Palumbo propels No. 1 men’s lacrosse past Marist in NCAA tournament, sets up rematch vs. Penn State

Princeton has been the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament three times in program history. The last two times — 1996 and 1997 — it won the national championship. On Sunday, the Tigers began their fight for another.

At home for the final time in 2026 and playing in their fifth straight NCAA tournament, a strong third quarter propelled No.1 men’s lacrosse (14–2 overall, 5–1 Ivy League) to a 17–8 win over Marist (12–5, 7–1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). 

With the win, the Tigers advance to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, where they will face No. 7 Penn State (10–5, 3–2 Big Ten) on Sunday, May 17, in Newark, Del. It is the first consecutive quarterfinal appearance for the Tigers since the 2003–04 season.

“Anytime you can host an NCAA playoff game at home in front of your home fans, it’s a great opportunity,” Head Coach Matt Madalon told The Daily Princetonian. “Obviously tough, that’s our seniors’ last game at [Class of 1952 Stadium], but great way to go out there, now onto Penn State.”

The Orange and Black began their season with a 13–7 loss to the Nittany Lions, the only team on the Tigers’ schedule they have not beaten.

Senior captain and attacker Chad Palumbo matched his career-high and the program record for goals in a tournament game with six goals. Junior attacker Nate Kabiri — a 2026 Tewaaraton Award finalist — was the quarterback for the Tiger offense, finishing with three goals and five assists.

“As a senior and a captain, this team has made my job quite easy,” Palumbo said. “First of all, it’s 52 good dudes: dudes whose hearts are in the right place, minds are in the right place [who] all have high goals.”

“The team’s been fixated on one goal, and we’ve been working every week to get better to chase that, and we’ve done a good job thus far, but we’ve got a ways to go,” he continued.

On the other end of the field, senior goalkeeper Ryan Croddick made 14 saves and allowed just six goals before getting pulled midway through the final quarter. The Ivy League Goalie of the Year and USA Lacrosse Magazine first-team All-American is up to 197 saves on the season. 

“We go as he goes. He’s been great all year; we need to keep pushing him,” Madalon said.  

Marist attacker Collin Patrick and midfielder Sean Mullan — the two leading scorers for the Red Foxes — combined for just one goal on 14 shots. In midfield, senior face-off specialist Andrew McMeekin won 11 of his 15 face-offs, extending his career record for face-off wins to 670. 

Junior midfielder Tucker Wade opened the scoring for the Orange and Black in the matchup before fellow senior midfielder John Dunphey split his defender on a slick dodge to make it 2–0. 

Dunphey has filled in the starting attacking midfield role alongside Wade after sophomore midfielder Peter Buonanno suffered an injury in mid-March that has held him out for nine of the last ten games. 

“Dunphey’s been great. He’s been great his entire career. He’s been steady for us. He’s such a good facilitator. He’s a very unselfish player, and he continues to step up in big moments,” Madalon said.

After a goal by Marist, Princeton quickly responded through its most dangerous two-man game. With Kabiri attracting much of the attention, he found Palumbo twice in quick succession to make it 4–1 Princeton, with Palumbo recording his fourth straight multi-goal game. 

“Palumbo, Kabiri, the whole attack unit, really incredible point production today, great players again, very unselfish,” Madalon said. “On any given day, any guy can step up.”

An individual effort from Kabiri made it 5–1 before senior midfielder Quinn Krammer capped the quarter with his second goal of the season to send Princeton into the second with a 6–2 advantage.

Heading into the second quarter, the Orange and Black quickly stretched that lead to six following physical defensive plays and goals from Palumbo and Wade. However, the Red Foxes refused to fold. Goalkeeper Richie Metzger was sharp in front of the net, recording seven saves on 15 first-half shots on goal.

The Red Foxes outshot the Tigers 28–21 in the first half, but were failing to get the ball past Croddick. Following a save from Metzger and a caused turnover, Marist rattled off back-to-back goals to cut the deficit to four heading into the half. Princeton went scoreless over the final minutes of the half. 

Coming out of the locker room, the Tigers responded immediately, with nearly everything going their way in the third quarter. Palumbo scored his fourth goal to open the third quarter, and back-to-back goals from junior attacker Colin Burns pushed Princeton to its largest lead to that point. 

“Me, [Kabiri], and [Burns] talk about just trying to be the most connected unit in the country. As attackmen, we’re leaders of the offense, so we try to make sure that we have similar opinions on when to push, when to look for certain looks, and when to be a little more reserved,” Palumbo said. 

“I think our chemistry is hitting its groove at the point of the season where you want to, so just looking forward to continuing to build on that and keep getting better this week in preparation for Penn State,” he continued.

Later that quarter, Kabiri added his third of the game to make it 14–4. Princeton scored twice more in the final 15 seconds of the third quarter to cap off an eight-goal unanswered run that lasted the entire third quarter, taking a 16–4 lead into the final frame and putting the game out of reach for the Red Foxes. 

“Coming out of half, I think we just made too many mistakes in the first half from a handful of shot back-ups, and some really short possessions, so our goal coming out of halftime was just [to] manufacture better possessions, be patient, wait for good looks, and hope to capitalize,” Madalon said.

With the result all but secured, the Tigers rested a majority of their starters in the final quarter, with Croddick being pulled with just under nine minutes remaining. After going over 24 minutes scoreless, Marist scored four consolation goals, but it was Princeton coming out on top with a 17–8 win. 

The Tigers have now scored 15 or more goals in eight of the last nine games and have broken the program’s single-season goal record in the process with 238 and counting. 

The focus now immediately turns to the Nittany Lions, who advanced to the quarterfinals after beating No. 12 Army (13–4, 6–2 Patriot League) in the opening round, 10–6. 

Palumbo noted that throughout the course of the season, his team “has righted some wrongs”, referencing ending long losing streaks against Maryland, Syracuse, and Cornell. 

“It makes sense that [the path to a championship] goes through Penn State,” Palumbo said. “It’s gonna be an emotional week because that week one loss was something that kicked us in the butt and kick-started our season, so it’ll be nice to have another opportunity.

Next Sunday, Madalon’s squad will look to make it to championship weekend for the first time since 2022. History is on Princeton’s side, as all but one No. 1 seed has made the final four since the tournament expanded in 2003.

Madalon noted that they’ll be facing “one of the best [face-off units] in the country,” adding that they’re “going to need a lot out of McMeekin.”

“Fired up to get another shot at Penn State, but just really glad to be back at work,” Madalon said. “They’re a great team, very well coached, and they have a lot of experience in these moments, so we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

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.

A correction was made May 11, 2026: A previous version of this piece incorrectly implied that Princeton had only won two prior championships. This has been corrected. The ‘Prince’ regrets this error.

Corrections were made May 11, 2026: A previous version of this piece incorrectly listed the positions of Palumbo and Buonnano. Palumbo is an attacker, not a midfielder, and Buonnano was playing as a midfielder, not an attacker, prior to his injury.