Unsettled: Star Power Has Princeton Chasing Championship Dreams

Welcome to this week's edition of Unsettled, a weekly look at big stories, random observations and the numbers from the NCAA men's lacrosse scene. Check back each Sunday for the latest.

When the season turns to May, national championship teams are usually defined by two types of players – stars that rise to the occasion, like Cornell’s C.J. Kirst last year, or by good players that become stars by meeting the moment, like Notre Dame’s Brian Tevlin in 2023.

One thing that was apparent from Princeton and North Carolina this weekend is that both teams have players ready to take a star turn when the lights get bright.

Princeton went 2-0 this weekend, knocking off Syracuse 11-7 on Friday and then edging North Carolina 11-9 on Sunday. Ryan Croddick was the biggest star, making 14 saves against Syracuse and then following that up with an insane career-high tying 25 saves against UNC. And on offense, anyone can carry the load. Peter Buonano, Nate Kabiri and Chad Palumbo are perhaps the most well-known options, but Colin Burns and Tucker Wade are just as dangerous and freshman Parker Reynolds is an emerging threat.

North Carolina went down on Sunday, but the three-headed monster of Owen Duffy, Dom Pietramala and Brady Wambach could carry the Tar Heels to glory.

Penn had UNC on the ropes on Friday night before the Tar Heel trio brought UNC back for an 11-9 win. Pietramala scored two of his five goals late in the first half to tie the game, swinging momentum back to UNC. Wambach’s faceoff win and quick goal gave UNC the lead for good late in the third quarter. Duffy and Pietramala combined for 11 points in the win and Wambach won 16 of 22 faceoffs.

Buckeye Tough

One of Nick Myers favorite saying is, “You win with people.” It’s ingrained everywhere around Columbus as the quote was made famous by legendary Buckeyes’ football coach Woody Hayes.

On Saturday, Ohio State stayed unbeaten because of its people, but also the scrappiness and grit to do the dirty work. A 10-9 victory at Georgetown was wrapped up by a tough obstructed view goal by Garrett Haas with 1:43 to play.

But two other goals stood out. After Georgetown scored the first two goals of the second half to tie the game, Ohio State defenseman Cullen Brown picked up a contested ground ball near the Georgetown goal and with Hoya goalie Anderson Moore out of the cage in the scrum for the ball, Brown buried a go-ahead goal. At the end of the third quarter, Georgetown had taken a 7-6 lead, but with four seconds left in the period, Brad Sharp leaped in the air and batted in a loose ball for the game-tying score.

Brad Sharp got 🆙 for this goal 😳

Vibes are high for the Buckeyes, who finished off a 10-9 win over Georgetown. Sharp had two goals.

🎥: @ohiostatemlax pic.twitter.com/zjWuDPBsbb

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALMag) February 28, 2026

Georgetown was by far Ohio State’s biggest test in a 6-0 start, but the Buckeyes showed their usual toughness in pulling out the road win. Things won’t get any easier. Ohio State welcomes Notre Dame and Denver over the next two weeks before beginning the Big Ten gauntlet.

Random Observations

God bless the ESPN quad box. A Saturday full of big games was made easier to watch thanks to ESPN+ putting four games on one screen. Saturday’s noon quad box had Cornell-Richmond, Ohio State-Georgetown, Army-Holy Cross and Boston University-Navy on one TV screen and I pulled up Maryland-Notre Dame on BTN+ on a second TV in my family room. Trust me, my brain functioned better when I could fully lock in on Johns Hopkins-Virginia later in the day, but I appreciated being able to keep tabs pretty easily on five key games.

What a gut-check win for Richmond at Cornell on Saturday. The Spiders lost twice to Cornell by a goal last season and they played most of Saturday’s game from behind. After Lucas Littlejohn scored the first goal of the game, Richmond did not lead again until Gavin Creo’s game-winner with 1:04 to play gave them the 8-7 triumph.

The 100th all-time meeting between Johns Hopkins and Virginia delivered as usual. For most of the game, Virginia looked to have the swagger of its championship-era teams, moving out to an 11-4 lead in the third quarter. But then Virginia’s offense went quiet and Hunter Chauvette got hot, leading to a 14-13 win for the Blue Jays. Chauvette scored four of his six goals in the second half and JHU goalie Owen Gelinas, who came in after a penalty to starter Dash Lamitie in the first quarter, made nine of his 12 saves in the second half. Gelinas’ final save came in the closing seconds on McCabe Millon’s outside shot.

By the Numbers

3 • Consecutive losses for Maryland after an 11-8 setback at home to Notre Dame, the first three-game losing streak for the Terps in the John Tillman era. Notre Dame ripped off seven straight goals bridging the second and third quarters as the Terps offense struggled with Eric Spanos out of the lineup with an injury.

8 • Career-high goals for Loyola sophomore Mason Cook in a 13-11 win at Colgate. For a Loyola team that has posted back-to-back losing seasons, starting off 1-0 in the Patriot League was a key win. Cook, who has 18 goals on 47 percent shooting in four games, scored Loyola’s final four goals of the game, including three straight after Colgate had taken an 11-10 lead.

5 • Consecutive wins for Duke to open the season after beating St. Joseph’s 12-6 on Sunday. It’s the best start for the Blue Devils since they began the 2021 season with 10 straight wins.

16 • Saves for Cornell goalie Matthew Tully in an 8-7 loss to Richmond on Saturday. Cornell coach Connor Buczek had no concerns about Tully taking over in goal this year for the Big Red and he’s a big reason Cornell was in a position to try and win it.

600 • All-time wins for UMass after an impressive 15-9 win over UAlbany. Owen Salanger put up his second straight monster game as the Minutemen have now won five straight. On Wednesday he made 23 saves in an 11-8 win at Brown. He followed that up with 17 saves in the win over the Great Danes.

7 • Career-high goals for Jack Speidell as Harvard overcame an early deficit to beat Marquette 19-10 on Long Island.

5 • Number of Rutgers games that have had a one-goal margin in the second half this season. The Scarlet Knights have found a way, including Saturday’s 11-8 win over Hofstra that improved their record to 5-1.

7 • Season-high points for Denver’s Cody Malawsky in the Pioneers 15-9 win over Michigan. Malawsky had five goals and two assists, including three points during a four-goal run that broke a 6-6 tie.

21 • Career-high saves for Iona goalie Noah Perea in an 8-6 loss to Stony Brook on Wednesday. Perea made another 11 saves on Saturday against Utah, but the Gaels ran into a buzzsaw, losing 32-4 to the Utes.

6 • Career-high tying goals for Brown’s Jeremy Hopsicker as the Bears wrapped up the Ocean State Cup with a 17-6 win over Bryant.