Stahl Leads No. 7 Princeton Past No. 6 Syracuse 11-7

Friday, February 27

Princeton, N.J.

4:00 PM

Princeton University

2-1

No. 7 Syracuse

3-2

Syracuse

Princeton

Jack Stahl defends Syracuse's Joey Spallina during Princeton's 11-7 win Friday.

Photo by: Camryn Ley

Stahl Leads No. 7 Princeton Past No. 6 Syracuse 11-7

February 27, 2026 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

The game was over, and now about 15 cameras, microphones and notebooks were pointed at Princeton men's lacrosse defenseman Jack Stahl. This was not his comfort zone. Not by a long shot.

His comfort zone would have been what happened during the 60 minutes of gametime. If everyone was expecting another offensive explosion against Princeton from Syracuse — and especially from No. 22 on Syracuse — well, nobody told Jack Stahl.

One year after watching Syracuse go for 19 goals, and in two career games watching No. 22, Joey Spallina, put up 17 points against the Tigers, Stahl led an incredible defensive effort as No. 7 Princeton defeated No. 6 Syracuse 11-7 in front of 1,616 on Sherrerd Field.

The win came on the opening day of the ACC/Ivy League Challenge, which will see the Tigers host No. 1 North Carolina Sunday at noon. UNC opened its weekend with an 11-9 win at Penn.

Princeton improved to 2-1, with wins over two teams who have been ranked No. 1 this season, Maryland and now Syracuse.

The last meeting between Princeton and Syracuse came in the 2025 NCAA semifinals, when Spallina had eight points in a 19-18 Orange win. Somewhat amazingly, that wasn't Spallina's highest point total in a game against Princeton, as he had nine points against the Tigers in a regular season game in 2023.

This time? Stahl set the tone early with three caused turnovers against Spallina. When it ended, Stahl had shut out Spallina, holding him to no goals or assists and giving the No. 1 player in the Inside Lacrosse preseason rankings his first scoreless game since the end of 2024.

Led by Stahl's blanket on Spallina, Princeton's defense swarmed and swarmed. In fact, after allowing 11 goals in the first 10 minutes of its first two games combined, Princeton shut out Syracuse for the first 24 minutes.

By that time, the Tigers had already scored six of their own. The game became 8-4 when the Orange scored with two seconds left in the half, but any momentum for Syracuse evaporated six seconds into the third quarter, when Nate Kabiri buried a fastbreak goal off a feed from Andrew McMeekin six seconds into the third quarter. The game would never be closer than four the rest of the way.

ANOTHER LOUD TIGER ROAR.

No. 7 @TigerLacrosse raced out to a 6–0 lead and earned its second straight top-10 win, 11–7 over No. 6 Syracuse. The defensive effort was strong as Ryan Croddick made 14 saves and Jack Stahl caused three turnovers. ????

pic.twitter.com/61KYJl0vEe
— Ivy League (@IvyLeague) February 27, 2026

Once again no Tiger player had more than two goals. Kabiri, Parker Reynolds and Tucker Wade all had two, while McMeekin, Peter Buonanno, Chad Palumbo, John Dunphey and Quinn Krammer had one each.

McMeekin went 10 for 19 on face-offs in addition to his goal and assist. Tiger goalie Ryan Croddick made 14 saves.