Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Duke
No. 8 Princeton Heads South To Face No. 7 Duke, No. 4 UNC
February 26, 2025 | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON (1-1; No. 8 Inside Lacrosse/USILA/USA Lacrosse Magazine)
vs.
DUKE (4-0; No. 7 Inside Lacrosse, No. 5 USILA/ USA Lacrosse Magazine)
Friday, Feb. 28 • 6 pm
Koskinen Stadium • Durham, N.C.
ACC Network/ACCNX
In-Game Twitter Updates (@tigerlacrosse)
ACCNX
Live Stats
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, its 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 – Burns
Colin Burns leads Division I in shooting percentage at .714 (five goals on seven shots).
C – Caused Turnovers
Michael Bath is third in the Ivy League in caused turnovers (1.5 per game). The senior led the league in caused turnovers per game, and his 26 CTs for the year were second in a season in Princeton history (Chad Wiedmaier had 33 in 2012).
D – Duke
Princeton leads the all-time series with Duke 8-2, including 2-0 in the NCAA tournament (1997 semifinals, 1998 quarterfinals). The Tigers and Blue Devils first played in 1947, when Hall-of-Fame football coach Dick Colman was also the Princeton men's lacrosse coach. Duke won the most recent game, 17-8, a year ago in Durham.
E – Every
Colin Mulshine has started every game on defense since early in his freshman season, a total of 44 consecutive starts.
F – Fewest
Princeton ranks first in the Ivy League and third in Division I in fewest turnovers per game (13.00 per game). Duke ranks first in the ACC and fifth in Division I in caused turnovers per game (11.75).
G – Goalie
Princeton goalie Ryan Croddick leads Division I in saves per game (35 in two games, 17.5 per game). He also has a .605 save percentage, 15th-best in Division I. Croddick has played four career saves prior to this season after spending two years as a backup to Michael Gianforcaro (whom Princeton will face Sunday at North Carolina).
H – Head Coach
Matt Madalon has as record of 63-38 (.627). 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).
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, has a goal and two caused turnovers, one of which was in overtime against Penn State to set up the winning goal, through the first two weeks. Green is a wide receiver on the football team who walked onto the men’s lacrosse team.
K – Kabiri
Nate Kabiri, whose 32 goals and 57 points last year trail only Michael Sowers among Princeton freshmen all-time, had two goals against Maryland, giving him nine in three games against the Terps.
L – Leaders
Princeton has two captains for the 2025 season — Michael Bath and Coulter Mackesy.
M – Mackesy
Coulter Mackesy has eight goals in two games, giving him 131 for his career, one behind Mikey MacDonald for third all-time at Princeton. Ahead of that, Jesse Hubbard holds the school record with 163, followed by Chris Massey with 146; both of them graduated in 1998. Mackesy also has 195 career points; with nine more he’d become the eighth player in program history to reach 200.
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 (6), North Carolina (4) and Penn State (9). Princeton also plays Big Ten member Rutgers (RV) in that stretch, which ends with the Ivy League opener March 15 at No. 3 Cornell.
Q – Quick Start
Princeton’s starting attack of Colin Burns, Nate Kabiri and Coulter Mackesy is averaging 7.5 goals per game through the first two games and has combined to score 15 of Princeton’s 20 goals.
R – Reunions
Princeton will see two of its graduates this weekend. Paul Weathington Jr. is on the Duke roster; Michael Gianforcaro has started every game in goal for North Carolina this season.
S – Southern Swing
Princeton and Penn are traveling to play at Duke and North Carolina for the second straight year. Last year, all four teams went 1-1 for the weekend, with wins by the two Ivy teams on Friday night and wins by the ACC teams Sunday.
T – Tar Heels
Last year’s 15-9 Princeton win notwithstanding, the Princeton-North Carolina series has been dominated by close games. In fact, the teams have played 17 times, and eight of those 17 games have been decided by one goal. Of the remaining eight games, three were decided by two goals, including a 16-14 Princeton win in the 1992 NCAA semifinals, two days before the Tigers won the first of their six NCAA championships, and a 13-11 UNC win at Princeton in 2014. The Princeton-North Carolina series is actually in four separate parts, with two meetings in the 1980s, nine meetings between 1992 and 1999, five more between 2010-14 (all of which UNC won) and now last year and this year. Added together, North Carolina has a 9-8 lead all-time against Princeton.
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 – Vana
Freshman Jake Vana had his first career point with an assist on a Coulter Mackesy goal against Maryland.
W – Welcome Back
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 the first two games, with Kistler as a longstick midfielder and Jack Stahl on close defense.
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
Sean Cameron had two goals against Maryland. He now has 49 career points and 41 career goals.
