The game ended. The Princeton men's lacrosse players went off to stretch in the corner. Then they realized the Meistrell Cup was still sitting at the scorer's table, so they went to get it.

Senior goalie Erik Peters was the one who lifted it up. It was only fitting. He was the one who did the most to make sure that it was staying in Princeton.

Peters was awesome all evening, with a career-high 21 saves that helped power No. 5 Princeton to a 16-11 win over previously unbeaten and third-ranked Rutgers in front of 1,440 fans at Sherrerd Field. Peters now has a ridiculous 57 saves in the last three games, which just happened to be against Maryland, Georgetown and Rutgers, all of whom were ranked in the top three at the time. Princeton has rebounded from its loss at Maryland two weeks ago with back-to-back wins against the team ranked third in the national polls, first the Hoyas and now the Scarlet Knights.

The game was preceded by a moment of silence in memory of former Rutgers coach Tom Hayes, the Lacrosse Hall of Fame member and former president of the Federation of International Lacrosse, who passed away earlier in the week at the age of 82.

On any other night, the buzz would have been about freshman Coulter Mackesy, who was making his second start on attack. Mackesy was amazing himself, with four goals and two assists and several dazzling moves to make put those numbers up.

His fourth goal was his best, with a rocket shot into the top corner of the net. Or maybe his third one was, with a great fake that froze an RU defender and let him get in on Scarlet Knights goalie Colin Kirst, who was strong himself with 13 saves.

ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME @TigerLacrosse’s Coulter Mackesy is feelin’ it tonight. Freshman out of @Wick_Lax going top shelf for his FOURTH goal of the game in a top-10 battle with Rutgers. pic.twitter.com/KSIgGCvgY5

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) March 12, 2022

Neither team had better than a one-goal lead until late in the second quarter, when Mackesy's second made it an 8-6 Tiger lead as part of a 5-1 run that built a halftime lead of 11-7. After the teams combined for nine goals in the first quarter and nine more in the second, there was only one in the third, scored by Rutgers' Michael Sanguinetti, but Peters made five saves in the quarter to keep it a three-goal Princeton lead at 11-8.

Jake Stevens then scored what might have been the back-breaking goal, when he turned what looked like it was going to be a Princeton turnover into an extra-man goal instead with a ground ball pick up and score in traffic that made it 12-8 and started a 5-1 run that sealed it.

NOTABLE

• Eight different UMBC players scored as the Retrievers upended No. 18 Utah 13-10. The Retrievers, who know have two wins over nationally ranked teams, finished the second quarter on a five-goal run and never looked back.

• Jacob Morin scored four goals, while Brendan Nichtern and Reese Burek each tallied two goals and five assists to lead No. 13 Army to an 18-12 win over Lafayette.

• No. 14 Jacksonville got back to its winning ways in a big way, defeating Bellarmine 16-2 in a snowstorm in Kentucky. The Dolphins, coming off a disappointing loss to Utah in the Jacksonville Lacrosse Classic, showed no ill effects of a long travel day and delay, outshooting the Knights 43-16 and getting five goals from Jacob Greiner.

• Mike Robinson scored five goals, Tye Kurtz added four and JP Ward had three goals and four assists in No. 19 Delaware's 18-9 win over visiting Marist.

HOW THE TOP 20 FARED

No. 5 Princeton defeated No. 3 Rutgers 16-11
No. 13 Army defeated Lafayette 18-12
No. 14 Jacksonville defeated Bellarmine 16-2
UMBC defeated No. 18 Utah 13-10
No. 19 Delaware defeated Marist 18-9

FULL SCOREBOARD

No. 13 Army 18, at Lafayette 12
No. 19 Delaware 18, Marist 9
High Point 13, Robert Morris 11
No. 14 Jacksonville 16, Bellarmine 2
Monmouth 15, NJIT 7
No. 5 Princeton 16, No. 3 Rutgers 11
Saint Joseph's 11, Towson 10
Siena 13, St. John's 10
St. Bonaventure 12, Cleveland State 5
​UMBC 13, No. 18 Utah 10