Blake, Princeton Revel in 'Underdog' Label After Another Offensive Masterclass

BALTIMORE, Md. — The bewildered look on Tim McCormack’s face was not unlike those of other head coaches who have had to deal with the Princeton offense in 2025.

About 20 minutes after Princeton beat Johns Hopkins 18-12 in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday afternoon at Homewood Field, McCormack broke down the one thing every opponent that the Tigers have played knows all too well — they’re just really, really good.

“They’re a very well-rounded group,” he said. “They primarily play off that lefty side, but it’s like three or four individuals that can beat you. Obviously, we let one do a majority of the work, which you never want. … I just think very well-rounded. Disciplined. Very patient. That’s tough to play a zone defense like ours when you’re playing against a patient group.”

The one that beat the Blue Jays, of course, was McKenzie Blake, the senior who continued to rewrite the Tigers’ record book in Princeton’s first matchup against Johns Hopkins since 2013. The senior deposited eight goals on 10 shots, and in what’s become a Princeton tradition in 2025, started her ledger with a nifty behind-the-back finish.

Blake set the program’s single-season goals record and now has 86 this spring.

That makes 13 goals for Blake in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, including Friday’s 19-10 dispatching of UMass. It’s represented a marked turnaround for a Princeton team left licking its wounds after a 17-6 loss to Yale in the Ivy League championship game last Sunday.

Yale’s sound performance against the Tigers limited Blake to two goals on only four shot attempts. It also likely pushed Princeton out of the seeded field, maybe even giving Johns Hopkins the nod as the No. 8 seed.

That wasn’t lost on Princeton head coach Jenn Cook.

“Coming into this game and in this new season of the NCAA tournament, we are underdogs, and we love that about these games. We’re rising in our moment,” Cook said. “We started the year as underdogs, and with how the bracket shook out, it was very clear that we were back to being underdogs.”

The Tigers will once again be underdogs in Thursday’s NCAA quarterfinal against top-seeded and undefeated North Carolina, where Jenn Cook played from 2004-07. The quarterfinal start times were not announced at publication time.

Johns Hopkins (13-7) gave Princeton (16-3) a ballgame the entire first half, though the Tigers entered the half on a 3-0 run. Three different players (Haven Dora, Maggie Molnar and Jami MacDonald) assisted a trio of Blake goals for a 7-4 lead.

The Jays came out of the half by cutting the deficit to 7-5 on a free position goal off the stick of Lacey Downey, but that’s when the cascade of Princeton goals began. McCormack likened it to a make-it, take-it offense, with Hopkins struggling to even maintain possession when it did get control of the ball.

Princeton scored six straight, with Blake netting two and the others coming from Molnar, Colette Quinn, Meg Morrisroe and Nina Montes, to break it open at 13-5 with 7:11 left in the third quarter.

Ashley Mackin briefly stopped the bleeding to make it 13-6 only for Princeton to come back and score another pair, both by Morrisroe, for a 15-6 lead.

Even as Hopkins played a spirited last 12 minutes to get the game back to a closer margin, the Princeton defense didn’t make things easy. Cook said they knew Hopkins’ offense well and excelled against it Sunday.

“I thought our defenders executed our defensive gameplan perfectly today,” she said. “We knew they were going to run the two-man. We knew what they were looking for and what they wanted. We clogged a lot of space. We slid together. We switched on picks together.”

It all comes back to prep work and confidence for the Tigers. And it probably all starts with Blake, too.

Cook celebrated Blake’s lacrosse IQ and playmaking skills. McCormack said it’s apparent that Blake’s skillset and Princeton’s style are a perfect match.

“She’s very smart,” McCormack said, referencing her ability to time her cuts and Princeton’s ability to hit her in stride. “It seems as if the principles of play for that offense, she’s almost the catalyst of it. She embodies what they’re trying to do very, very well.”

What Princeton will next try to do is upend North Carolina, one of only seven offenses to score at a higher clip than the Tigers this year. This will mark just the second time ever that Princeton and North Carolina have met, the last being a 16-2 Princeton win in the NCAA semifinals on May 17, 2002.

The fact that this is on the table represents quite the reversal from just seven days prior.

“Coming back from that,” goalie Amelia Hughes said, “we have a lot to prove.”