Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Hosts Lehigh In Tuesday Night Men's Lacrosse Matchup
April 01, 2024 | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON (6-3, 2-1 Ivy League; No. 14 Inside Lacrosse, No. 14 USILA, No. 14 USA Lacrosse Magazine)
vs.
LEHIGH (4-5, 2-2 Patriot League)
Saturday, April 2 • 7 pm
Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium • Princeton, N.J.
ESPN+
In-Game Twitter Updates (@tigerlacrosse)
ESPN+
Live Stats
Tickets
Probable Princeton starters
Career highs
Career scoring/pronunciations
A – Andrew
Andrew McMeekin has scored one goal in each of his last four games after not scoring a goal in his career prior to that. The last time a Princeton player won at least one face-off and scored at least one goal in four straight games was when Zach Currier did so in the final four games of 2017. For the season, McMeekin is 109 for 204 on face-offs (.534); if you factor out the 2 for 24 stretch he had earlier this year, he is 107 for 180, or just below .600.
B – Bath
Michael Bath leads the Ivy League with 1.89 caused turnovers per game.
C – Common Opponents
Princeton and Lehigh have both played nine games and have three common opponents. Both teams defeated Cornell. Both teams lost to Cornell. Princeton defeated Rutgers, while Lehigh lost to the Scarlet Knights.
D – Dow
Lehigh’s Sean Dow won 19 of 26 face-offs and had nine ground balls in the Mountain Hawks most recent game, a 14-12 loss to Loyola this past Friday. Dow has won 52.2 percent of his face-offs this season.
E – Eighty-seven-point-five
Michael Gianforcaro made 14 saves while allowing two goals against Dartmouth, giving him a career single-game best .875 save percentage.
F – Fourteen or Fifteen
Princeton has played nine games and scored either 14 goals (three times) or 15 goals (four times) in seven of them. In the other two, Princeton scored 15 total (seven vs. Maryland, eight vs. Duke).
G – Ground Balls
Princeton has averaged 35 ground balls per game in its six wins and 29 ground balls per game in its three losses.
H – History
The series history between Princeton and Lehigh is somewhat uncertain. The Princeton record book and the Lehigh record book agree that the first game in the series was a 3-1 Princeton win in 1888. They also agree that there were 10 more games through 1933, though they disagree on the final score of the 1933 game - Lehigh has it 8-4 Princeton; Princeton has it 8-1. It gets a little murkier in 1934 and 1935, when Lehigh has games against Princeton but Princeton has games against Lehigh L.C., not Lehigh, like the first 11 games. Then there's 1940 and 1941, when Lehigh has a pair of games against Princeton that Princeton has no record of having been played. It is clear that the teams last played in 2017, when Lehigh won 15-10.
I – Ivy Race
With three Ivy weekends down and four to go, the league standings look like this:
Penn 3-0
Princeton 2-1
Cornell 2-1
Yale 2-1
Harvard/Dartmouth/Brown 0-2
This weekend’s games will all be played Saturday, with Brown at Cornell, Penn at Yale and Dartmouth at Harvard. The top four teams in the league standings will play in the Ivy League tournament at the home of the top seed.
J – Judicious
Nate Kabiri has played in nine games and scored 24 goals while turning the ball over only seven times.
K – Kabiri
Nate Kabiri,who tied the Princeton record for goals in a game by a freshman with five against Harvard (equaling the five that Sean Hartofilis in the 2000 NCAA semifinals against Virginia, now has 24 goals for the season. The leading freshman goal scorers in Princeton history:
41 Michael Sowers (2017)
28 Coulter Mackesy (2022)/Michael Chanenchuk (2010)
24 Nate Kabiri (2024)/Peter Trombino (2004)/Jake Froccaro (2013)
L – Lineup
Princeton has played nine games and used the same starting attack (Colin Burns, Nate Kabiri, Coulter Mackesy), defense (Michael Bath, Cooper Kistler, Colin Mulshine) and goalie (Michael Gianforcaro) in all of them. At the same time, Princeton has had only one midfielder (Chad Palumbo) start all nine games and has used five different starting midfield combinations.
M – Mackesy
Junior Coulter Mackesy had four goals against Dartmouth as he continues to move closer to the top 10 all-time at Princeton in goals and points.
Career points
10. Chris Brown (2018-22) 179
11. Wick Sollers (1975-77) 174
12. Justin Tortolani (1989-92) 164
13. Dave Tickner (1975-77) 163
14. Ryan Ambler (2013-16)/Coulter Mackesy (2022-present) 158
Career goals
8. Wick Sollers (1975-77) 114
9. Tom Schreiber (2011-14) 106
10. Jason Doneger (2001-05) 105
11. Coulter Mackesy (2022-present)/Gavin McBride (2014-17) 104
N – National Rankings
Princeton is ranked 14th this week in the USILA coaches’ poll, the Inside Lacrosse media poll and the USA Lacrosse poll.
O – Offensive Midfield
Princeton has gotten 32 goals from its offensive midfield in the last five games (6.4 per game) after getting 12 from its offensive midfield in the first four (3.0 per game).
P – Patriot League
Lehigh is tied with Loyola for fifth in the Patriot League right now at 2-2, behind 4-1 Boston University and 3-1 Army West Point, Navy and Colgate and ahead of 2-3 Bucknell, 1-4 Lafayette and 0-5 Holy Cross. The top six teams in the league will reach the conference tournament.
Q – Quarterly
Princeton has been outscored 28-27 in the first quarter and has outscored its opponents in the other three: 35-23 in the second, 26-19 in the third and 29-19 in the fourth.
R – Rookie
Nate Kabiri currently leads Princeton in goals with 24. The only freshman ever to lead Princeton in goals for a full season was Tom Schreiber, in 2011.
S – Scoring
Princeton goals by class through eight games:
Freshmen - 48
Sophomores - 27
Juniors - 34
Seniors - 8
T – Turnovers
Princeton leads the Ivy League in both caused turnovers per game (9.44) and fewest turnovers committed per game (14.33).
U – Un-close
Princeton has played nine games, only one of which has been decided by fewer than three goals and only two of which have been decided by fewer than five goals. The average margin of victory in those nine games is 6.7 goals. Lehigh, by the way, has played nine games, five of which have been decided by one or two goals.
V – Volume
Princeton has taken 55, 54 and 48 shots in its last three games. For the first six games of the season, Princeton averaged 42.2 shots per game.
W – Weekend Off
Princeton will not have a game this coming weekend and, after the Lehigh game, will not play again until an April 13 game at Brown.
X – The X
Princeton has won 118 face-offs and lost 122 face-offs. The last time Princeton had a season where it won at least 50 percent of its face-offs was 2012. Lehigh has also lost four more face-offs than it has won (115 won, 119 lost).
Y – Youth Movement
Freshmen Nate Kabiri (24) and Colin Burns (16) are already in double figures in goals, and classmate Tucker Wade has eight. The last tim Princeton had three freshmen in double figures was in 2006 (Tommy Davis, Mark Kovler, Josh Lesko), and the only other times it’s happened were in 2004 (Whitney Hayes, Scott Sowanick, Peter Trombino) and 1995 (Jon Hess, Jesse Hubbard, Chris Massey). Only once has Princeton had two freshmen reach 20 goals, and that was Hubbard (23) and Massey (21) in 1995.
Z – Zip
Princeton held Dartmouth without a goal for the first 16:55 of the game and then again for a 37:03 stretch between the second and fourth quarters.
