Princeton Women's Lacrosse 2024 Season Outlook
February 15, 2024 | Women's Lacrosse
The Princeton women’s lacrosse team has won 16 Ivy League championships, which is the most of any of the league’s eight programs. Princeton has also made an Ivy-best 28 trips to the NCAA tournament, which happens to be one short of the next two teams combined.
The path to adding to those numbers in 2024 begins with a trip to Virginia Feb. 17, includes a spring break trip to take on Florida and Jacksonville and then features the seven Ivy games, with home games against Yale, Cornell and Penn to start it.
The team will be led by its three captains, Kari Buonanno, Caroline Burnett and Grace Tauckus.
“We’re a year more experienced,” says head coach Jenn Cook. “We’re really ready to go. The leadership of our captains has been fantastic. We’re another year wiser and experienced and know how we need to get after it every day and every game. We’re excited to start.”
Here's a position-by-position look at the 2024 Princeton Tigers:
Attack
Returning starters: McKenzie Blake, Jami MacDonald, Nina Montes, Ellie Mueller, Grace Tauckus
Other returning letterwinners: Kendall Dean, Haven Dora, Olivia Koch
Newcomers: Meg Morrisroe
Princeton returns 104 goals among its attack unit, which is a pretty good starting spot for 2024. Yes, the team will have to make up for the 30 goals and 10 assists that graduated with Kate Mulham, but this is a deep unit, one that has experience with a top newcomer mixed in. Senior Grace Tauckus, who needs seven goals to reach the 100-mark for her career, had a 29-goal junior year after a 47-goal sophomore year. McKenzie Blake has started all 34 games in her first two seasons, and she has been a completely consistent goal-scorer from Day 1, with 36 goals as a freshman and 39 more last year. She also has at least one goal in 32 career games and has never gone consecutive games without at least one. Jami MacDonald scored 24 goals as a freshman last year, and her 18 assists led the attack unit and was second on the team. Ellie Mueller looks to come back after a knee injury prematurely ended her junior year after 10 games, during which she scored 11 goals and had six assists. Nina Montes has a lightning-quick release and a powerful shot, and she has averaged more than a goal per game in her first two years, with 38 in 32 games. The spark she gives the team has come from off the bench, with only two starts to date, but she figures to push for a starting spot this time around. Sophomore Haven Dora had 8G, 7A and three starts last year, and freshman Meg Morrisroe is an Inside Lacrosse Power 100 selection who spent the fall picking up the system and starting to make her impact.
Midfield
Returning starters: Kari Buonanno, Sophie Whiteway
Other returning letterwinners: Lane Calkins, Sam DeVito, Maggie Molnar, Abigail Roberts
Newcomers: Ava Keenan, Colette Quinn, Ella Sloan, Merrill Watson
Kari Buonanno, a senior, was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection and second-team all-region selection last year, after she led the team in points (29G, 19A) and assists. She has started every game of her career, and she went over the 100-point mark a year ago. In addition to her scoring ability, the explosive Buonanno is great in the possession game, with 44 draw controls (second on the team) and 22 ground balls (first on the team). Sophie Whiteway, a junior, took most of the draws a year ago and led the team with 51 draw controls, with 57 the year before. She also has 30 goals and six assists in her first two seasons. Sam DeVito was technically not a starter a year ago, but she was a force in the midfield, earning second-team All-Ivy League honors with nine goals, three assists, 15 ground balls and eight caused turnovers. The competition for playing time in the midfield will be significant, with a whole army of players who picked up important experience a year ago. Among that group is Abigail Roberts (6G in only seven games), Lane Calkins (2G, 1A last year) and Colette Quinn, another Top 100 freshman who will get immediate minutes as a two-way middie.
Defense
Returning starters: Caroline Burnett, Sam Whiting, Sammy Filippi
Other returning letterwinners: Dylan Allen, Taylor DeGroff, Mia James, Paige Vegna, Abbie Wilhelm, Juliana Williams
Newcomer: Kate Garlinghouse, Siena Puglisi
Princeton will have to replace Shannon Berry (started every game) and Shea Smith (started 15 of 16 games) on the defensive end of the field, but the Tigers are not without experience. Sammy Filippi started all 16 games a year ago and put up a team-best 14 caused turnovers with 18 ground balls, and Sam Whiting started 14 of 16 games, with nine caused turnovers and 17 ground balls, along with 10 draw controls. Caroline Burnett started 10 games last season, and Taylor DeGroff had four starts. Dylan Allen played in 11 games with three starts last year.
Goalie
Returning starter: Amelia Hughes
Other returning letterwinner: Tia Reaman
Newcomer: Ellie Nicklas
Amelia Hughes started every game in goal for the Tigers last year as a freshman, standing up to 491 shots, with a .444 save percentage that ranked second in the Ivy League. Hughes was a second-team All-Ivy League selection, as well as a two-time Ivy Defensive Player of the Week and the National Defensive Player of the Week — and not in the same week as the two Ivy awards. Tia Reaman, a senior, has career numbers of 6.61 goals-against and .538 save percentage in her career.