Previewing Princeton’s 2020 men’s college lacrosse schedule

The Princeton Tigers are the 15th team in our 2020 men’s college lacrosse schedule preview series and the second team from the Ivy League. Princeton finished 7-7 overall in 2019 and 2-4 in Ivy League play. The Tigers failed to qualify for the Ivy League Tournament for the second consecutive season.

Here’s their entire 2020 schedule:

Who’s In?

• Colgate Raiders (2/18)

Who’s Out?

• Navy Midshipmen (19-11 W)
• Denver Pioneers (14-13 W)

Circle These Dates

• 2/22 at Virginia: Princeton’s last two meetings with the Cavaliers have been thrilling matchups, with the Tigers losing both but only by a combined four goals. The Tigers led for the majority of last year’s game before the Cavaliers were able to come from behind and win in overtime, with Virginia goaltender Patrick Burkinshaw stopping an insane 24 shots in his first career start. He’s now at Penn.
• 2/29 vs. Johns Hopkins: This was a tight contest with Princeton slightly ahead at some points in the game. But the Blue Jays scored seven of their final eight goals in less than a 15 minute span to take control of the game and get the win. The Tigers will need to figure out to replace Charlie Durbin and his production at midfield. He had a hat-trick in the defeat.
• 3/7 vs. Rutgers: The good news for Princeton was that they shutout the Scarlet Knights in the second half. The bad news was that they gave up six goals in the second quarter and lost by one. The Tigers had two chances in the final 16 seconds, but they were unable to capitalize, including a Durbin shot that was saved by Max Edelmann, who had 18 saves. Fortunately, he graduated and won’t be in goal this year.
• 3/28 at Brown: Princeton defeated Dartmouth and Harvard last season, who joined the Tigers in failing to qualify for the Ivy League Tournament. But Princeton lost to all four Ivy League Tournament qualifiers, including fourth place Brown. After jumping out to a 4-0 lead last season, the Bears went on a pair of 6-1 runs to earn what would be a big conference win. Princeton needs guys such as Michael Sowers and Erik Peters to step up in a game like this in 2020.
• 4/25 vs. Cornell: In what has been a fun regular season finale to watch in the past few years, the home team in this matchup has won every game since 2015. Last year it was the Big Red, who needed a fourth quarter comeback to beat Princeton and eliminate them from Ivy League Tournament contention on a Clarke Petterson goal with four seconds left. That could be another must-win game for the Tigers, who could look toward locking up a spot in the conference tournament for the first time since 2017, Sowers’ freshman season.