton opened its season with a 22-goal day against Monmouth. Manhattan has allowed 10 goals in two games, with five each against both St. John's (a 9-5 win) and Navy (a 6-5) win.

Unprecedented
Princeton is about to do something it has never before done. The game against Manhattan begins a stretch of seven straight opponents who were in the 2022 NCAA tournament. Princeton has never played seven straight games against teams from the previous year's NCAA field.

Manhattan beat the top two seeds in the MAAC tournament last year, knocking off No. 2 Marist and No. 1 St. Bonaventure before falling to Vermont in the NCAA tournament.

After the game against the Jaspers, Princeton will then play in order defending NCAA champion Maryland (Saturday at 1 on Sherrerd Field) and then Georgetown (No. 2 seed last year, Rutgers (Final Four), Penn (quarterfinal), Yale (quarterfinal) and Brown (opening round loss). The streak of NCAA opponents will go from Tuesday night through April 8, when the streak ends with Syracuse (a 2021 NCAA team and a team whose history is obvious).

Princeton then is at Dartmouth before finishing up with two more NCAA teams: Harvard (first round) and Cornell (NCAA runner-up).

Scoring
Of the top 16 Division I leaders in points per game, 11 of them play in the Ivy League. Among that group is Princeton's Alexander Vardaro (sixth) and Coulter Mackesy and Braedon Saris (tied for 10^th).

Vardaro is also one of two players in Division I who has taken at least three shots per game and has a perfect shooting percentage. Vardaro was 5 for 5 against Monmouth; Robert Morris' Nick Pelletier is 4 for 4.

Series history
This will be the seventh meeting between the teams, and Princeton has won the first six. The teams first played in 2009, and the most recent meeting came in 2015.

This will be Matt Madalon's first game against Manhattan as Tiger head coach.

Once a Duck
Matt Madalon was an assistant coach at Stevens before coming to Princeton for the 2014 season. The coach hired to replace him with the Ducks was John Odierna, who is now in his first year as Manhattan's head coach.

Other notes
Princeton is ranked third in the Inside Lacrosse Media poll, fourth in the USILA coaches poll and third in the Nike/USA Lacrosse poll … Manhattan played in the first college lacrosse game ever, back on Nov. 22, 1877, when the Jaspers took on NYU … Princeton was a perfect 19 for 19 on clears against Monmouth … Alexander Vardaro had a career-high five goals in the win over the Hawks … Alex Slusher has scored at least one goal in 20 straight games, the seventh longest current streak in Division I … Griffen Rakower made his first career start in goal in the win over Monmouth, making six saves while allowing three goals in the first half; Michael Gianforcaro came on in the second half, making five saves and allowing five goals … Chad Palumbo had two goals in his first collegiate game, making him the seventh player to play for Matt Madalon at Princeton who had two goals in the first game of his freshman year. The other six are: Michael Sowers, Phillip Robertson, Coulter Mackesy, Alex Slusher, Chris Brown and Alexander Vardaro.

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