Saturday, March 11
Piscataway, N.J.
1:00 PM
Princeton University
at
Rutgers
Luca Lazzaretto and the Tigers are at Rutgers in the 100th meeting between the teams.
Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast
Princeton, Rutgers Meet For The 100th Time
March 10, 2023 | Men's Lacrosse
No. 13/14 PRINCETON (2-2) vs. No. 6/7 RUTGERS (5-1)
Saturday, March 11 • 1 p.m.
SHI Stadium • Piscataway, N.J.
BTN+
In-game Twitter updates (@tigerlacrosse)
BTN+ (Subscription required)
Live Stats
Princeton Laxcast With Matt Madalon And Jake Stevens
If there had been a third-place game at last year's NCAA Final Four, this would have been it. Princeton and Rutgers both reached Championship Weekend last year, each falling one game short of playing on Memorial Day.
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There is also history that will be made in this matchup at SHI Stadium Saturday afternoon. Neither last spring nor the history between the schools will be foremost on anyone's mind, of course.
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Princeton vs. Rutgers
Five Storylines
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The 100th meeting
Welcome to the 100th meeting between Princeton and Rutgers. The only opponent Princeton has played more times is Yale, whom the Tigers will face for the 106th time in two weeks.
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Princeton leads the all-time series 65-21-3, including a 16-11 win a year ago in Princeton. The Tigers have five players on this year's team who scored in that game, including four (Alex Slusher, Coulter Mackesy, Christian Ronda, Jake Stevens) who had more than one goal (Sam English had one in the game).
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Going way back, the first men's lacrosse game in Princeton history was played in 1881. Rutgers would play its first game six years later. Both schools decided to discontinue the sport several years after that, as Rutgers dropped its team in 1889 and Princeton gave up in 1893.
Harland (Tots) Meistrell, meanwhile, went from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn to Rutgers in 1920, where he played varsity football as a freshman and also restarted the lacrosse team. A year later, in 1921, he restarted the team at Princeton.
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Today, he represents both schools in the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame, and the winner of the Princeton-Rutgers game each year wins the Meistrell Cup. The teams have met every year since 1921, except for the World War II seasons of 1944 and 1945 and the 2021 Covid season.
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No place like home
The home team has won the last six games between Princeton and Rutgers. You have to go back to 2015 to find a game where the road team has won (Princeton won 12-11 that year in Piscataway).
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Because of Covid, the 2021 game that would have been played at Rutgers didn't happen, so Princeton hasn't played at Rutgers since a 9-8 loss in 2019.
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Strength of schedule
This is the fourth of seven straight Princeton games against teams that made the 2022 NCAA tournament.
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In addition to that, all eight teams that remain on Princeton's schedule are either ranked or receiving votes in this week's Inside Lacrosse media poll.
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Scoring
The Princeton-Rutgers game will feature six players ranked in the top 100 of Division I in goals per game. Actually, it will feature six players in the top 96, to be exact.
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Princeton has Coulter Mackesy (ninth) and Alexander Vardaro (83rd). Rutgers has Ross Scott (19th), Brian Cameron (28th), Dante Kulas (42nd) and Jake Aimone (96th).
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Scott and Cameron are 1-2 in the Big Ten in goals per game. Mackesy is fourth in the Ivy League; he is also the first Princeton player to have at least 15 goals in the first four games of a season since Gerry Ronon in 1982.
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Nice to see you again
Rutgers goalie Kyle Mullin leads the Big Ten in goals-against average (9.49) and save percentage (.550).
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Before coming to Rutgers for a graduate year, Mullin was the starting goalie at Harvard, where he gave up 35 goals and made 30 saves in two games against Princeton, including 16 goals with 18 saves a year ago in Cambridge.
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Other notes
Coulter Mackesy has more games with three or more goals (seven) than with less than three (four) in his last 11 games … Matt Madalon is fifth all-time at Princeton with 44 victories as head coach, five behind Bill Logan for fourth and nine behind Chris Bates for third; Madalon's .621 career winning percentage (44-26) trails only Bill Tierney among Princeton coaches for the last 73 years … Rutgers is the only team in Division I in the top 10 in both scoring offense and scoring defense … Princeton's Sean Cameron is the younger brother of Rutgers' Brian Cameron … Rutgers ranks second in Division I in fewest turnovers per game; Princeton ranks eighth … Princeton's Griffen Rakower has a .667 save percentage that would lead Division I had he played the required number of minutes to be ranked …
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What can you say about? …
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No. 0 Griffen Rakower (Sr., G)
* made his first four career starts and played the first half in all four games
* made 11 saves while allowing three goals in first half against Maryland
* also made 11 saves while allowing seven goals against Georgetown
* has a .667 save percentage that would lead Division I (goalies must play two-thirds of their team's minutes to be ranked; he has played 50 percent)
* had six saves while allowing three goals against Monmouth
* had eight saves while allowing five goals against Manhattan
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No. 2 Chad Palumbo (Fr., M)
* had two goals in his first game, against Monmouth
* became the seventh player to play for Matt Madalon who had two goals in the first game of his freshman year, along with: Michael Sowers, Phillip Robertson and Chris Brown and current players Alexander Vardaro, Alex Slusher and Coulter Mackesy
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No. 3 Pace Billings (Jr, D)
* Tewaaraton Award watchlist
* has started the first three games on close defense
* tied for team lead with three caused turnovers
* leads Princeton longsticks with six ground balls
* played mostly LSM last year, when he was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament team
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No. 5 Alex Slusher (Sr., A)
* had a streak of at least one goal in 21 straight games snapped against Maryland; streak is eighth longest in program history
* has 56 career goals, second on the team, two behind Alexander Vardaro
* one of Princeton's captains
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No. 6 Cathal Roberts (Sr., LSM)
* has been a starter on D and an LSM while also playing on face-off wings
* has two caused turnovers and five ground balls
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No. 7 Luca Lazzaretto (Sr., LSM)
* has been a consistent LSM throughout his career
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No. 10 Ben Finlay (Sr., D)
* has started every game of his career on defense
* has a caused turnover and eight ground balls
* one of Princeton's captains
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No. 11 Sean Cameron (So., M)
* second-line midfielder
* had a goal against Georgetown
* had a goal against Manhattan
* older brother Brian plays for Rutgers
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No. 12 Christian Ronda (Sr., M)
* has two goals and four assists this season
* has twice as many assists this season in three games than he did a year ago in 16
* had 23 goals a year ago, including six in the NCAA tournament
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No. 13 Joe Juengerkes (Jr., SSDM)
* tied for team lead with three caused turnovers
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No. 14 Jake Stevens (Sr., M)
* preseason second-team All-American
* plays on the second midfield and face-off wings
* had six goals and team best 14 ground balls
* had three goals, five ground balls and three caused turnovers against Georgetown; no other Princeton player has ever achieved at least all three of those in a game
* 2022 honorable mention All-American
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No. 15 Sam English (Sr., M)
* Tewaaaraton Award watchlist
* has a goal and eight assists through three games
* had 30 goals and 18 assists a year ago
* 2022 honorable mention All-American
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No. 17 Michael Bath (So., LSM)
* plays LSM and on the face-off wings
* tied for team lead with three caused turnovers
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No. 18 Luc Anderson (Sr., SSDM)
* one of the Tiger captains
* has two caused turnovers
* has been slowed by injuries most of his career
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No. 19 Alexander Vardaro (Sr., A/M)
* second on the team with nine goals
* had five goals against Monmouth and four against Manhattan
* first Princeton player in 29 years to have at least nine goals in the first two games of a season (Scott Reinhardt in 1993)
* Princeton's leading career scorer with 58 goals and 84 points
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No. 21 Tommy Barnds (Jr., M)
* started as a midfielder against Georgetown and had a goal
* had a goal against Monmouth
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No. 23 Beau Pederson (Sr., SSDM)
* preseason first-team All-American
* one of Princeton's captains
* had two caused turnovers against Maryland
* third-team All-American a year ago
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No. 24 Marquez White (Jr., SSDM)
* first line defensive midfielder
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No. 27 Michael Gianforcaro (Jr., G)
* has started the second half of every game
* has made at least five saves in all four games
* had six saves against Georgetown
* made three of his five saves against Manhattan in the first four minutes of the third quarter, when Princeton went from down a goal to start an 8-2 run that led to a 14-9 win
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No. 28 Jacob Stoebner (Sr., D)
* veteran defenseman who is part of the regular rotation
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No. 32 Andrew McMeekin (Fr., FO)
* has won 6 of 13 face-offs on the season
* went 1 for 3 against Maryland
* won 5 of 9 face-offs against Monmouth
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No. 35 Tyler Sandoval (Jr., FO)
* has won 33 of 70 face-offs Â
* has nine ground balls
* had an assist against Manhattan five seconds after another Princeton goal (it was the shortest elapsed time between goals in Princeton history)
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No. 36 Braedon Saris (So., A)
* starting on attack after playing in two games a year ago, with one assist
* had three goals and three assists against Monmouth
* had a goal and two assists against Manhattan
* had an assist against Maryland
* missed the Georgetown game due to injury
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No. 39 Weston Carpenter (Sr., M)
* had a goal in each of the first three games
* did not have a goal in his career prior to this season
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No. 43 Colin Mulshine (So., D)
* starter on defense
* had two caused turnovers against Georgetown
* started 11 games as a freshman, including the final nine
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No. 50 Liam Fairback (So., SSDM)
* converted offensive midfielder who is in the regular defensive midfield rotation
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No. 91 Coulter Mackesy (So., A)
* leads team with 15 goals and 18 points
* is the first Princeton player since Gerry Ronon in 1982 to have at least 15 goals in the first four games
* has more games with at least three goals (seven) than fewer than three (four) in his last 11 games
* tied career highs with five goals and six points against Georgetown
* had three of Princeton's five goals against Maryland
* had four goals and two assists against Monmouth
* had three goals against Manhattan
* had 28 goals and 15 assists a year ago; his 43 points were the fourth-most ever by a Princeton freshman, behind only Michael Sowers, Kevin Lowe and Ryan Boyle
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No. 99 Koby Ginder (So., FO)
* is 14 for 24 on face-offs for the season
* won 8 of 12 face-offs against Manhattan with five ground balls
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Saturday, March 11 • 1 p.m.
SHI Stadium • Piscataway, N.J.
BTN+
In-game Twitter updates (@tigerlacrosse)
BTN+ (Subscription required)
Live Stats
Princeton Laxcast With Matt Madalon And Jake Stevens
If there had been a third-place game at last year's NCAA Final Four, this would have been it. Princeton and Rutgers both reached Championship Weekend last year, each falling one game short of playing on Memorial Day.
Â
There is also history that will be made in this matchup at SHI Stadium Saturday afternoon. Neither last spring nor the history between the schools will be foremost on anyone's mind, of course.
Â
Princeton vs. Rutgers
Five Storylines
Â
The 100th meeting
Welcome to the 100th meeting between Princeton and Rutgers. The only opponent Princeton has played more times is Yale, whom the Tigers will face for the 106th time in two weeks.
Â
Princeton leads the all-time series 65-21-3, including a 16-11 win a year ago in Princeton. The Tigers have five players on this year's team who scored in that game, including four (Alex Slusher, Coulter Mackesy, Christian Ronda, Jake Stevens) who had more than one goal (Sam English had one in the game).
Â
Going way back, the first men's lacrosse game in Princeton history was played in 1881. Rutgers would play its first game six years later. Both schools decided to discontinue the sport several years after that, as Rutgers dropped its team in 1889 and Princeton gave up in 1893.
Harland (Tots) Meistrell, meanwhile, went from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn to Rutgers in 1920, where he played varsity football as a freshman and also restarted the lacrosse team. A year later, in 1921, he restarted the team at Princeton.
Â
Today, he represents both schools in the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame, and the winner of the Princeton-Rutgers game each year wins the Meistrell Cup. The teams have met every year since 1921, except for the World War II seasons of 1944 and 1945 and the 2021 Covid season.
Â
No place like home
The home team has won the last six games between Princeton and Rutgers. You have to go back to 2015 to find a game where the road team has won (Princeton won 12-11 that year in Piscataway).
Â
Because of Covid, the 2021 game that would have been played at Rutgers didn't happen, so Princeton hasn't played at Rutgers since a 9-8 loss in 2019.
Â
Strength of schedule
This is the fourth of seven straight Princeton games against teams that made the 2022 NCAA tournament.
Â
In addition to that, all eight teams that remain on Princeton's schedule are either ranked or receiving votes in this week's Inside Lacrosse media poll.
Â
Scoring
The Princeton-Rutgers game will feature six players ranked in the top 100 of Division I in goals per game. Actually, it will feature six players in the top 96, to be exact.
Â
Princeton has Coulter Mackesy (ninth) and Alexander Vardaro (83rd). Rutgers has Ross Scott (19th), Brian Cameron (28th), Dante Kulas (42nd) and Jake Aimone (96th).
Â
Scott and Cameron are 1-2 in the Big Ten in goals per game. Mackesy is fourth in the Ivy League; he is also the first Princeton player to have at least 15 goals in the first four games of a season since Gerry Ronon in 1982.
Â
Nice to see you again
Rutgers goalie Kyle Mullin leads the Big Ten in goals-against average (9.49) and save percentage (.550).
Â
Before coming to Rutgers for a graduate year, Mullin was the starting goalie at Harvard, where he gave up 35 goals and made 30 saves in two games against Princeton, including 16 goals with 18 saves a year ago in Cambridge.
Â
Other notes
Coulter Mackesy has more games with three or more goals (seven) than with less than three (four) in his last 11 games … Matt Madalon is fifth all-time at Princeton with 44 victories as head coach, five behind Bill Logan for fourth and nine behind Chris Bates for third; Madalon's .621 career winning percentage (44-26) trails only Bill Tierney among Princeton coaches for the last 73 years … Rutgers is the only team in Division I in the top 10 in both scoring offense and scoring defense … Princeton's Sean Cameron is the younger brother of Rutgers' Brian Cameron … Rutgers ranks second in Division I in fewest turnovers per game; Princeton ranks eighth … Princeton's Griffen Rakower has a .667 save percentage that would lead Division I had he played the required number of minutes to be ranked …
Â
What can you say about? …
Â
No. 0 Griffen Rakower (Sr., G)
* made his first four career starts and played the first half in all four games
* made 11 saves while allowing three goals in first half against Maryland
* also made 11 saves while allowing seven goals against Georgetown
* has a .667 save percentage that would lead Division I (goalies must play two-thirds of their team's minutes to be ranked; he has played 50 percent)
* had six saves while allowing three goals against Monmouth
* had eight saves while allowing five goals against Manhattan
Â
No. 2 Chad Palumbo (Fr., M)
* had two goals in his first game, against Monmouth
* became the seventh player to play for Matt Madalon who had two goals in the first game of his freshman year, along with: Michael Sowers, Phillip Robertson and Chris Brown and current players Alexander Vardaro, Alex Slusher and Coulter Mackesy
Â
No. 3 Pace Billings (Jr, D)
* Tewaaraton Award watchlist
* has started the first three games on close defense
* tied for team lead with three caused turnovers
* leads Princeton longsticks with six ground balls
* played mostly LSM last year, when he was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament team
Â
No. 5 Alex Slusher (Sr., A)
* had a streak of at least one goal in 21 straight games snapped against Maryland; streak is eighth longest in program history
* has 56 career goals, second on the team, two behind Alexander Vardaro
* one of Princeton's captains
Â
No. 6 Cathal Roberts (Sr., LSM)
* has been a starter on D and an LSM while also playing on face-off wings
* has two caused turnovers and five ground balls
Â
No. 7 Luca Lazzaretto (Sr., LSM)
* has been a consistent LSM throughout his career
Â
No. 10 Ben Finlay (Sr., D)
* has started every game of his career on defense
* has a caused turnover and eight ground balls
* one of Princeton's captains
Â
No. 11 Sean Cameron (So., M)
* second-line midfielder
* had a goal against Georgetown
* had a goal against Manhattan
* older brother Brian plays for Rutgers
Â
No. 12 Christian Ronda (Sr., M)
* has two goals and four assists this season
* has twice as many assists this season in three games than he did a year ago in 16
* had 23 goals a year ago, including six in the NCAA tournament
Â
No. 13 Joe Juengerkes (Jr., SSDM)
* tied for team lead with three caused turnovers
Â
No. 14 Jake Stevens (Sr., M)
* preseason second-team All-American
* plays on the second midfield and face-off wings
* had six goals and team best 14 ground balls
* had three goals, five ground balls and three caused turnovers against Georgetown; no other Princeton player has ever achieved at least all three of those in a game
* 2022 honorable mention All-American
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No. 15 Sam English (Sr., M)
* Tewaaaraton Award watchlist
* has a goal and eight assists through three games
* had 30 goals and 18 assists a year ago
* 2022 honorable mention All-American
Â
No. 17 Michael Bath (So., LSM)
* plays LSM and on the face-off wings
* tied for team lead with three caused turnovers
Â
No. 18 Luc Anderson (Sr., SSDM)
* one of the Tiger captains
* has two caused turnovers
* has been slowed by injuries most of his career
Â
No. 19 Alexander Vardaro (Sr., A/M)
* second on the team with nine goals
* had five goals against Monmouth and four against Manhattan
* first Princeton player in 29 years to have at least nine goals in the first two games of a season (Scott Reinhardt in 1993)
* Princeton's leading career scorer with 58 goals and 84 points
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No. 21 Tommy Barnds (Jr., M)
* started as a midfielder against Georgetown and had a goal
* had a goal against Monmouth
Â
No. 23 Beau Pederson (Sr., SSDM)
* preseason first-team All-American
* one of Princeton's captains
* had two caused turnovers against Maryland
* third-team All-American a year ago
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No. 24 Marquez White (Jr., SSDM)
* first line defensive midfielder
Â
No. 27 Michael Gianforcaro (Jr., G)
* has started the second half of every game
* has made at least five saves in all four games
* had six saves against Georgetown
* made three of his five saves against Manhattan in the first four minutes of the third quarter, when Princeton went from down a goal to start an 8-2 run that led to a 14-9 win
Â
No. 28 Jacob Stoebner (Sr., D)
* veteran defenseman who is part of the regular rotation
Â
No. 32 Andrew McMeekin (Fr., FO)
* has won 6 of 13 face-offs on the season
* went 1 for 3 against Maryland
* won 5 of 9 face-offs against Monmouth
Â
No. 35 Tyler Sandoval (Jr., FO)
* has won 33 of 70 face-offs Â
* has nine ground balls
* had an assist against Manhattan five seconds after another Princeton goal (it was the shortest elapsed time between goals in Princeton history)
Â
No. 36 Braedon Saris (So., A)
* starting on attack after playing in two games a year ago, with one assist
* had three goals and three assists against Monmouth
* had a goal and two assists against Manhattan
* had an assist against Maryland
* missed the Georgetown game due to injury
Â
No. 39 Weston Carpenter (Sr., M)
* had a goal in each of the first three games
* did not have a goal in his career prior to this season
Â
No. 43 Colin Mulshine (So., D)
* starter on defense
* had two caused turnovers against Georgetown
* started 11 games as a freshman, including the final nine
Â
No. 50 Liam Fairback (So., SSDM)
* converted offensive midfielder who is in the regular defensive midfield rotation
Â
No. 91 Coulter Mackesy (So., A)
* leads team with 15 goals and 18 points
* is the first Princeton player since Gerry Ronon in 1982 to have at least 15 goals in the first four games
* has more games with at least three goals (seven) than fewer than three (four) in his last 11 games
* tied career highs with five goals and six points against Georgetown
* had three of Princeton's five goals against Maryland
* had four goals and two assists against Monmouth
* had three goals against Manhattan
* had 28 goals and 15 assists a year ago; his 43 points were the fourth-most ever by a Princeton freshman, behind only Michael Sowers, Kevin Lowe and Ryan Boyle
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No. 99 Koby Ginder (So., FO)
* is 14 for 24 on face-offs for the season
* won 8 of 12 face-offs against Manhattan with five ground balls
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