Princeton University Athletics
McKnight Pederson Feature Story: The Heart And Soul
May 09, 2025 | Men's Lacrosse
He is the heartbeat of the team. His energy is relentless, no matter what kind of day he is having or what the circumstances are. — Billy Barnds
*
The heart and soul of the Princeton men’s lacrosse team is a six-foot, five-inch, 205-pound blend of tenacity, ferocity and athleticism. At times he looks more sculpted than flesh and bone, or maybe an AI version of Michelangelo’s David brought to life.
This is not one of those times, though. He is sitting in a locker room, head in his hands, listening intently to the final words his coaches offer before the team takes the field for warmups. This time, he is clearly flesh and bone, as the brace he wears on his right knee and the scars from when it was surgically rebuilt attest. His teammates wear their black jerseys with “Princeton” across the front. He wears a different black, a t-shirt.
He shares a locker room with 50 teammates in all, most of whom will go through their four years with a nick here and a bruise there and nothing much else. They will not know the feeling that he has at this moment, that, as much as he craves the chance to make the impact on the field that he knows he could, his contribution will have to come from the sideline.
That is his reality. And while his flesh and bone might be compromised once again, his spirit refuses to feel that same effect. And that’s why, the millisecond after the last coach has spoken, a solitary voice echoes throughout the room:
“OH. YEAH. BLACK.”
Once again, McKnight Pederson has shown that he is, indeed, this team’s heart and soul.
McKnight has been the heartbeat of our team not just this year but for the past four years. His attitude is contagious, and he’s consistently making everyone around him a better person. Seeing him go down with an injury this fall was heartbreaking, just knowing how badly he wanted to make an impact for our team this year, so it’s been really inspiring to see how he continues to bring relentless energy every single day regardless of whether or not he’s suited up for practice. — Michael Kelly
*
SpongeBob? The guy who lives in a pineapple under the sea? What does he have to do with the Princeton men’s lacrosse team? We’ll get back to him in a minute.
McKnight Pederson is a few minutes late, but no matter. He’s still smiling as he walks over to the grassy area outside of Caldwell Field House and sits down on a bench. He’s smiling as he apologizes. He’s smiling as he talks about hardships. He’s smiling as he talks about his team and his teammates, his “boys,” as he calls them.
To a man they all know what his favorite saying is: “IT’S A GREAT DAY TO HAVE A DAY,” which they’ve all heard in that voice of his, the one that seems to reach above all of them and then crash back into their psyches. “IT’S A GREAT DAY TO HAVE A DAY.” It edges out “OH YEAH” and then whatever color Princeton is wearing that day, another intonation from Pederson that acts as a collective team battery, one that ratchets up the collective energy level.
“I think I overheard one of the seniors when I was a freshman say something like that,” he says. “It’s a great day to have a day. I thought about that more and more, and it just fits so well. It doesn’t matter what kind of day it is. It can be 30 and freezing or 70 and sunny. Why not today to have a great day?”
Is he always smiling? Is he always upbeat? Well, almost. There was that one time, though, this past Sept. 23, at the second practice of the fall for the Princeton men’s lacrosse team. This was to be Pederson’s one year to be fully healthy, fully ready to go, able to make four years’ worth of contributions on the Tiger defense in one senior season.
This was after the ankle injury his freshman year. And the subluxed shoulder sophomore year. Those two seasons were basically wiped out. As a junior he managed to be as healthy as he’s been, but he was so far behind in terms of game experience and team depth that his main contributions came on the man-down unit.
Princeton played 47 games between his first three seasons. He was able to get into 11 of them. His stat line is four caused turnovers, no ground balls, no shots, no goals, no assists, no penalties. During those three years, Princeton played in three NCAA tournaments, reaching the Final Four in one of them. There were also two Ivy League tournament championships.
Now, as a senior, he was ready to take his place on a team that was ranked in the preseason top five and has never been any lower since. After a 12-3 season, Princeton will be the No. 3 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament, which begins Saturday at 2:30 at home against Towson.
That’s all been this spring. Back on Sept. 23? Down he went.
“At first, I thought ‘wow, that hurt,’” Pederson says. “As I was lying there on the field, it was all happening so fast. I was saying to Catherine [Miller, the athletic trainer] to just get me off the field. I wanted to get up and walk off. I thought if I stayed there on the field that I’d break down and cry, and I couldn’t let the boys see me down. Instead, I broke down in front of Catherine. Being in the locker room like that, hurt like that, that’s our family room.”
The ever-optimistic Pederson thought it wasn’t too bad, maybe a meniscus tear at worst. He didn’t hear the usual ACL pop — but his teammate Jackson Kane did. He held out hope until an MRI confirmed it. His ACL was torn. He had surgery Oct. 1. His hopes of making an on-field impact were gone.
There is no Princeton player whose heart didn’t sink at the news. Or coach. Or staff member.
McKnight’s infectious spirit fills the team with energy every day, and his optimism is contagious. If there is anyone to talk to if you need a mood-boost, McKnight is your guy. Ever since I met McKnight, I always knew he was a guy I wanted in my corner. He will always lend an ear and open his mind to anyone, as one of his best qualities is his empathy. He is the best teammate, the best friend, and an outstanding leader. I’d run through a wall for McKnight, but I know he’d be running next to me. – Liam Fairback
*
The Pederson family of Park City, Utah, is certainly an athletic one. Chip Pederson played football at Michigan, and his wife Kathy was a swimmer at rival Michigan State. It was to Chip that McKnight made the first call after getting his MRI results.
The oldest of their three children is Beau, the Princeton alum who was an All-American shortstick defensive midfielder for the Tigers. Beau then spent a year as a grad student at Michigan before joining the Archers of the Premier Lacrosse League, winning a championship a year ago as a rookie.
Beau is even more physically imposing that McKnight. He is a beast on the field, and the way he plays conjures up thoughts of how McKnight could have done the same. Lauren Pederson is McKnight’s twin sister. Like McKnight she has dealt with injuries during her time on the Virginia women’s team. She holds the family record, if such a thing exists, for ACL tears with three.
“Utah, born and raised,” McKnight says. “it’s not exactly a lacrosse hotspot. You have to play with a chip on your shoulder. Beau is in the pros and he still does. His attitude is ‘I dare you to underestimate me.’”
In typical big brother/little brother fashion, it was Beau who drew McKnight into sports and impressed on him the ways to get better. Beau taught his younger brother about motivation and work ethic. And then?
“And then it was on,” McKnight says. “There was a lot of competition between us, and with our sister. It’s always the best when the little brother beats the older brother. We were always trying to be better than each other, but at the same time, we were each other’s No. 1 fan.”
That still holds. It hasn’t been easy for Beau to see his brother unable to play. He knows better than anyone what kind of impact he could have made.
“As a player there are a few things that make him elite,” Beau says of his brother. “First is his communication and knowledge of the game. He’s one of those guys that just sees it and is super vocal. He is kind of like a QB for the defense. Second is his length. He’s 6 foot 5 with super long arms. McKnight can get beat by a step or 2 and still be in your gloves. Third and most important is his energy. This leads directly into how he contributes without ever touching the field. For McKnight, the most important thing is winning — and having fun, love you mom. He will do whatever it takes to win and will do his role to the very best. This year he knows the way he can have the most positive impact on the team is by bringing a ton of energy. He’s fully bought into that role and has been since his freshman year.”
Outside of getting the team fired up every day, literally every day, one thing I appreciate about McKnight is that every game day he’s the one getting the sideline fired up. My older brother came to a few games this year and after the first one he asked me, ‘who is that guy in the backwards hat; he is absolutely crazy.’ That guy is McKnight. We all wear the Catapults during the game that essentially track our energy output or strain during the game, and McKnight’s was always towards the top, up there with Coulter [Mackesy] and [Nate] Kabiri as the highest strained player loads. That goes to show you how much energy he brings the sideline. " – Michael Bath
*
So what does SpongeBob have to do with McKnight Pederson? Let him tell it.
“I watched a lot of SpongeBob growing up,” he says. “And SpongeBob always attacks the day with unreal enthusiasm, no matter what. How can you not? Sometimes I’m not feeling it, but I have to ask myself ‘how am I going to get this happy Tuesday off and running.’ The boys love it.”
Even as a freshman, Pederson showed this side. Even with five captains on that Final Four team, it was often McKnight Pederson who was front and center, leading the team through its stretching, howling out his words of encouragement.
This could be any random practice. It could be freezing out in early February. It could be the first practice after a tough loss. It never matters. For him to step up as a freshman, one from Utah no less, was wildly impressive. And respect-earning.
“I was so bad with names,” he says. “It took me a week to get everyone’s names down. Everyone who was on the team already were so welcoming. There were all these faces I didn’t know. I was learning the ways of how we operated away from the field and the games. It was amazing how accepted I felt.”
McKnight has been one of my best friends since even before college. He’s easygoing and fun to be around, and he just radiates positivity. The first time I met McKnight was over our gap year together. He, Liam Fairback, and I took a year between high school and college due to Covid and moved in with the upperclassmen in Austin Texas. We were the only three young guys there and Liam and I had known each other for years at this point. A lot of people could have felt like the odd man out, but not McKnight. Day 1 the three of us immediately went to bass pro shops to look at fishing stuff. Then we went to Home Depot to get wood and got back to the house to build a table. Even this first day McKnight endeared himself to me and Liam with his warm personality and humor, making it feel like we’d all known each other a very long time. It’s fair to say I liked McKnight from the start. — Koby Ginder
*
When the team takes a lap around the field to loosen up, it’s Pederson’s voice that you hear loudest, clearest, with his signature “HAPPY MONDAY” or “HAPPY TUESDAY” or whatever day of the week it is. And he never stops, not when his “boys” are on the field or in the lockerroom or wherever they are.
Gamedays, though, are something different. Even with his knee brace, he is still out in front during pregame stretching — whooping, hollering, exulting. For the entire 60 minutes, or longer if it goes to overtime, he is pacing, up and down the sideline, arms raised in celebration at goals, encouragement flowing at goals allowed — “Let’s get the next one” or “Everybody up.” The score never matters. His energy level never wavers.
“It’s a testament to my family,” he says. “They really prepared me to always be doing the right thing, even when you think you can’t. I do this because I love my teammates and I love the game. People forget that lacrosse is a game. You’re doing it because you love the game you’ve grown up playing. Even without playing time, I always want to contribute. Someone has to keep the boys on the bench going. Why not me? It’s so easy to be negative. What’s stopping me from being positive?”
McKnight has been the energy of the team all year long. My favorite highlight of McKnight is his bench energy, which I argue is equally as impactful on game day as anything. He keeps everyone engaged and up, even when the opponent goes on runs. Most importantly, he’s back practicing, and that shows his dedication to getting back healthy. – Sean Cameron
*
It’s an interesting juxtaposition to see McKnight Pederson smile while hearing him talk about the one time he allowed himself to be down. It was after the surgery, when the reality of what had happened really sunk in for him.
“I definitely vented a bit to my roommates,” he says. “This was my one year, when I knew I’d be a regular high-minutes guy. I felt great in the off-season. Right after the surgery I was really feeling it. I was definitely down in the dumps.”
Then he started physical therapy, and the road back to at least giving him a chance to get back on the field began. He still clings to the idea that maybe, just maybe, he’ll be able to put on his No. 8 jersey and actually play.
“My dad sat me down after I’d cried to him about it,” he says. “He said that I could either look at it like life is not fair or make it all about self-worth. Why me? But also why not me? How is this going to stop me? Am I going to roll over and be a zero factor? I was 100 percent down when I wasn’t around the boys, but I wanted everyone to see me work as hard as I could to get back.”
The season that he has watched from the sideline has been a great one to this point for the Tigers. The ups have been many, with wins over NCAA tournament teams Penn State, Duke, North Carolina and Harvard twice. The downs have not been frequent, with two losses to No. 1 Cornell and one to No. 2 Maryland.
Through all of it, there he’s been, in the role that not many would have embraced as he has and even fewer would have pulled off like he has. There is zero chance that Pederson has not influenced what has happened on the field, and everyone knows it.
The journey at Princeton is hard, with the work, the practices, the lack of sleep, but McKnight makes you forget about all that. He is simply the backbone of this team. Without him I don’t know where we would be right now. — Coulter Mackesy
*
There is no bigger gameday honor in Princeton lacrosse than the “game sheet.” It’s awarded after wins only, and it is given to the person who made the biggest impact on that particular game.
The process unfolds in the Caldwell locker room, whether it’s after a home game or a bus ride back from a road game. Head coach Matt Madalon will first go through those who deserve a “shout out,” and as that list goes on, it usually becomes pretty clear who that day’s winner will be.
Princeton ended the regular season with an 18-7 win over Yale on Sherrerd Field. When the team gathered in Caldwell, Madalon started to go through the contenders.
There was Peter Buonanno, who had a “four-pack” of goals. Colin Burns had a goal and five assists. Ryan Croddick made 19 saves. Madalon went through a few other names as well.
With each name crossed off the list, the room began to have that quizzical feeling. Who was going to be the one to get the game sheet?
“I was wondering where he was going with this,” Pederson says.
At that point, Madalon got to the point. Game sheet to McKnight Pederson.
There is always an eruption when the game sheet winner is announced. There is banging on lockers and doors. There is yelling.
None of the other games compared to this one. McKnight Pederson, who had done so much for this team without stepping between the lines, was being recognized by “the boys” — and rightfully so. It was a moment right out of a sports movie.
“I almost started crying,” he says. “It’s really a hats off to the coaching staff and how they recognize that I’m still trying to give 100 percent effort at all times. I might not be on the field, but I was extremely proud to be recognized. Selfishly, it felt good. What I did was appreciated. It made me want to go ever louder for the next time.”
Nobody brings more energy day in and day out than Knighter. It’s really impressive how he seemed to bring it even more this year despite his injury. I think his getting the game sheet against Yale was a highlight of the season for all of us because we know how much he means to the team and deserves to be recognized. He’s an amazing friend and loves Princeton lacrosse more than anything. — Colin Mulshine
*
Pederson will graduate and then follow the path his brother took when he goes to grad school at Michigan next year. He’ll hope to stay healthy and make an impact on the field for the Wolverines.
Before that, he’ll spend the summer working at a ranching job in Wyoming. That’ll definitely keep him in shape.
“Playing again is my way of making sure the tank isn’t empty,” he says. “It’s relieving that chip that’s on my shoulder. I know I can play at this level. I want to show everyone else. This is who I am. I want to play the game as long as I can.
His legacy at Princeton is cemented, of course. To those who were his teammates or coaches — or to those who got to see how he brought everything he could every single day — they will forever know that for four years, nobody gave more to this team than he did. There was nobody to whom it was more important. There was nobody they would have wanted more to be in their locker room than McKnight Pederson.
He is the team’s spirit. He is the team’s voice. He is the team’s energy. And they all know, to a man, one other thing:
He is their heart and soul.
— by Jerry Price