PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team had a strong first half against second-ranked Princeton on Saturday at Franklin Field, but the Tigers dominated the second half and overcame a halftime deficit for a 12-8 victory.
The Quakers led 7-4 at the break but could only score once in the second half, while Princeton came out with a 5-0 third quarter to get a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Penn fell to 4-9 overall and ends Ivy League play at 1-5. Princeton improved to 10-2 overall and 4-1 in Ivy play.
Quaker Notemeal
*Sophomore
Davis Provost finished the day with three points, scoring twice and adding an assist.
*Junior
Griffin Scane was the Quakers' other multi-goal scorer, with two.
*Penn's other goal scorers were seniors
Cam Rubin and
Ben Smith, and sophomores
Leo Hoffman and
Jacob Pacheco.
*Freshman
Stevie Davis had a strong day on the faceoff X, winning 14 of his 22 battles and coming up with six ground balls. He also got off two shots.
How It Happened
Princeton got on the board first,
Emmet Carroll stopping an initial shot but the Tigers getting the rebound and putting it home. Six minutes later, Rubin got a head of steam and pumped home the Quakers' first goal of the day. Just 29 seocnds after that, Scane finished a feed from Hoffman in an unsettled situation to put the Quakers up 2-1.
Princeton needed just 20 seconds to tie it up at 2-2, but just 23 seconds after that Provost raced across the middle and bounced home his first of the day. Only 42 seconds later, Scane came from behind with a low-angle shot. The Quakers' lead was 4-2 after one.
Things settled down early in the second, the first goal coming more than six minutes in when Smith slid into open space and took a feed from Provost for the dunk.
Princeton got two of those back, the first with 5:23 left and the second with 1:27 left to make it 5-4. However, the Quakers scored twice in the final 1:09, first Provost in an unsettled situation off a faceoff, and then Hoffman when he got inside the defense and fired one home with just 15.7 seconds left. The Quakers were up at the break, 7-4.
The Tigers came out strong in the second half, scoring just 2:07 into the period and adding another less than three minutes later. When Coulter Mackesy scored with 6:03 left, the game had its first tie since 2-2 in the first quarter.
Princeton wasn't done. Mackesy scored again with 4:41 left in the third, then fed Braedon Saeris in the final minute. Overall, it was a 5-0 quarter for the Tigers and they took a 9-7 lead into the final 15.
Penn scored off a nice sequence early in the fourth—Carroll made an arm save at one end,
Anthony McMullan scooped up the ground ball and fired a behind-the-back pass up the field that Pacheco picked up in stride and took all the way to the goal for the tally. That got the Quakers within one and had the crowd stirring for a fantastic finish.
Unfortunately it would be the Red and Blue's only goal of the second half. Instead, Princeton got its lead back to two with 10:40 left, upped it to three with 4:14 to play, and closed things out with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Up Next
Penn will close out the 2025 season next Saturday at No. 9 Notre Dame; the game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start and will be televised to a national audience on ESPNU.
For the latest on Penn men's lacrosse, follow @PennMensLax on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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