Yale Athletics

The 20th-ranked Yale men’s lacrosse team (3–3, 0–2 Ivy) fell in Ivy League play for the second consecutive weekend in a 23–10 loss to No. 17 Princeton University (3–4, 1–1 Ivy). 

As the Ivy League season picks up, the Bulldogs have faced a rough start, losing their first two league games against Cornell University (6–1, 2–0 Ivy) and Princeton by 10 and 13 goals, respectively. 

The two losses place the Bulldogs in a difficult situation early in the season, although Yale can look to their Princeton rivals for an example on how to rebound from tough defeats.

“Coming off two overtime losses against Rutgers and Penn is really hard,” Princeton attackman Coulter Mackesy said in an interview with ESPN+ after the game. “We’ve learned a lot these past three weeks and it was great to win on our home field.”

The Bulldogs’ high point of the game occurred when they scored the first goal, which would be their only lead of the afternoon. The Tigers responded by scoring eight straight goals to build a 12–3 halftime lead before eventually defeating the Bulldogs by 13. 

The back-to-back Ivy losses were especially disappointing considering that, prior to entering league play, the team felt as if they had been building momentum.

After an early season win over UMass, defenseman Bryce De Muth ’24 had said he was “really happy with how the team responded overall and feel like it was a great step in the right direction.”

The main problem for the Bulldogs proved to be an offense stuck out of gear, as the team was frustrated by a strong Princeton defense and 14 saves from Tigers goalie Michael Gianforcaro.

The Princeton defense was most notably able to hold Yale star attackman Matt Brandau ’24 without a goal, the first time that has happened in his entire career. 

“Those guys stepped up,” Princeton head coach Matt Madalon said to Inside Lacrosse. They were kind of able to do their job and Gianforcaro playing well, so it was really sum of all parts.”

The Bulldogs will now look to turn things around in their third Ivy game of the season when they travel to Philadelphia to take on University of Pennsylvania (3–4, 1–1 Ivy) this Saturday.

Attackman Chris Lyons ’25 scored another four goals against Princeton and currently ranks second in the nation with 4.17 goals per game.