Princeton And Rutgers Meet For The 101st Time

Sunday, March 10

Piscataway, N.J.

12:00 PM

Princeton University

Rutgers

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Photo by: Brian McWalters

March 08, 2024 | Men's Lacrosse

PRINCETON (3-2, No. 15 Inside Lacrosse, No. 14 USILA, No. 15 USA Lacrosse Magazine)
at RUTGERS (5-1, No. 16 Inside Lacrosse, No. 16 USILA, No. 16 USA Lacrosse Magazine))

Sunday, March 10 • noon
SHI Stadium • Piscataway, N.J.
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It's time for the 101^st meeting between Princeton and Rutgers, in a series that Princeton leads 65-22-3. To the annual winner goes the Harland (Tots) Meistrell Cup, who started the program at Rutgers in 1920 and then restarted the program at Princeton a year later.

As for the present day, both teams have only one more non-league game after this one.

The teams are separated by 20 miles geographically and even less than that in this week's polls.

Princeton at Rutgers
Five storylines

Home team dominance
The home team has won the last seven games in the Princeton-Rutgers series, including a year ago, when the Scarlet Knights defeated the Tigers 14-13 in overtime on a goal by Dante Kulas, now a junior.

Princeton is playing at Rutgers for the second-straight year due to an adjustment of the schedule after the pandemic.

Back on the road
Princeton is playing its fourth straight road game, all against either Big Ten or ACC opponents. Previously, Princeton lost to Maryland in College Park, defeated North Carolina in Chapel Hill and lost to Duke in Durham.

Not too close
Princeton has played five games, and the average score of those five games is Winning team 15, Losing team 7. No Princeton game this season has been closer than five goals, and the team ahead at halftime has never trailed in the second half of any of the five.

Coulter Updates
Coulter Mackesy has scored 95 goals in his career, leaving him five away from becoming the 15^th Princeton player to reach the 100-mark.

Of those 95 goals, seven have come against Rutgers in two career games. In fact, the only other active Princeton player who has scored a goal against Rutgers is Tyler Sandoval, who scored in the 2020 game. Rutgers, by the way, returns five players who combined for nine goals in the game against Princeton a year ago.

Mackesy, a second-team All-American last year, was named to the USILA Team of the Week after his seven-goal, four-assist weekend in North Carolina. He scored five times against North Carolina, giving him six career games with at least five goals, as well as four others with four goals.

Youth movement
Princeton has had six freshmen who have had at least four games with at least three goals. Of those six, three are current Tigers: Colin Burns and Nate Kabiri, who have done so already this season in just five games, and Coulter Mackesy, who did so in 2022.

The others were Michael Sowers (2017), Mike Chanenchuk (2010) and Jesse Hubbard (1995).

The last time Princeton started two freshmen on attack was 1995, with Jon Hess and Chris Massey. Hubbard played midfield that season before moving onto the attack line the next three years.

Other notes

* Princeton turns the ball over 14.4 times per game, which puts the Tigers 10^th in Division I – and second in this game. Rutgers, at 13.17, leads Division I in fewest turnovers per game.

* Colin Burns leads the Ivy League and is fourth in Division I with a .600 shooting percentage (12 for 20).

* Princeton has scored exactly 15 goals in each of its three wins and has scored seven (against Maryland) and eight (against Duke) in its two losses.

* Princeton's Nate Kabiri and Coulter Mackesy scored goals five seconds apart in the second quarter against North Carolina, equaling the school record for the shortest elapsed time between goals.

* Michael Gianforcaro has two career games with 20 or more saves (20 against Harvard in 2023, 20 against Maryland this season). From 2008 through the present, Gianforcaro has as many games with at least 20 saves as every other Princeton goalie combined (Erik Peters with 21 vs. Rutgers in 2022, Tyler Blaisdell with 20 against Johns Hopkins in 2016). Gianforcaro is seventh in Division I in save percentage at .580.

* Andrew McMeekin has won 23 of his last 40 face-offs after he had won 2 of 24 between the Maryland game and the first quarter of the UNC game. He's also had 16 ground balls, an assist and three caused turnovers in his last 40 face-offs.

* Harland Meistrell graduated from Princeton in 1923 and went into a career in real estate, as well as becoming an author on the subject of, somewhat randomly, dog training. He was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1962 and died shortly afterwards. His brother Malcolm donated the original bowl to be awarded to the winner of the annual Princeton-Rutgers games.

* Princeton has won six NCAA championships and played in 11 Final Fours, most recently reaching Championship Weekend in 2022. Princeton also played in last year's NCAA tournament, falling in the opening round 13-12 at Penn State.

* Princeton has the No. 1 freshman class in the country according to Inside Lacrosse.