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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Penn State
No. 5 Princeton Opens Season at No. 10 Penn State
February 13, 2025 | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON (0-0; No. 5 Inside Lacrosse, No. 3 USA Lacrosse Magazine)
vs.
PENN STATE (2-0; No. 10 Inside Lacrosse, No. 9 USA Lacrosse Magazine)
Saturday, Feb. 15 • 1 pm
Panzer Stadium • State College, Pa.
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Probable Princeton starters
Career highs
Career scoring/pronunciations
A – About
The 2025 Princeton men’s lacrosse team returns all three starters on attack, all three members of its first offensive midfield, three of its next four offensive midfielders, all three starters on close defense, it’s top face-off man, one of its two top longstick midfielders and four of its top six shortstick defensive midfielders. Princeton did graduate its starting goalie. Princeton went 11-5 a year ago, won its second straight Ivy League tournament and reached the NCAA tournament for the third straight season.
B – Bath
Defenseman Michael Bath led the Ivy League in caused turnovers per game a year ago (1.56). Bath had 26 caused turnovers, second-best in a single-season at Princeton, behind only Chad Wiedmaier (33 in 2012).
C – Coulter
Coulter Mackesy begins his senior year with 123 goals, which leaves him in fifth place all-time at Princeton, behind Jesse Hubbard (163), Chris Massey (146), Mikey MacDonald (132) and Sean Hartofilis (126). Mackesy trails Hubbard by 40 goals and had 40 goals a year ago, and 55 (school single-season record) the year before that.
D – Defense
Princeton led the Ivy League in scoring defense (10.44 per game). It was the first time since 2012 that Princeton was ranked No. 1 in the league in scoring defense.
E – Early
Penn State’s first game was a Feb. 1 win over Colgate (14-9). Feb. 1 is also the first day that Ivy League schools can formally start to practice.
F – February
Princeton has three games in February: at Penn State, home against Maryland and then at Duke. March starts with a game at North Carolina. The current rankings in the KANE Men's Division I Media Poll have Princeton at No. 5, with Maryand 6, Duke 8, Penn State 10 and UNC 11.
G – Goalie
Junior Ryan Croddick will be the Princeton starter this year, ahead of sophomore Colin Vickrey and freshman Carter Johnson. Croddick has played career 29:05 minutes as a backup to Michael Gianforcaro (1,676:33 minutes the last two years).
H – Honors
Princeton had four preseason All-Americans according to Inside Lacrosse: attackman Coulter Mackesy (first-team), defenseman Colin Mulshine (third-team) and face-off man Andrew McMeekin and attackman Nate Kabiri (honorable mention). Penn State had three IL preseason All-Americans: goalie Jack Fracyon (second team), defenseman Alex Ross (third team) and attackman Matt Traynor (HM). Princeton also had three Tewaaraton Watchlist selections: Kabiri, Mackesy, Mulshine.
I – Ivy League
Princeton was picked to finish second in the Ivy League’s preseason media poll, behind Cornell and ahead of, in order, Yale, Penn, Harvard, Brown and Dartmouth. The Ivy League has five teams ranked in the top 17 of the KANE Men's Division I Media Poll this week: No. 3 Cornell, No. 5 Princeton, No. 9 Yale, No. 13 Penn, No. 17 Harvard.
J – Jack
Penn State goalie Jack Fracyon was named the Big Ten Specialist of the Week after his 10-save performance in a 15-5 win over Villanova. It was the fourth time in his career that Fracyon has won the honor. Fracyon has 519 career saves; Princeton’s likely starter Ryan Croddick has four.
K – Kabiri
Nate Kabiri had the second highest total of goals (32) and points (57) ever for a Princeton freshman last year, trailing only Michael Sowers in both categories.
L – Leaders
Princeton has two captains for the 2025 season — Michael Bath and Coulter Mackesy.
M – Meeks
Andrew McMeekin won 199 of 361 face-offs in 2024, with a school record 132 ground balls as well. He also scored eight goals and had two assists, and not one of his 15 shots on the season was saved (eight goals, seven went wide). McMeekin was the Most Outstanding Player of the Ivy League tournament last spring after being selected to the All-tournament team as a freshman in 2023 as well. McMeekin won 18 of 28 face-offs with 11 ground balls in the NCAA game at Penn State his freshman year.
N – Next Generation
Princeton has four players whose fathers competed at Princeton, three of whom played lacrosse. Freshman Kevin Morrow is the son of David Morrow, the 1993 Division I Player of the Year. Freshman Porter Malkiel is the son of Jon Malkiel, a member of the 1992 and 1994 NCAA championship teams. Senior Billy Barnds is the second of Tom Barnds, who captained Princeton’s first NCAA tournament team in 1990. Sophomore Cooper Mueller is the son of Kit Mueller, the 1990 and 1991 Ivy League men’s basketball Player of the Year.
O – Offense
Princeton scored 211 goals last year. Of those 211, a total of 189 (89.6 percent) were scored by players who return. Princeton’s top seven scorers from last year (Coulter Mackesy, Nate Kabiri, Chad Palumbo, Colin Burns, Tucker Wade, Sean Cameron, John Dunphey) accounted for 171 goals and all return for this season.
P – Palumbo
Chad Palumbo went from two goals as a freshman to 26G, 11A a year ago as a sophomore. No other Princeton sophomore who had two or fewer goals as a freshman has ever had more goals as a sophomore than Palumbo did a year ago, when he earned second-team All-Ivy honors and Ivy League All-tournament team honors.
Q – Quick Start
Penn State has played twice, defeating Colgate 14-9 and Villanova 15-5. Through two games, Matt Traynor leads the Big 10 and is 10th in Division I with 6.50 points per game, while the Nittany Lions ranks seventh in Division I in shooting percentage at .367 (29 for 79).
R – Returnees
Princeton returns nine starters from last year’s 11-5 team. All three starters are back on attack (Colin Burns, Nate Kabiri, Coulter Mackesy), first offensive midfield (Chad Palumbo, Sean Cameron, Tucker Wade) and defense (Michael Bath, Cooper Kistler, Colin Mulshine), while the only graduated starter is goalie Michael Gianforcaro (now a grad student at North Carolina).
S – Series History
Princeton and Penn State have played four times, most recently in State College in the 2023 NCAA tournament opening round, a game the Nittany Lions rallied from six goals back to win 13-12. The other three meetings were all early season games in the 1990s, won by Princeton 9-7 in 1991 (at Loyola), 18-6 Princeton in a 1997 game that was moved inside Holuba Hall due to the weather and 13-5 at Princeton in the rain in 1998.
T – Tierney
In the last 55 years, only Bill Tierney (238-86, .735) has won more games and had a higher winning percentage as Princeton head men’s lacrosse coach than Matt Madalon (62-37, .629). In fact, you have to go back to Dick Colman (also a Hall of Fame football coach) from 1946-49 to find a coach who has a higher winning percentage than Madalon (minimum two years as head coach).
U – Underclassmen
Princeton will start two sophomores on attack (Colin Burns, Nate Kabiri), one sophomore at midfield (Tucker Wade), one sophomore on defense (Jack Stahl) and two sophomores at shortstick defensive midfield (Cooper Mueller, Jackson Green). Princeton’s current sophomore class was the No. 1 rating incoming class by Inside Lacrosse a year ago.
V – Villanova
Penn State defeated Villanova 15-5 this past Sunday to improve to 2-0 on the season. Princeton scrimmaged Villanova one week earlier, with no official score kept. Princeton scrimmaged at UMBC this past Saturday.
W – Wade
Tucker Wade had 17 goals as a freshman in 2024: none in the first five and 17 in the last 11. He’d finish with seven multi-goal games a year ago.
X – Face-off X
Princeton won more face-offs than it lost for a full season last year (232 for 437), marking the first time since 2012 that the Tigers did so.
Y – Year 6
Colin Burns and Nate Kabiri are in their sixth year playing together on attack. They’re now in Year 2 at Princeton after playing together for four years at Georgetown Prep.
Z – Zinged
Penn State defeated Princeton 13-12 at Panzer Stadium in the opening round of the 2023 NCAA tournament. Of Princeton’s 12 goals that night, there were eight scored by players who are still on the team — Coulter Mackesy had six (tying Princeton’s NCAA tournament single game record), while Sean Cameron and John Dunphey had one each. Current Penn State senior Ethan Long had a team-best five goals in the game.
