It was past 11 p.m. when the final buzzer sounded, but the Orange and Black found a way.
“I think we got back to the hotel at like 11:45,” junior goalie Ryan Croddick told The Daily Princetonian.
After a nearly three-hour lightning delay in Ithaca, the No. 2 ranked Tigers (12–2 overall, 5–1 Ivy League) defeated No. 11 Harvard (10–4, 4–2) to advance to the Ivy League tournament final. The Tigers came into the tournament seeded second, facing the third-seeded Crimson who they beat earlier in the year, 13–11.
“Obviously stressful, but stressful for both teams,” Head Coach Matt Madalon told the ‘Prince’ about the game delays. “I would say that the mindset of our guys and support staff are ‘control the controllable and find solutions and make the best of the situation.’”
“Our support staff was awesome, from the refueling of guys to keeping them loose and stretched and getting their bodies right — I think everyone handled it very well,” he continued.
With the win, the Orange and Black will be looking to win their third consecutive Ivy tournament championship as they face the No. 1 nationally ranked and top-seeded Cornell (13–1, 6–0) on Sunday afternoon. Cornell defeated Yale (5–8, 3–3) 21–14 in the first semifinal, showing their offensive firepower. One of the Tigers’ two losses this season came against Cornell in mid-March, a 15–10 defeat.
Princeton and Harvard went toe to toe through the first 45 minutes, with the score knotted at 8–8 at the end of the third quarter. The game was so evenly matched that the two teams were tied at every score along the way. In the fourth quarter, the Tigers kept the Crimson scoreless on nine possessions en route to an 11–8 win.
Face-offs and defense proved to be the difference for the Tigers. Junior face-off specialist Andrew McMeekin won 77 percent, 17 for 22, of the face-offs. McMeekin was named the Ivy League tournament most outstanding player in 2024.
“I started off a little slower than I would like to, and I think it’s just getting to that time of the season, where I’m a little more comfortable now,” McMeekin said.
“He’s [McMeekin] an easy guy to stick with,” Madalon said. “He works his tail off every single day in our building, weight room, and locker room around our team. So, just really happy for him.”
On the defensive end, senior defender Colin Mulshine held Harvard star attacker Sam King scoreless while sophomore defender Hunter Spiess caused two turnovers. King had scored in 42 straight games prior to Friday night. Harvard — one of the nation’s top offenses — failed to score double digit goals for the first time this season.
Senior standout attacker Coulter Mackesy opened the scoring for the Tigers. Harvard rookie goalie Graham Stevens was exceptional in the first quarter, making seven saves to keep Princeton at bay. Stevens finished with a career high 18 saves. With under a minute remaining in the first, Harvard got its equalizer as both sides were knotted at one after 15 minutes.
The pace picked up in the second period as the Tigers took the lead off a great goal from senior midfielder Sean Cameron, who shook off his defender and put the ball past Stevens. However, the Crimson quickly responded, scoring two straight to take a 3–2 lead. The latter came via an extra-man opportunity.
“We went in between man and zone, in terms of two systems,” Madalon said. “We had to try to keep them on their heels as much as possible. We had some great individual performances from Mulshine, Spiess, [senior longstick midfielder and captain Michael] Bath, and [sophomore shortstick defensive midfielder Cooper] Mueller.”
Princeton answered with its own two-goal run to take a 4–3 lead. However, the Crimson responded. With under 10 seconds remaining in the half, it looked like both sides would head to the locker room with four goals. However, Bath had other plans. Bath made what seemed to be an impossible skip pass to sophomore attacker Nate Kabiri, who slotted the ball in the back of the net to give Princeton a 5–4 halftime advantage.
In the third quarter, both sides traded goals. Every time one side scored, it was an almost instantaneous answer from the other. Mackesy scored his second goal of the night to get to 162 goals, one shy of Jesse Hubbard’s ’98 program record of 163 goals.
Stevens did everything he could to keep Harvard in the game, but their offense wasn’t able to get by Princeton’s defense. A goal from sophomore midfielder Tucker Wade gave Princeton a two goal lead before Cameron’s second goal sealed the 11–8 win.
Croddick had 12 saves to pace the Tiger defense. On the season, he has over a 60 percent save percentage, allowing under 10 goals per game.
“I think what our defense has been doing a really good job of this end of the year is being super multiple,” Croddick said. “We’ve been able to pop in and out of our zone defense and our man-to-man defense quickly and often, or not often when we need it.”
For the Crimson, they’ll have to wait until Sunday night to learn their fate. Most projections have the Crimson on the cutline, but a couple of bid stealers over the weekend could have them on the wrong side of the bubble.
Next up for the Tigers is CJ Kirst and the Big Red. The NCAA’s all-time leading goalscorer is just one of three Tewaaraton nominees on the Cornell roster. The other two: attackers Ryan Goldstein and Michael Long. The trio combined for 25 points in their win over Yale.
“A player of that caliber, he’s [Kirst] going to get shots,” Croddick said. “It’s just where we allow those shots to be taken from, always have a stick in his hand. I think it’s gonna be a pretty similar game plan to King.”
“He [Kirst] will absolutely be a focus for us, but they’re scoring at a great clip; they’ve got everyone producing,” Madalon noted.
The Tigers have a golden opportunity to avenge their loss to the Big Red tomorrow afternoon and secure a top-two seed in the NCAA tournament.
“What an incredible opportunity to have that chance,” Madalon said.
Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate News editor, senior Sports writer, and education director for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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