Princeton University Athletics
No. 2 Princeton Opens Ivy Season At No. 6 Cornell
March 13, 2025 | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON (4-1, 0-0 Ivy League); No. 2 Inside Lacrosse/USILA/USA Lacrosse Magazine)
vs.
CORNELL (4-1, 0-0 Ivy League); No. 6 Inside Lacrosse; No. 7 USILA/USA Lacrosse Magazine)
Saturday, March 15 • noon
Schoellkopf Field • Ithaca, N.Y.
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Probable Princeton starters
Career highs
Career scoring/pronunciations
A – All Even
Princeton and Cornell have played 86 times. They enter the 87th meeting all even at 42-42-2.
B – Back
There were 29 goals scored in last year’s Princeton-Cornell game, a 15-14 Big Red win. All 29 of those goals were scored by players who are still playing this season for the two teams.
C – Close
Matt Madalon has been the head coach for seven games against Cornell. Of those seven games, five were decided by one goal:
2024 Cornell 15, Princeton 14
2023 Cornell 14, Princeton 13 (OT)
2022 Cornell 18, Princeton 15
2021 Cornell 14, Princeton 13
2019 Princeton 14, Cornell 8
2018 Cornell 18, Princeton 17
2017 Princeton 7, Cornell 6
D – Dominant
Including co-winners, there have been 91 Ivy League men’s lacrosse championships awarded in 69 years. Princeton and Cornell have combined for 59 of them. There have been 46 outright championships; Princeton and Cornell have combined for 35 of them.
E – Exciting
The most recent Princeton-Cornell game saw the Big Red get out to an 8-2 lead after 20 minutes, the Tigers go on a 10-0 run in less than 11 minutes to go up 12-8, Cornell answer with four goals in five minutes to tie it 12-12, Princeton go back up 14-12 and Cornell score the final three, including the game-winning goal with 1.6 seconds left by LSM Matt Dooley after a Princeton turnover.
F – Filling It Up
Princeton’s offensive midfielders didn’t have any goals in the opener against Penn State but have had 32 in the last five games.
G – Goalie
Ryan Croddick is the only Division I goalie with at least 22 saves in two different games this season — 22 against Penn State and 24 last week against Rutgers. Croddick, a first-year starter, was the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after both games and was the USA Lacrosse Magazine Division I Player of the Week after the Penn State game. Croddick is one of five Princeton goalie to have at least 20 saves in a game this century — Michael Gianforcaro (also twice), Erik Peters, Tyler Blaisdell, Alex Hewit.
H – Head Coach
Matt Madalon has as record of 66-38 (.635). 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. Princeton opens its Ivy season next week at Cornell.
J – J.G.
Shortstick defensive midfielder Jackson Green, known as J.G. to his lacrosse teammates, has been a monster through the first five games, with three goals, a runout of the final nine seconds to protect the win over Duke, two caused turnovers (one in overtime against Penn State) and six ground balls, as well as an immeasurable impact defensively and in transition. Green is a wide receiver on the football team who walked onto the men’s lacrosse team. You can read more about Green in Matt Kinnear's feature on Inside Lacrosse HERE.
K – Kabiri
Nate Kabiri had three goals against Rutgers after having four in the first four games of the season. Kabiri, a sophomore, is second among active Princeton players in career points with 70 points in 21 career games (all starts).
L – Leaders
Princeton has two captains for the 2025 season — Michael Bath and Coulter Mackesy.
M – Mackesy
Coulter Mackesy has 14 goals in four games, giving him 137 for his career, third best all-time at Princeton. Jesse Hubbard holds the school record with 163, followed by Chris Massey with 146; both of them graduated in 1998. Mackesy is also seventh at Princeton in career points with 204, four behind Mikey MacDonald for sixth.
Career points at Princeton
1. Michael Sowers 302
2. Kevin Lowe 247
3. Ryan Boyle 232
4. Jon Hess 215
5. Jesse Hubbard 211
6. Coulter Mackesy 209
7. Mikey MacDonald 208
N – National Leaders
Princeton is ranked second in Division I (behind Marquette) in extra man offense (.700). Princeton is ranked third in Division I (behind Maryland and Syracuse) in fewest turnovers per game (13.2). Cornell, by the way, ranks second in Division I (behind VMI) in scoring offense (15.8 goals per game). Cornell’s CJ Kirst leads Division I in goals per game (4.6), and Princeton’s Ryan Croddick is second in Division I in saves per game (15.2).
O – Offense
Coulter Mackesy ranks second among active Division I players in both career goals (141) and career points (209), trailing Cornell’s CJ Kirst in both. A year ago Kirst (1 for 11) and Mackesy (1 for 8) were a combined 2 for 19 shooting in the Princeton-Cornell game.
P – Penalty Free
Colin Mulshine has not committed a penalty in 25 straight games (including the entire 2024 season), despite usually guarding the other team’s top attackman. For his career, Mulshine has played in 52 career games, with 47 career starts, and has committed only one penalty (a 30-second hold) in 2023 against Harvard.
Q – Quarterly
Princeton has allowed a combined total of four goals in its last three first quarters after allowing seven in the first two games. In its last three games, Duke scored two first-quarter goals and UNC and Rutgers scored one each.
R – Rankings
Princeton is 4-1. Going by this week’s Kane Inside Lacrosse media poll, Princeton’s loss is to No. 1 Maryland and its wins are against No. 4 Penn State, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 8 Duke and unranked Rutgers. Cornell lost its first game of the season last week in OT against Penn State.
S – Schoellkopf
After Saturday, Princeton will have played more games on Cornell’s Schoellkopf Field (three) than it has on its own Sherrerd Field (two) in its last nine dating to last year. Princeton won the Ivy League tournament on Schoellkopf Field last May.
T – Ten
Junior midfielder Chad Palumbo has a team-best 10 assists through five games this season after having 11 for his first two years combined. There have been four midfielders this century who have led Princeton in assists for a full season — Alexander Vardaro (tied in 2022), Rich Sgalardi (2009), Tom Schreiber (2011, 2012, 2013) and Matt Striebel (2000).
U – Underclassmen
Princeton starts two sophomores on attack (Colin Burns, Nate Kabiri), one sophomore at midfield (Tucker Wade) and one sophomore on defense (Jack Stahl), with three sophomores at shortstick defensive midfield (Cooper Mueller, Jackson Green, Owen Fischer). Princeton also has a sophomore on the second midfield (Carson Krammer) and another defenseman who is getting regular playing time (Hunter Spiess). That’s a total of nine sophomores who make major contributions from a class that was the No. 1 rated incoming class by Inside Lacrosse a year ago.
V – Very Deep
Princeton has been regularly playing six shortstick defensive midfielders (Liam Fairback, Owen Fischer, Jackson Green, Michael Kelly, Quinn Krammer, Cooper Mueller) and eight poles (Michael Bath, Nick Crowley, Finn Fox, Zach Friedman, Cooper Kistler, Colin Mulshine, Hunter Spiess, Jack Stahl)
W – Wade
Tucker Wade had a career-high four goals in last year’s game against Cornell.
X – Face-off X
Cornell’s Jack Cascadden ranks 25th in Division I in face-off winning percentage (.566). Already this season Princeton has gone against FO men ranked No. 3 (Brady Wambach, UNC), No. 4 (Matthew Paolatto, Rutgers), No. 9 (Colby Baldwin, Penn State), No. 11 (Shea Keethler, Maryland ) and No. 12 (Will Lynch, Duke).
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 two years at Georgetown Prep and four years as club teammates.
Z – Zinged
Princeton has been outshot 219-199 for the season, for an average of a four-shot different per game.
