ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Princeton men's lacrosse team used a dominant third quarter to pull away from Cornell for a 19-9 victory in the championship game of the Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament on Sunday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The second-ranked Tigers improved to 13-2 on the season, while the Big Red fell to 11-4.
Princeton broke open a competitive first half with a nine-goal third period, turning a 7-5 halftime edge into a commanding 16-6 lead entering the fourth. Cornell will now await its postseason fate, with the NCAA Tournament selection show set for 9:30 p.m. Sunday night.
The Tigers placed four players among their 19 goals, with Colin Burns, Chad Palumbo, Tucker Wade and Porter Malkiel each scoring three times. Nate Kabiri orchestrated the offense with two goals and five assists, finishing with a game-high seven points. He was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Princeton's surge came quickly after halftime. Palumbo opened the scoring in the third, and a relentless stretch followed, highlighted by back-to-back man-up goals and a flurry of seven goals in just over four minutes. The Tigers converted 2-of-5 extra-man opportunities, both during that decisive run.
Cornell, which stayed within striking distance early, received two goals apiece from AJ Nikolic, Rowyn Nurry and Willem Firth. Firth added two assists to lead the Big Red with four points, while Ryan Goldstein chipped in a goal and an assist.
The Big Red responded late in the second quarter to trim a four-goal deficit to 7-5 at the break. Nikolic scored twice in the final 1:43 of the half, including a feed from Firth with 16 seconds remaining, to give Cornell momentum heading into halftime.
That momentum evaporated quickly after intermission. Princeton outscored Cornell 9-1 in the third quarter, controlling possession at the faceoff X and capitalizing on defensive miscues. Andrew McMeekin went 14-for-26 on faceoffs and collected seven ground balls to help fuel the run.
Despite outshooting Princeton 48-42 and holding a slight edge in ground balls (40-38), Cornell struggled to convert offensively, going 0-for-4 on extra-man chances. Princeton goalkeeper Ryan Croddick made 18 saves in 57 minutes to anchor the defense.
Cornell added three goals in the fourth quarter, including scores from Goldstein, Jack Herendeen and Firth, but could not cut meaningfully into the deficit.
Firth, Brendan Staub and Jack Cascadden earned all-tournament honors for the Big Red. Cascadden was 14-of-26 at the faceoff circle, while Staub had four caused turnovers and five ground balls.
Cascadden, Firth, and Brendan Staub, were named to the All-Tournament Team.
GAME NOTES
• Cornell is now 45-43-2 all-time agianst Princeton.
• Brendan Staub finished with four caused turnovers on the afternoon, moving his career total to 62 which is seventh all-time in program history.
• Firth moves into 16th all-time with 164 career points, while Goldstein, reached 190 career points, good enough for eighth all-time.
• Cascadden now has 573 career faceoff wins, after collecting 14 on the day.
• With 19 saves on the afternoon, Tully now has 235 for his career, eight away from tying Rich Yost '98 for 17th all-time.
NEXT UP
The 2026 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Selection Show is slated for 9:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
