No. 3 Men’s Lacrosse crushes Penn 20–8 following second half frenzy

The Class of 1952 stadium was packed over the weekend as Princeton alumni filled the stands to support the No. 3 ranked team, as well as celebrate the endowment of the offensive coordinator position in honor of Bryce Chase ’63, who has dedicated over six decades to the program.

Chase had been a player, coach, advisor, and mentor throughout his time at Princeton. Halftime saw Chase honored alongside his family, coaches, and Director of Athletics John Mack ’00.

“The offensive coordinator position is now endowed in his name which is such an incredible honor, the way I’ve always been phrasing it is it puts him forever on the sideline,” Head Coach Matt Madalon said to The Daily Princetonian regarding Chase. “He’s coached fathers and sons through this program … so he’s truly a foundational piece in this world.”

After a tense first half where Princeton men’s lacrosse (9–2 overall, 3–1 Ivy League) allowed Penn (5–6, 2–3) to stay in the game, a second half scoring rally with 12 Princeton goals — eight of them in the fourth quarter — against just two for Penn took the game well out of the Quakers’ reach.

With 20 goals total, plenty of Princeton players were able to get a share of the spoils. Senior midfielder Chad Palumbo led the way in points and goals for the Tigers with seven and five respectively whilst junior attackers Nate Kabiri and Colin Burns both claimed five points, with Burns putting up an impressive four assists.

“We all care more about the team and put the team over ourselves, and I think that’s why it’s so fun to play with each other,” Burns told the ‘Prince’ about the Tigers’ attack. “We don’t really care about who gets the goals, who gets the assists, we just care about the goal going up on the scoreboard for Princeton, and it’s just so fun every time we get to play together.”

“I think that that’s the mark of a good offense is really anyone can step up on any given day,” Madalon echoed to the ‘Prince.’ “Hopefully that helps us down the stretch.”

The first half, however, saw Princeton struggle to put Penn away after an initial 4–0 lead in the start of the first quarter was cut down to two by the Quakers who had both usurped the momentum and used their physicality to their advantage.

The second quarter didn’t progress much better for the Tigers. Poor defensive plays and several sloppy possessions on offense allowed Penn to tie them up 4–4 for the quarter. A first goal of the game for first-year midfielder Parker Reynolds — and his eighth for the season — wrapped up the scoring for the Orange and Black.

There was a lot left to be desired for Princeton as they committed seven turnovers in the second period and managed just one save from Penn’s five shots on goal for the Tiger defense and senior goalkeeper Ryan Croddick.

“Coach Matt says ‘KISS’ — keep it simple, stupid — and we had a lot of moments in that first half when we were just trying to make the hero play and trying to do too much,” Burns explained to the ‘Prince’ about the first half performance and switch in focus. “So that was really the message, going into the second half, if we all make the simple play, we’ll stack a bunch of plays, and we’ll end up coming out on top.”

Indeed it was these simple plays that would make all the difference for Princeton. For 27 out of 30 consecutive minutes coming out of the half, the Princeton defense denied Penn any goals from their 16 shots, a stark contrast to the Tigers’ 19 shots on goal with 12 of them being converted on the scoreboard in the same time period.

Senior midfielder John Dunphey opened the scoring for the Orange and Black out of the half with a trademark Burns assist, but it was really the fourth quarter and Princeton’s eight goals that turned a once-tense affair into an onslaught.

Within four minutes of the fourth quarter, Kabiri had secured his 23rd and 24th goals of the season, while two minutes later Palumbo also scored his 24th goal of the season and fourth goal of the game. Reynolds then similarly added to his tally. After the Princeton attack was done they found themselves up 20–6.

The final minutes saw the Tigers allow two more Penn goals to end the game at 20–8.

It was truly a tale of two halves for the Orange and Black, but the second half proved why the team is ranked third in the nation, having successfully beat No. 1 UNC earlier in the season.

Up next for the Tigers are the final two Ivy League games against Harvard (9–2, 3–1) and Dartmouth (4–7, 0–4) in the next two weekends. For the Princeton team, they will be looking to leave a similar impression as they did against the Quakers.

“Harvard’s a great team, so is Dartmouth,” Burns said to the ‘Prince.’ “We’re just really trying to finish strong, but we’re all eyes on Harvard. That’s a massive game going up to Boston. So we still need to keep getting better and we’re gonna do that — we’re starving.”

Alex Beverton-Smith is a senior Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’

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