No. 3 Princeton Falls To No. 10 Cornell 13-11

Saturday, March 21

Princeton, N.J.

12:00 PM

Princeton University

Cornell

Photo by: Camryn Ley

March 21, 2026 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Like a pitcher who could get a big strikeout when he had to, Cornell goalie Matthew Tully was dialed in when he needed to be the most.

Tully made 15 saves, several of them huge stops in huge moments, to strike out No. 3 Princeton 13-11 and end the Tigers' five-game winning streak. Tully — plus some very, very timely goals — made all the difference as the Big Red won the early Ivy League showdown in front of 2,188 at Sherrerd Field.

Princeton never could quite get even after Cornell took the lead at 3-2 early in the first quarter as the Tigers spent the entire rest of the game pushing the rock up the hill. Just when it seemed like the momentum was going the way of the Orange and Black, something huge happened to slam the door.

The biggest moment came at the end of the first half, when an 8-4 Cornell lead had been cut in half and the Tigers found themselves with the ball in the final seconds. Instead of cutting it one, a Princeton turnover allowed Cornell's Ryan Goldstein to build it to 9-6 just a split second ahead of the buzzer.

Or was it at the end of the third quarter, when Princeton scored twice in 28 seconds with less than a minute to go to make turn a 12-8 game into a 12-10 one. Andrew McMeekin won the face-off and ripped a shot with one second left, only to have Tully stone him.

Or maybe it was in the fourth quarter, when, down 12-10 still but with less than four minutes to go, Tully robbed Nate Kabiri and then trigged the ball down the field, where it was briefly loose at the midline. Out of that scramble came Cornell with the ball, which led to a one-on-none opportunity for Goldstein, who cashed it in with 3:31 to play.

Those moments were all huge in what figured to be, and was, a close game.

Princeton was led by four-point games from Tucker Wade (3G, 1A), Nate Kabiri (1G, 3A) and Chad Palumbo (2G, 2A). The four points moved Palumbo past 100 career points, making him the 99^th player in program history to reach that milestone. Colin Burns had two goals, leaving him with 99 career points.

Jack Stahl was once again huge on defense for Princeton. Goldstein, another All-American whom Stahl guarded, finished with three goals and an assist, but two of those goals came on the two broken plays. Stahl finished with five caused turnovers, one off the school single-game record.

Princeton will be at Brown this coming Saturday at noon.