Princeton Falls In NCAA Opener To Maryland

Calendar

No Upcoming Events

There's only one word to describe the Princeton men's lacrosse team's NCAA tournament opening round game at Maryland Saturday night, and that word is this: Eerie.

For the fifth straight time in the last three years, a Princeton-Maryland game followed the exact same excruciating, frustrating script. And, for the fifth straight time, it ended with a Terps' win, this time by a 16-8 score at SECU Stadium in College Park that advances Maryland to the quarterfinals next Saturday against Duke and ends Princeton's season at 11-5 with a third-straight NCAA tournament appearance and second-straight Ivy League tournament championship.

How similar have all of these games been? Eerily, eerily so.

In all five, Maryland has scored quickly and never trailed, including a 13-7 win over Princeton back on Feb. 24. In all five, the Terps built an early lead. In all five, they then were able to grind out possession after possession, often scoring late in the shot clock. In all five, they dominated face-offs, controlling the ball probably 75-80 percent of the time.

This time, it took Maryland nine seconds to get out to a 1-0 lead, one the home team held for the final 59:51. If you add together all five games, that comes to 300 minutes — and Maryland has led for 282:08 in all. It's a tough, tough way to play.

The quick goal to start was rough, but the Tigers settled down and played several great defensive possessions from there. Maryland, though, would lead 4-1 after the first quarter, running its five-game first-quarter cumulative edge against Princeton to 19-6. Worst of all, Maryland scored two of its goals with one second on the shot clock. That's backbreaking stuff.

The score would be 11-3 at the half, but Princeton played hard the entire way. Any time it looked like the Tigers might grab momentum, though, Maryland would get a goal to swing it back the other way.

Freshman Nate Kabiri led Princeton with three goals, giving him seven of Princeton's 15 goals on the year against Maryland. He also finished his freshman year with 32 goals and 25 assists, leaving him second all-time among Princeton freshmen scorers with 57 points.

Junior Coulter Mackesy had a goal and two assists, giving him 40 goals and 25 assists for the year and 123 career goals, 40 away from Jesse Hubbard's school record. Kabiri was the only Tiger with more than one goal, and Princeton also got goals from Tucker Wade, Lukas Stanat (who also had an assist), Colin Burns and senior SSDM Marquez White, who had the second of his career, along with two caused turnovers.

Princeton had 12 caused turnovers on the night, getting three each from Colin Mulshine and Michael Bath.

Face-off man Andrew McMeekin set the Princeton single-season ground ball record with 132.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Team Stats

Nate Kabiri

Colin Burns

Tucker Wade

Marquez White

Players Mentioned

Michael Bath

Colin Burns

Nate Kabiri

Coulter Mackesy

Andrew McMeekin

Colin Mulshine

Lukas Stanat

Tucker Wade

Marquez White

Players Mentioned

Michael Bath

Colin Burns

Nate Kabiri

Coulter Mackesy

Andrew McMeekin

Colin Mulshine

Lukas Stanat

Tucker Wade

Marquez White

Princeton University Athletics

Upcoming Events

Recent Results