No. 2 men’s lacrosse overcomes early deficit to beat No. 9 Yale 12–10 in Ivy tournament semifinal

Down four and looking like an early elimination, No. 2 men’s lacrosse (12–2 overall, 5–1 Ivy League) scored seven unanswered goals and never looked back, beating No. 9 Yale (9–5, 4–2) 12–10 in the Ivy League tournament semifinal. 

With the win, the Tigers continue to improve their NCAA tournament résumé. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs seem to be on the wrong side of the bubble. After starting the season 3–4 and rattling off six straight wins, Yale’s season likely ended on Friday night. 

The Tiger offense was led by senior attacker Chad Palumbo and junior midfielder Tucker Wade. Palumbo finished with five points (three goals, two assists) while Wade had a hat trick of goals to go along with an assist. 

“Those guys were big for us tonight,” Head Coach Matt Madalon told The Daily Princetonian. 

“[Wade] handled the dodging load all game, super physical, [and] made some great plays. I don’t think his shots were getting saved. They were either going in or going wide, which is great. [Palumbo] made some really outstanding plays, some great individual efforts,” he continued.

After Palumbo got the scoring started, Yale controlled the majority of the first quarter. Senior face-off specialist Andrew McMeekin struggled initially to get it going, picking up multiple violations in the opening 30 minutes, but still finished the game 12-for-21 at the face-off. 

“I think most of the adjustments were just dialing myself into what I’m usually doing, what I’m capable of doing — just slowing things down, making it simple for myself. I was just beating myself at the end of the day, so I’m glad that I turned that around in the second half,” McMeekin said.

Yale attacker Connor Gately scored the opening two goals for the three-seeded Bulldogs. With Yale up 3–1, first-year midfielder Parker Reynolds cut the deficit to one with less than 30 seconds left in the opening quarter, setting up Yale to score seconds later, to go up 4–2.

“Definitely a slow start for us, not to take anything away from Yale,” Madalon said. “We just weren’t executing on the offensive side. And obviously, they were doing a good job defensively.”

To start the second quarter, Yale continued to ride its momentum. Gately completed his hat trick, which, combined with a goal by fellow attacker Dylan Blekicki, put the Bulldogs up 6–2. 

“[Our] spirits didn’t waver,” Palumbo said. “It’s been a resilient group all year long. And that was a similar scenario that you know has happened to us, and that we were used to.” 

“We knew we were the better team. We knew we just had to execute a couple things better, so we looked internal and got the job done,” he added.

After failing to convert on the extra-man opportunity, Palumbo found Wade to cut the deficit to three. Coming out of the media timeout, it was Wade and Palumbo both getting one more each past Yale goalkeeper Ben Friedman. Going into the locker room, Yale led 6–5.

PALUMBO GETS US WITHIN 1. pic.twitter.com/wUH52K2keW

— Princeton Men's Lacrosse (@TigerLacrosse) May 1, 2026

“Backs against the wall, [we] got a couple great individual plays from Wade and [Palumbo] to get us going, and then the team started playing much better lacrosse,” Madalon said.

While Madalon credited both Offensive Coordinator Jim Mitchell and Defensive Coordinator Jeremy Hirsch, he said the general message to the team at halftime was that “there’s no adjustment that is going to trump playing hard and playing fast and playing loose, so just trust yourself and play.”

The Orange and Black did just that. The Tigers rattled off four straight goals for a 7–0 run to take a 9–6 lead. After Wade’s third of the night equalizing the score 6–6, it was junior attacker Nate Kabiri finding senior midfielder John Dunphey to give Princeton its first lead since the first quarter. Reynolds and Palumbo scored the remaining two goals of the run. 

EW, 48 pic.twitter.com/yC9wRncr0V

— Princeton Men's Lacrosse (@TigerLacrosse) May 2, 2026

The Tigers took a two-goal lead into the final quarter and never looked back. Dunphey, junior attacker Colin Burns, and sophomore Aidan McDonald all scored, helping the Tigers pull away for an eventual 12–10 victory. 

McDonald, although formally listed as an attacker, plays on Princeton’s second midfield line alongside sophomore midfielder Jake Vana and sophomore attacker Porter Malkiel, a unit that gives the Tigers one of the deepest midfield combinations in the country. 

Unlike attackers, who usually stay on the field for the full 60 minutes, midfielders rotate constantly, making the Tigers’ ability to sustain offensive production through multiple lines a significant advantage.

“Vana, Malkiel, and McDonald have been doing a great job all year for us. Great balance, good inverse presence — those guys really capitalize in the key moments for us,” Madalon said. 

Senior goalkeeper Ryan Croddick paced the Tiger defense with 10 saves, while McMeekin had a much-improved second half. McMeekin now sits at 535 career wins at face-off, one shy of the program record set by Greg Walker ’92. 

“I want to stay the course of what I would do even if I wasn’t close to that,” McMeekin said. “But it's pretty cool to think about the big picture and the guys that have come before me that have crushed it, and I’m in that conversation as well, which is awesome.”

The win now sets up a heavyweight rematch against No. 4 Cornell (11–3, 5–1) on Sunday afternoon. The Big Red beat the Tigers on the road this year, extending their win streak to seven over Madalon’s squad. Princeton last beat Cornell on Apr. 28, 2018. 

Tomorrow’s title game also has huge implications for the NCAA tournament. While both sides have locked up a bid to the tournament, the Orange and Black have a golden opportunity to put themselves in pole position for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament. 

“[We’re] all focused on Cornell, but always would be thrilled with the opportunity to grab that one seed,” Madalon said. 

That opportunity came courtesy of No. 1 Notre Dame (10–2, 3–1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which fell to No. 8 Virginia 15–10 (9–6, 2–2) in the ACC Tournament semifinals, meaning a Princeton win Sunday could be enough to leapfrog the Fighting Irish for the top overall seed.

The Big Red will be led by Ivy League Attackman of the Year Willem Firth and Midfielder of the Year Jack Cascadden. The Big Red won the national championship last year with 2025 Tewaaraton Award winner and now-graduated attacker CJ Kirst, but have since retooled and assembled another title-contending roster under Head Coach Connor Buczek.

“We’ve wanted Cornell; we’ve thought about this ever since we lost to him earlier in the year. So this is an unbelievable opportunity. This is exactly how we wanted things to play out. And this group is hungrier than ever,” Palumbo said. 

Hayk Yengibaryan is a senior Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Glendale, Calif. He can be reached at hy5161[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.