On a rainy Saturday afternoon, the No. 3 men’s lacrosse (8–2 overall, 2–1 Ivy League) beat Vermont (4–5 overall, 2–1 America East Conference) 10–5 in their final nonconference game this season. After playing an intense stretch of three games in seven days, the Tigers picked up a momentum-building win heading into the final three games of the regular season.
Despite the brisk weather, Princeton got hot quickly. Senior attacker Coulter Mackesy recorded an impressive hat trick after just the first seven minutes of play. Mackesy’s finesse was on display, scoring his first goal unassisted before capitalizing on assists from sophomore attacker Nate Kabiri and first-year attacker Peter Buananno to make it 3–0 with 8:11 to go in the first quarter.
When asked about his quick start, Mackesy pointed to the work his teammates did to create opportunities for him.
“Our middies, we like to call them good party starters,” he told The Daily Princetonian. “They get the defense rotating, and then once the ball swings to me it’s a good time to dodge. All the work’s done, there’s no slide ready, so it’s a good time for me to go.”
With a little over a minute to go, junior attacker Chad Palumbo added to the lead with a low-to-high missile, putting Princeton ahead 4–0.
At the end of the first, Princeton held Vermont to zero goals. Junior goalie Ryan Croddick made several solid saves, adding onto an already extremely impressive first season as a starter. As a whole, the defense looked impenetrable, forcing several turnovers. Notably, senior long stick midfielder Michael Bath moved up to third all time in Princeton history for forced turnovers.
“Vermont is a slide and recover team,” Head Coach Matt Madalon told the ‘Prince’ postgame. “We were a little tight not to slide as much early on, and I think it gave them some trouble.”
“They started to figure it out later in the game,” Madalon added, alluding to the Catamounts’ two goals late in the fourth quarter.
After Croddick started the second quarter with a save, Mackesy netted his fourth goal of the game. The score was the senior star’s 31st of the year, putting his career total at 152. Mackesy now trails only Jesse Hubbard by 11 for most career goals in Princeton history, a milestone he has a very good chance of reaching as the regular season winds to a close.
Following a goal from sophomore attacker Colin Burns, Vermont finally snuck one past the defense with 7:03 to play, making the score 6–1.
The first half finished with Princeton ahead 7–1 thanks to a goal from Palumbo. It was a dominant 30 minutes of play for the Tigers who outshot the Catamounts 27–12. On the day, although Princeton had over 50 shots on goal, Mackesy was not satisfied.
“We’ve discussed that getting shots is not hard for us,” Mackesy told the ‘Prince.’ “It’s about getting the right shots, so I think it’s more about the end score than the shots.”
In the second half, Princeton finally began to slow down. While goals from Kabiri and Burns gave the Tigers a 10–3 lead heading into the final quarter of play, the offense seemed to lose some of its potency from the first half.
In the fourth, Princeton was held scoreless while Vermont tacked on two more. Although they allowed two goals, the defense played well with Bath and senior short stick defensive midfielder Michael Kelly recording forced turnovers. After the final whistle, the Tigers were ahead of the Catamounts 10–5.
A notable trend for Princeton on Saturday was its long possessions. Offensive possessions often used up the entire shot clock, and the Tigers got many second and occasionally third chance opportunities by collecting rebounds and scooping ground balls.
While these prolonged possessions allowed Princeton to beef up their shot numbers, not many of them found the back of the net, ending with only ten goals against an unranked opponent. Nevertheless, the win was a confidence booster as the team begins to prepare for what is shaping up to be a competitive NCAA Tournament.
“We’re just going to keep getting better and try to make the shots the best ones possible, up our shooting percentage, and then just get more efficient,” Mackesy stated.
Next Saturday, Princeton starts a stretch of three Ivy League games with a matchup against Brown (3–7, 0–3) at Sherrerd Field.
“They handled the business, three games in seven days,” Madalon told the ‘Prince.’ “Now they get to settle in and take one Ivy at a time. We’re looking forward to it.”
Doug Schwartz is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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