Marist men’s lacrosse’s season came to a close on Sunday in a 17-8 loss to No. 1 seed Princeton in the NCAA Tournament First Round. The Tigers’ high-powered offense soared past the Red Foxes with 16 goals in the first three quarters.
Princeton entered the matchup as the No. 1 team in the nation and fresh off an Ivy League championship. The six-time national champions secured a spot in the next round of the tournament against Penn State.
In the first quarter, the Tigers came out flying, scoring two goals in the first 2:20 of action. Once Marist settled in, it was able to slow down Princeton’s prolific attack for a stretch, and senior midfielder Peter Murray got one home for Marist to make it a 2-1 game.
With just over five minutes left in the first quarter, and Marist responding to every Princeton punch, the Tigers’ offensive stars finally took over. Princeton scored three goals in less than three minutes of play, including two by midfielder Chad Palumbo, a third-team All-American and the seventh overall pick in the PLL Draft.
The third goal of the Princeton flurry came from junior attackman Nate Kabiri, a first-team All-American and Tewaaraton Award finalist, which is awarded to the MVP of college lacrosse. That made it a 5-1 game, and all five Princeton goals had been scored by players who earned at least honorable mention All-American honors.
Finally, Marist responded as freshman attackman Jayce Konowitz buried a shot to make it 5-2. Just over a minute later, Princeton answered to make it 6-2 and close out the first quarter.
As the second quarter began, it was more of the same as Princeton’s offense continued to dominate the game. The Tigers scored two quick goals, including another by Palumbo to complete his first-half hat trick.
After that goal, the Marist defense played more aggressively and looked its best all game, as it did not allow another goal for the final eight minutes of the quarter. A big part of that was freshman goalie Richie Metzger, who made numerous saves to end the half and finished the game with 11 saves, capping off an incredible freshman season.
“He’s phenomenal. Yeah, we tried to give him as many shots, savable shots, as we could. But the best part about Rich is, for someone of his age, as a freshman, you know, even when those goals go in, he’s next-play mentality,” said Marist head coach Dave Scarcello. “He sells out on every possession, and that’s all you can ask for from a goalie and somebody of his age.”
As the defense found its groove, the offense started to show some life as well. Marist began to out-possess Princeton and scored two more goals past first-team senior All-American goalie Ryan Croddick.
Senior midfielder Drew Anderson made it an 8-3 game on a beautiful quick-stick finish, followed by Konowitz’s second goal of the game to make it 8-4 as the half came to a close.
As both teams came out of the locker room for the start of the second half, Marist lost all the momentum it had built, and the No. 1 team in the country showed exactly why it earned that ranking.
In the third quarter, Princeton outscored Marist 8-0 to make it 16-4 and put the game out of reach. Palumbo added three more goals in the quarter, as Marist had no answer for him all game long. He finished with a game high six goals.
“Obviously, Princeton’s a very good team. We knew what we were going up against and the players they have on offense, but we were going to treat them like any other team,” said graduate student long pole Aiden McCaffrey.
By the time the fourth quarter came around, the Marist offense started to gain some momentum, but it was too little, too late. The Red Foxes went on a four-goal run to close out the game, but there was simply not enough time left, and the clock expired with a 17-8 final score.
Two of those goals were scored by senior captains Peter Murray and Drew Anderson as they completed their Marist careers. They both led Marist in scoring with two goals each.
“The season meant the world to me. I love each and every guy on the team. We battled all season long, and we’ve been through all the ups and downs, and I just love how our guys always respond,” said Anderson.
This marks the end of an incredible Marist season in which the program made history and broke records. Marist captured its fifth MAAC title, the most in conference history, and became the first MAAC team to appear in the Round of 16 since 2015, when it also represented the conference.
“Yeah, I mean, just dating back to September, I thought these guys came in and worked every day to earn this opportunity, and I couldn’t be more proud of this team and our ability to be in this game. I’m just really proud of this team and all their fight this year, and hope they get the praise that they deserve,” Scarcello said.
Princeton moves on to face Penn State in the quarterfinals, while Marist heads into the offseason looking to build off one of the best seasons in program history.
Edited by Max Rosen
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photo by Quinn DiFiore
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