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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Maryland
Princeton Hosts Maryland In Matchup Of Top Five Teams
February 20, 2025 | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON (1-0; No. 5 Inside Lacrosse/USILA, No. 2 USA Lacrosse Magazine)
vs.
MARYLAND (3-0; No. 2 Inside Lacrosse/USILA, No. 3 USA Lacrosse Magazine)
Saturday, Feb. 22 • noon
Sherrerd Field • Princeton, N.J.
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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 – Behind
Princeton is 0-5 against Maryland since the start of the 2022 season, with three straight regular season losses and losses in the 2022 NCAA semifinals and 2024 NCAA opening round. In the 300 total minutes of those five games, Maryland has had the lead for 282:08 and has never trailed at any point. The combined scores after the five first quarters is Maryland 19, Princeton 6.
C – Coulter
Coulter Mackesy had five goals in the season opener, giving him 128 for his career. He trails only Jesse Hubbard (163), Chris Massey (146) and Mikey MacDonald (132) on Princeton’s career goals scored list. Mackesy also has 191 career points; with nine more he’d become the eighth player in program history to reach 200.
D – Defense
Princeton has played 48 games since the start of the 2022 season, of which five have been against Maryland and 43 have been against all other teams combined. In those other 43 games, Princeton has reached double figures 40 times and been held below 10 goals three times. In the five games against Maryland, Princeton has reached double figures only once (and that was 10 goals in the 2022 regular season) and has been held below 10 goals four times.
E – Every
Colin Mulshine has started every game on defense since early in his freshman season, a total of 43 consecutive starts.
F – For Starters
Princeton opened its season with an 11-10 win over Penn State last Saturday in a game moved inside Holuba Hall in State College. Coulter Mackesy had five goals and Colin Burns had four, including the game-winner in overtime. Princeton’s other two goals came from Jackson Green and Carson Krammer, both of whom scored for the first time in their careers.
G – Goalies
Princeton goalie Ryan Croddick has made one career start and played 92:09 career minutes, with 26 career saves. Maryland goalie Logan McNaney has made 55 career starts and played 3,319:49 career minutes, with 621 career saves. Both goalies were on this past week’s USILA Team of the Week.
H – Honor For Burns
Colin Burns scored four goals in Princeton’s season opening win over Penn State last weekend, including the game-winner in overtime. His performance earned him the Ivy League’s Offensive Player of the Week award. Burns, a sophomore, had 26 goals last year as a freshman, and he now has scored four in each of his two season openers.
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 – J.G.
Shortstick defensive midfielder Jackson Green, known as J.G. to his lacrosse teammates, had a goal (the first of his career) against Penn State last Saturday. He also had a caused turnover in overtime, after Penn State had won the face-off, to set up the game-winning goal.
K – Kabiri
Princeton scored 15 goals in two games last year against Maryland. Nate Kabiri, then a freshman, scored seven of them (four in the regular season, three in the NCAA tournament). Kabiri, whose 32 goals and 57 points last year trail only Michael Sowers among Princeton freshmen all-time, assisted on Colin Burns’ game-winning goal in the opener at Penn State.
L – Leaders
Princeton has two captains for the 2025 season — Michael Bath and Coulter Mackesy.
M – Madalon
The win over Penn State last weekened came in the 100th game as Princeton head coach for Matt Madalon, who has as record now of 63-37 (.630). 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 Madalon. 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).
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 – Powerhouses
Princeton is beginning its season with five non-conference games against teams that are in either the Big Ten or ACC. Of those five teams, four are currently ranked in the top 10 of the Kane media poll: Maryland (2), Duke (7), North Carolina (9) and Penn State (10). Princeton also plays Big Ten member Rutgers in that stretch, which ends with the Ivy League opener March 15 at No. 4 Cornell.
Q – Quite A Debut
Princeton goalie Ryan Croddick was the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week, the USA Lacrosse Magazine Division I Player of the Week and a member of the USILA Team of the Week after his 22-save performance in the 11-10 win at Penn State. Croddick’s 22 saves were the most ever by a Princeton goalie in his first career start, and he became only the fourth Princeton goalie this century to have at least 20 saves in a game (Alex Hewit, Tyler Blaisdell, Michael Gianforcaro twice). Croddick made 13 saves in the second half and even had an assist after a save and long outlet that led to a goal by Jackson Green.
R – Rankings
No matter what poll you like, this game is a top five matchup. Princeton is ranked fifth in the Kane Division I media poll, fifth in the USILA coaches’ poll and second in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll. Maryland is ranked second in the media and coaches’ polls and third in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll.
S – Series History
Maryland leads the all-time series 36-12-1, including the two wins last year. The teams have played against each other nine times in the NCAA tournament, and Princeton leads those games 5-4, including wins in both the 1997 and 1998 finals.
T – Terrapins
Maryland is 3-0 on the season, with wins over Richmond, Loyola and Syracuse. Maryland has not scored more than 12 goals in a game this season and is averaging 10.3 goals per game. All three of Maryland’s opponents have scored exactly seven goals.
U – Underclassmen
Princeton starts 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 – Veterans
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). Of those nine returning starters, Princeton had eight start against Penn State, with Kistler as a longstick midfielder and Jack Stahl on close defense.
W – Wierman
Former Maryland face-off man Luke Wierman played last summer for the Denver Outlaws in the Premier Lacrosse League, which was great news to Princeton fans. Wierman, Maryland’s all-time leader in face-off wins with 881, went 85 for 120 with 57 ground balls in his career against Princeton, including 40 for 49 with 28 ground balls in the two games last year. In his place, Maryland has had Shea Keethler (21 for 31) and Sean Creter (14 for 28) take all but two of its face-offs through three games.
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
Coulter Mackesy and Colin Burns combined to shoot 9 for 14 against Penn State.
