Liza Kaufman, Staff Photographer

The men’s lacrosse team (5–6, 3–2 Ivy) is set to face the No. 2 nationally-ranked Princeton Tigers (10–2, 4–1 Ivy) tomorrow at Princeton’s Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium. 

The Tigers have dominated this season, both at the national level and in the Ivy League. Some of their most decisive victories were early in the season over No. 9 Duke (15–14) and No. 8 UNC (14–12), and their only losses have been to No. 3 Maryland (9–13) and No. 1 Cornell (10–15).

Leading the Tigers’ strong offense are attackmen Coulter Mackesy, Nate Kabiri and Colin Burns. Mackesy was recently named one of 25 Tewaaraton Award Nominees for the third time in his career. The Award is the highest individual lacrosse honor at the collegiate level. Tallying 35 goals and 14 assists this season, Mackesy leads the Tigers’ offense. Kabiri’s 21 assists and three game-winning goals are team highs, while Burns comes in second after Mackesy with 21 goals this season and the highest shots on goal percentage of .692.

The Bulldogs have struggled in recent years against Princeton’s impressive team. The last time the Elis triumphed over the Tigers was in their 2022 regular season home game, in which they edged out Princeton 14–12. However, in that same year, the Tigers downed the Bulldogs in the Ivy League tournament 14–10. 

The Elis seek to reverse this trajectory and serve the Tigers their third loss of the season. 

On the Yale side, three attackmen have proven to be strong forces this season. Despite a tough loss in overtime, attackman Chris Lyons ’25 was a powerhouse in last weekend’s game against the University of Albany, netting four goals. Lyons leads the team with his 28 goals, and attackman Leo Johnson ’25 follows closely with 24 goals and five hat tricks. Johnson was critical in securing Yale’s first victory of the season against Denver, totalling three goals and two assists. Johnson has also been a stellar team player this season, leading with 18 assists. David Anderson ’26, who has scored 18 goals, shined in Yale’s first conference victory over Brown. His five goals against the Bears not only matched his career best but also earned him recognition as the Ivy League offensive player of the week in late March. 

With the week to recover from last weekend’s loss, the team will now travel to Princeton recharged and ready to tame the Tigers. 

“We’re just trying to focus on doing what we do and the best we can. We’re looking to play a hard fought game against Princeton and then after that we will focus further on the Ivy tournament,” long stick midfielder Francis Keneally ’28 wrote to the News.

Faceoff is 12 p.m. tomorrow at Princeton, and the game will be live-streamed on ESPNU. The Bulldogs will then head to Ithaca, N.Y. to play in the Ivy League tournament from May 2-4.