Feature Story: The "Twitchy" John Dunphey

Photo by: Camryn Ley

May 13, 2026 | Men's Lacrosse

Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft.

John Dunphey is in the Caldwell Field House, throwing a lacrosse ball against a white cinderblock wall.

Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft.

He does this over and over and over. The ball goes from his stick to the wall to the floor back to his stick.

Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft.

Dunphey is a senior midfielder on the Princeton men’s lacrosse team. His team is the top seed in the NCAA tournament, readying to play Penn State Sunday at noon at Delaware for a spot in the Final Four.

At this moment, in the field house, it is more than two hours before Princeton’s NCAA opener, which turned into a 17-8 win over Marist. Dunphey was deep into his pregame ritual, ear buds visible in his ear, gameface clearly present — at least until he’s asked a simple question: What are you listening to right now?

Then he takes out the ear buds, pauses throwing the ball against the wall and replaces the scowl on his face with a sheepish grin. In a blink he’s gone from John Dunphey in gameday mode to the John Dunphey that everyone in this locker room knows every day of the week. He holds up his phone to show the display.

“Actually? Nothing.”

Then he laughs. Then he puts the ear buds back in and returns to the wall.

Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft.

By the time he comes back into this building, he will have equaled his previous career total for NCAA tournament points in just that single game against Marist. As with the rest of his team, his focus shifts to the quarterfinal. Would this team still be playing without the impact that Dunphey has had this season? Has any Princeton player ever made a leap like the one that he has during the last 10 games?

His story began in a small town in North Jersey and has continued in a small town in Central Jersey. Both have shaped who he is. Both have had him ready for this final season of his, a season when he’s been needed the most.

“He’s exactly what you hope for in a player and in a teammate,” says Tiger head coach Matt Madalon, who has taken his team to the NCAA tournament for the fifth straight year. “We’d love to have 50 of him. He’s supportive. He’s positive. He’s tough. He’s consistent. He’s laid back but high energy. Fun loving. He’s a guy you absolutely want on your team.”

The Princeton men’s lacrosse season began with a 13-7 loss to Penn State back on Valentines’ Day. John Dunphey started that game on the first midfield line. He took two shots, neither of them a goal, and had one assist — on a goal that made it 9-3 Penn State.

A Princeton offense that was supposed to be among the best in the country fizzled in that opener. By the following weekend at Maryland, major lineup changes had occurred on both sides of the ball. For the defense, that meant moving Cooper Kistler to longstick midfield and Jack Stahl to close defense. Both have thrived since, including a first-team All-American honor by Inside Lacrosse for Stahl.

Offensively, Chad Palumbo had been the IL Preseason Midfielder of the Year. By Game 2, he’d moved to attack, with Peter Buonanno, last year’s unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year, now at midfield. Princeton has scored at least 11 goals in all 15 games since, which is the longest such streak in program history.

The Tigers have won 14 of those games, the only loss to Cornell on March 21. A subsequent Big Red loss to Yale meant Princeton and Cornell would tie for the Ivy League championship; Princeton would then beat the Bulldogs and Big Red in the Ivy League tournament by a combined 31-19 to earn the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Princeton has scored 237 goals this season, which is the most in program history. The 14.88 goals per game the Tigers average are third in Division I and the most by a team that has reached the quarterfinals. All of this offense has come against as difficult a schedule as any team has played.

It’s a unit that includes a Tewaaraton Award finalist (Nate Kabiri), the No. 7 overall pick in the Premier Lacrosse League draft (Palumbo), a third attackman whose has been an Ivy Offensive Player of the Week and USILA Team of the Week selection (Colin Burns), a first-team All-American midfielder according to Inside Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse Magazine (Tucker Wade), a breakout freshman star midfielder (Parker Reynolds) and an all-sophomore group that is second for the Division I lead in goals by a second midfield with 35 (Porter Malkiel, Aiden McDonald, Jake Vana).

Oh, and there’s also John Dunphey. His evolution this season from sixth wheel to a dominant player who was himself an honorable mention All-American from IL has been meteoric, something he’s accomplished essentially in the last 10 games.

“He has had an incredible season and is finally getting the recognition he deserves. It doesn't come as much of a surprise to the guys on the team — we've seen how hard he works day in and day out over the past four years. What's more, his attitude since I've been here has been nothing but positive and supportive,” Wade says. “He is truly a reflection of this team: the selflessness, the willingness to put ego aside in pursuit of something greater.”

The town of Ridgewood sits off of Route 287, on the New Jersey side of the border with New York. When you pull into the town’s throwback center, you’re greeted by a train station that is surrounded on all sides by restaurants of all kinds, shops where you can buy plants or clothes or antiques — or even lacrosse gear. It’s obvious from your first time there that this is a welcoming place.

It was in Ridgewood where John Dunphey grew up, went to school and blossomed into a Division I athlete. So did his two sisters. Molly, the older one, played at Villanova and then Virginia Tech and is now the defensive coordinator for the Hokies. Emme, the younger one, just finished her freshman season at Va Tech.

“Ridgewood is such a special place,” he says. “It means the world to me. I wouldn’t be the person I am or in the place I am without Ridgewood. Everyone there is super dialed into the sports community there. All of my best friends played lacrosse growing up. The town pushes you to be your best. It’s a place that’s shaped me in so many ways.”

Both of his parents, Megan and Paul, were three-sport high school athletes. He grew up playing with and against his sisters in something of a hybrid between the men’s and women’s rules.

“You’d think it was like having two brothers,” he says. “We were extremely competitive. With the different rules, we could never actually tell if we were playing men’s or women’s lacrosse. Someone would inevitably leave in tears. Growing up, that turned into a bond. We’d go to the gym. We’d go to a field. We all held our siblings accountable. This time of being an athlete is pretty finite. We’d say ‘we have to go at this thing with everything we have.’”

At Ridgewood High School he was a three-time first-team all-state selection and a finalist for New Jersey Player of the Year honors as a senior — as a hockey player. He was also a first-team all-state selection in lacrosse, and he caught the eye of the Princeton coaching staff while playing for the NJ Riot club team.

“We loved the athleticism,” says Madalon, who was also a hockey player himself. “He was a hockey guy. He was a quick thinker. We thought he’d be a great asset to the program, ad that’s what’s happened. He does what he did in high school. He’s a jitterbug, a creator. He’s fast. He did all the stuff he does now, only now he’s way better, way more experienced.”

Jitterbug? Creator? Fast? That’s not the word usually associated with Dunphey. It’s more a combination of those three words, all rolled up in one.

“Twitchy,” he says, breaking out in laughter.

What does it mean? Ironically, the actual dictionary definition of the word is this: “nervous, worried, and ill-at-ease.” That’s not how anyone means it in relation to Dunphey. If anything, the point of being a middie in lacrosse is to get the guy who is guarding you to be twitchy.

“It pushes me to want to beat defenders,” he says. “That’s my role. As a quicker guy, it pushes me to beat defenders, win my matchup, draw slides.”

If you sit in the coaches’ locker room, you’ll often hear the words “twitchy” and “Dunphey” used together in a sentence. Palumbo, on the other hand, is known more for his ability to slow the game down to his speed, which isn’t quite on Dunphey’s level. In true Dunphey team-first fashion, he wants to shift the attention away from himself.

“You know,” Dunphey says, “Chad is a lot twitchier than you think he is.”

Dunphey came to Princeton in the fall of 2022 with no idea of what to expect his impact to be on the field. He did have a sense of a few other things.

“I saw on my visit the bond that the guys on the team had with each other,” he says. “There’s no other place like this in the country. I knew as soon as I got here that this was the place I wanted to be. It’s the best school in the country. It’s the best place on earth.”

And?

“Princeton does replicate Ridgewood a lot in terms of community,” he says. “There’s such a strong sense of it here. I’ve played with, what, 80 guys in four years? I could call any single one of those 80 guys anytime, and they’d be right there. They’re all my best friends. They’re the people I feel most connected with. Princeton will forever hold a special place in my heart.”

Princeton was coming off its 2022 Final Four appearance when Dunphey and the current seniors arrived. Program expectations were as high as they’d been in two decades. Playing time for the newcomers was scarce — even those who are now All-Americans. Goalie Ryan Croddick played 4:45 all season. Palumbo played in just five games. Princeton played 15 games that season, and only two freshmen (longstick midfielder Cooper Kistler and face-off man Andrew McMeekin) played in at least 10.

“It was a little nerve-wracking,” Dunphey says. “It was hard not being one of the better guys out there. I definitely struggled. The ball moved so fast. I had to keep reminding myself that I was here now, that I couldn’t shy away from anything. And the older guys bring you along, like we bring along the younger guys along now.”

Princeton won the Ivy League tournament championship in 2023 and made it back to the NCAA tournament. Dunphey played in nine games that season, finishing with five goals and three assists, including one goal in the NCAA loss to Penn State. He bounced back and forth between the first and second midfield lines as a sophomore, finishing with 12 goals and six assists as the Tigers won a second-straight Ivy tournament championship and reached the NCAA tournament again, falling to Maryland 16-8 in a game where he had an assist. A year ago he finished with six goals and six assists, including two goals and an assist in a win at Duke and a two-goal NCAA tournament total of a goal and assist.

The goal came in the epic 19-18 loss to Syracuse in the quarterfinals in what was the best college lacrosse game of 2025. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it was also the most excruciating, having come so close to another Final Four trip.

“That game was insane,” Dunphey says. “From a viewer’s perspective, it was one of the greatest games you could ever watch. As a player, the emotional roller-coaster was crazy. The takeaway is that one little play here or there and it can get away from you and suddenly you lose 19-18 instead of win 19-18. It shows you how important every little thing is. Maybe you missed a groundball or took a bad shot in the second quarter and didn’t think about it in the moment. You can’t take anything for granted. This time is so sacred and so special. It’s fleeting. How can you make the most of every day? Like I said, maybe you don’t think about it in the moment you didn’t get that groundball. This year, we can’t let that happen.”

His role this season figured to be somewhat similar to what it had been, which is to say a middie who could play on the first or second line and could complement the enormous offensive talent around him. That’s certainly how the first six games went. He brought 23 career goals and 15 career assists into the season, and through six games this season, he had added four more goals and three more assists. His career numbers sat at 27 goals and 18 assists for 45 points, in 42 games. He had a career shooting percentage of .243 to that point.

Those are good, solid numbers, but they are also complementary numbers. You clearly can win with a middie who puts up numbers like that on an offense as good as Princeton’s is. Through those six games, Princeton was 5-1, having followed the Penn State loss with wins over Maryland, Syracuse, North Carolina, Rutgers and Yale. Three of those teams made the NCAA tournament. Two of them (Syracuse and UNC) play each other in their own quarterfinal matchup Saturday.

And then everything changed for Dunphey. He had been held without a goal or assist in the 11-10 Ivy opening win at Yale, and now Princeton was looking ahead to a matchup against its nemesis, Cornell, a team the Tigers hadn’t beaten since 2018. During the week before the game, Buonanno, the team’s best dodger who had just been added to the Tewaaraton Watchlist, went down with a leg injury. Dunphey, who had been on the second midfield unit the previous two games, was back with Wade and Reynolds as the first line.

Though Princeton lost that game to Cornell 13-11, Dunphey scored twice, on two shots. The following week he scored five more, on five shots, with three assists in a 20-14 win at Brown, earning a spot on the USILA Team of the Week. That win started Princeton’s current winning streak, which has now stretched to nine straight with the win over Marist.

Dunphey’s totals in that run? He has 15 goals and 14 assists, for 29 points. That’s an average of 3.2 per game, or triple his career average prior to that. Incredibly, he has scored those 15 goals on just 24 shots, which is a .625 shooting percentage. That’s an insane number.

For the season as a whole, he has a .475 shooting percentage, which would rank sixth in Division I if he’d met the minimum 3.0 shots per game to be ranked (he has 2.5 per game). Should he get another goal and three more assists, he would join Tom Schreiber, Zach Currier and Alexander Vardaro as the only Princeton midfielders to have at least 20 of each in a season this century. He had a goal and three assists against Marist, equaling his previous career NCAA numbers.

“He’s been in his role forever,” Madalon says. “Top six. Top nine. He’s a great teammate and a great asset to any line, with his scoring, passing, initiating, Pick setting. We always talk about a culture of extras in the program. Nobody has lived that more than John Dunphey. Nobody puts in more extra time before and after practice than he does. Nobody does whatever he can to make the program better without worrying about himself than he does.”

It would be too easy to draw a line from Buonanno’s injury to Dunphey’s impact to Princeton’s success, and that’s something that he is hesitant to do. Still, without one of the best players in the country for all but one shift of those nine games, would Princeton still be the top seed without the leap that Dunphey has made? It helps considerably that Dunphey is, well, twitchy, like Buonanno. It also helps that he’s lefthanded, like Buonanno.

“It’s not something I’ve thought about,” Dunphey says. “The whole year has been about, and I talk to my dad about this all the time, it’s about how good we can get. Pete is an absolute stud. If he’d been there all year, we’re even better.”

John Dunphey looks up from behind a huge rib-eye and flashes a smile and a thumbs up. He’s wearing a gray “Princeton Lacrosse” pullover. In this moment, he is not “twitchy” in the least, either with the actual definition or the one that his team has adopted for him.

The occasion is the team’s senior thesis dinner, an annual event begun by Bryce Chase, a 1963 grad and longtime volunteer assistant coach and mentor for the players who have come through. The tradition calls for each senior to talk about his thesis topic and a give a fun fact about it. Afterwards, Chase will then say something about each senior and toss him a silver dollar. Also, there is steak. Lots and lots of steak. When he came to Dunphey, Chase came up with a nickname on the spot — he called him ‘Fast Twitch.’”

“I didn’t know what to expect from the dinner,” Dunphey says. “To hear Bryce Chase talk about his thesis and talk about every senior in the class and what he’s meant to the program? Brycie has been around the team for what, 65 years or so? The fact that he does this for every senior class is a testament to what Princeton Lacrosse is. That dinner was special.”

Another dynamic of the dinner is the blink of an eye in which the seniors have seen their four years sail by.

“It’s crazy how time truly flies,” Dunphey says. “We were talking outside before the dinner about how little time we have left together. I remember moving in freshman year not really knowing anyone, and now they’re my best friends. Finishing a thesis is a testament to this place. We all struggled with six-page writing seminar papers as freshmen. Now we’re writing 100-page papers.”

His mark will continue to be felt beyond graduation. Just as he was brought along by the players who were in the lockerroom when he first arrived, so too has he set the example for those who will still be there a year from now.

“He is truly a reflection of this team: the selflessness, the willingness to put ego aside in pursuit of something greater,” Wade says. “Every time you walk into the locker room, he is smiling. He is one of the most uplifting people I know, always in your corner. He is one of the many special players I've been lucky enough to share the field with, and I'm grateful for every moment of it. He is a microcosm of why this team has been successful this year.”

In addition to the silver dollars, each senior left the thesis dinner with a different gift, a wooden stick, a tribute to the sport’s origins and history. The seniors, all 13 of them, headed back out into the Princeton evening, all schoolwork done, graduation in the distance, an undetermined among of lacrosse left for them to play though, as is yelled when the game clock is winding down, it is clearly “short time” no matter what the final chapter of this season will be.

Where did they go at that moment? Nowhere special, probably. Who knows? Would it really be shocking if John Dunphey had taken his wooden stick and found a lacrosse ball and a wall? It’s how you do all he’s ever wanted for himself and for his team. It’s how you get better.

Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft. Thuh-Wump. Pfft.

— by Jerry Price