NCAA Rewind: Princeton's Potential Hit When it Mattered Most

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2025 — look out for our NCAA Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings later this summer — our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking a last look at the 2024 college lacrosse season.

To do that, we’re taking a journey through 30 of the top teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse to see what went right, what went wrong and how we should feel about the season.

PRINCETON

USA Lacrosse preseason/final ranking: No. 14/No. 10
2024 record: 11-5 (4-2 Ivy League)

What went right: Coulter Mackesy handled added attention with aplomb, compiling 40 goals and 24 assists as the greatest returning known on offense. Freshman Nate Kabiri lived up to the advance billing, with a 32-goal, 25-assist season. 

Michael Gianforcaro (.557 save percentage) anchored a defense that was usually solid, a necessity while an inexperienced offense developed as the spring unfolded. 

Princeton once again turned in a stellar weekend at the Ivy League tournament, dismissing Yale (14-10) and Penn (18-11) to secure the program’s third consecutive NCAA tournament berth, the fourth-longest streak in Division I behind Maryland (21), Georgetown (six) and Virginia (six).

What went wrong: It did take some time for the Tigers to mature, but that was to be expected given their schedule. What was more surprising was an April 13 loss at Brown that effectively put Princeton in playoff lacrosse territory with two weekends left in the regular season. 

The Tigers certainly won’t miss graduated Maryland faceoff man Luke Wierman, who was a combined 40 of 49 in two meetings with Princeton, the second in a 16-8 rout in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers won 213 of 388 (54.9 percent) faceoffs against everyone but Wierman.

Season highlight: The four-game winning streak that featured two triumphs over Penn sandwiched around a pair of defeats of Yale was the difference between Princeton heading into the offseason still dreaming about the potential of its young roster and having realized some of it.

Verdict: In the preseason, it felt like Princeton’s ceiling was higher than a mid-teens placement. The question was whether it would have enough time to reach it. The Tigers got there just in time, and even though one last class of COVID-era graduate transfers has to move on, they are well-positioned to be serious contenders on a national stage in 2025 after this year’s late surge.