Princeton University Athletics
NCAA Championship Year In Review Part 2: A To Z
July 13, 2026 | Men's Lacrosse
A – About The Season
Princeton went 17-2, winning the NCAA championship and the Ivy League tournament championship and tying for the Ivy League championship. Princeton won its final 12 games of the season and finished as a unanimous No. 1 in all three major polls.
B – Burns
Colin Burns had four goals against Duke in the semifinals and three against Notre Dame in the final, joining Scott Reinhardt (1994), Chris Massey (1997), Jesse Hubbard (1998) and B.J. Prager (2001) as the only Princeton players ever to have at least three goals in two Final Four games in one season. Burns finished 2026 with 37G, 29A and has now improved by at least 10 points in each of his first three seasons.
C – Chad
Chad Palumbo had four goals in the NCAA championship game, giving him three career NCAA games with at least four goals. The only other Princeton players who have ever done so are Justin Tortolani, Jesse Hubbard, Chris Massey and Sean Hartofilis. Palumbo finished the season with a team-best 48 goals, with 31 assists, to become the first Tiger ever with more than 40 goals and 30 assists in a season. He also improved from two to 26 to 28 to 48 goals over his four years and two points to 37 to 47 to 79. Palumbo was the No. 7 overall selection in the Premier Lacrosse League draft and was named a starter in the PLL all-star game.
D – Dunphey
Senior midfielder John Dunphey had 39 points (21G, 18A) this season. He had 39 points (24G, 15A) for his first three seasons combined.
E – Extraordinary
Princeton goalie Ryan Croddick was named the Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Championship after making 33 saves while allowing 16 goals (.673 save percentage) in the two games. Croddick, whose 20 saves against Duke in the semifinal tied the program record for saves in an NCAA game (with Scott Bacigalupo in the 1991 quarterfinals against Towson), was also a first-team All-American and the co-winner of the Ensign Kelly Award as the Division Goalie of the Year.
F – Final Four
Princeton in 2026 became the ninth team to win all of its NCAA tournament games by at least four goals and, along with Notre Dame in 2024 and Virginia in 2006, the third to do so while having to win four tournament games. Princeton also became the seventh team to win both of its Final Four games by at least seven goals.
G – Grade-Point Average
Junior Tyler Harris, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major, won the NCAA’s Elite Scholar-Athlete Award for having the highest GPA among the teams at the Final Four. Princeton also had four seniors earn USILA Scholar All-American honors: Ryan Croddick, John Dunphey, Andrew McMeekin, Chad Palumbo.
H – Hey Baby (Uhh, Ahh)
Princeton’s postseason goal song was “Hey Baby (Uhh, Ahh), the version by DJ Ötzi'. Between the Ivy League tournament and NCAA tournament, Princeton went 6-0 and had the song play a total of 15.5 times per game.
I – In Double Figures
After being held to seven goals in its opening day loss to Penn State, Princeton was in double figures in goals in each of the next 18 games. It is the longest streak in program history of consecutive games in double figures.
J – Just Win
Princeton is 60-23 since the start of the 2022 season, with one NCAA championship, two Final Fours, three quarterfinals and five NCAA appearances, as well as three Ivy tournament championships and one Ivy title. Matt Madalon is now 92-43 as Princeton head coach, with a .681 winning percentage that trails only Bill Tierney’s .735 at Princeton (other than Ernie Ransome’s .750 for his only season as head coach, in 1950).
K – Kabiri
Nate Kabiri tied for the Division I lead with Syracuse’s Joey Spallina with 87 points (39G, 48A) and will enter the 2027 season with 205 points, which will be the most by any active player in Division I. His 89 points were the second-best single-season total in Princeton history behind only Michael Sowers’ 90 points in 2019. Kabiri was a Tewaaraton Award finalist, the Most Outstanding Player of the Ivy League Tournament and a College Sports Communicators second-team At-Large Academic All-American.
L – Last Time
Princeton’s NCAA championship was its seventh all-time and its first since 2001, whose team members were honored at halftime of the 2026 final on the occasion of their own 25th anniversary. Princeton’s other NCAA titles were in 1992, 1994 ,1996, 1997 and 1998. Princeton remains the most recent team to win three straight NCAA championships.
M – Meeks
Andrew McMeekin finished as the program record-holder in career face-offs won (710), career groundballs (455), single-season face-off wins (232 this season) and single-season groundballs (154, also this season). McMeekin is the only Princeton player with multiple seasons of at least 100 groundballs, with three of them.
N – No Dice
Princeton held 11 of its 19 opponents to fewer than 10 goals, while three others scored exactly 10 goals.
O – Opponents
Princeton defeated the teams ranked second (Notre Dame), third (Syracuse), fourth (Duke), fifth (North Carolina) and sixth (Penn State, who also defeated Princeton) in the final USILA poll. Princeton also defeated No. 10 Cornell (splitting with the Big Red), No. 11 Yale (twice), No. 14 Maryland and No. 15 Harvard), leaving Princeton 10-2 against teams who finished ranked in the top 15.
P – Parker
Parker Reynolds finished the season with 16 goals and 20 assists, making him the first Tiger ever with at least those numbers as a freshman. His 36 points tied for seventh-most ever by a Princeton freshman and were the most ever by a Princeton freshman midfielder.
Q – Quite A Stat
Princeton had an 11-0 run against Notre Dame in the NCAA final, going from 3-0 down five minutes into the game to up 11-3 at the half. Princeton also had scoring runs in the postseason of 6-1 against Duke in the semifinals, 5-0 against Penn State in the quarterfinal (going from 10-9 down to a 14-10 win), 9-0 against Marist in the NCAA opening round, 9-0 against Cornell in the Ivy League tournament final and 7-0 against Yale in the Ivy tournament semifinal.
R – Records
Princeton set program single-season records for wins (17), goals (282), face-off wins (292) caused turnovers (161) and groundballs (670).
S – SSDMs
Princeton’s top four shortstick defensive midfielders (Owen Fischer, Jackson Green, Quinn Krammer, Cooper Mueller) finished the season with a combined 11G, 7A, along with 36 caused turnovers and 78 groundballs.
T – Tournament
With 21 each, Nate Kabiri (9G, 12A) and Chad Palumbo (12G, 9A) tied each other for the most points ever by a Princeton player in a single NCAA tournament. Palumbo’s 12 goals tied Chris Massey (1996) for the most by a Princeton player in one tournament, and Kabiri’s 12 assists were the most ever by a Princeton player in one tournament. Ryan Croddick made 55 saves in the tournament, also the most ever at Princeton.
U – Underclass
Princeton will return all the following from this year’s regular rotation in 2027: Nate Kabiri and Colin Burns on attack, Tucker Wade and Parker Reynolds in the first midfield, the entire second midfield (see below), SSDMs Owen Fischer, Jackson Green and Cooper Mueller, starting defensemen Finn Fox, Hunter Spiess and Jack Stahl and No. 2 face-off man Russ Fitzgerald. In addition, Peter Buonanno, the 2025 Ivy League Rookie of the Year who missed most of 2026 due to injury, will return as well.
V – Vana, McDonald, Malkiel
Princeton’s second midfield unit of Jake Vana, Aidan McDonald and Porter Malkiel combined for 45 goals, 11 more than the next-best total for a Division I second midfield. Vana, McDonald and Malkiel combined to score their 45 goals on 96 shots, for a combined shooting percentage of .469.
W – Wade
Tucker Wade was a first-team All-American midfielder by Inside Lacrosse, the USILA and USA Lacrosse Magazine. Wade, the only Princeton player with at least one goal in every game this season, scored 39 goals on the season, the second-best total ever by a Princeton midfielder, behind only Kip Orban’s 45 in 2015.
X – Face-Off X
Princeton won 55.3 percent of its face-offs in 2026, the highest single-season total for the program since the 1997 team won .609.
Y – Yikes
Princeton went 10-0 away from home this season, going 6-0 on the road and 4-0 in neutral site games.
Z – Zinger
Princeton lost two games this season, to Penn State and Cornell by a combined eight goals. Princeton then beat both, Cornell in the Ivy League tournament final and Penn State in the NCAA quarterfinals, by a combined 14 goals, a turnaround of 22 goals between them.
