NEW YORK, N.Y. - The No.3 Princeton Tigers rode a huge first quarter to secure a runaway, 19-10 win in the 2023 Ivy League Men’s Lacrosse Tournament Championship game over No. 4 Yale. It is the first championship for Princeton since the Ivy League moved to a tournament format in 2010.
 
The Tigers wasted little time getting on the board as Alex Slusher scored his 9^th goal of the game just 6 seconds into the contest.
 
Yale came back to tie it on Jack Stuzin’s goal 15 seconds later, but the rest of the first quarter was dominated by the Tigers. Princeton retook the lead in under 20 seconds, then continued their run with five additional, unanswered goals to break open a 7-1 lead with under 4 minutes to play. Yale’s Chris Lyons scored his 50^th goal of the season to make it 7-2, which remained the score at the end of the first quarter.
 
The brief quarter break was just enough for Princeton to regroup after Lyons’ goal and formulate their attack. The Tigers scored the quarter’s first six goals to make it 13-2, the last being Alexander Vardaro’s second goal of the quarter, with 5:16 left in the half. Yale was able to generate some offense with Thomas Bragg’s 17^th goal of the year, but the Bulldogs’ lone goal of the quarter had them trailing 13-3 at the end of the first half.
 
Yale flipped the script at the beginning of the third quarter, scoring first, 17 seconds into the quarter, to give the team signs of life. Trailing 13-4, Yale needed more offense, but Princeton’s Michael Gianforcaro made a big save that allowed Princeton to go back on the attack. The Tigers scored a few minutes later, making it 14-4, a goal by Jake Stevens that kicked-off a 3-0 run that made it a 16-4 game midway through the third quarter.
 
Yale did respond with goals by Matt Brandau and Lyons, bringing it to 16-6 at the end of the third quarter, giving the Bulldogs an outside chance at pulling off the comeback.
 
The idea of a comeback grew more prevalent in the early stages of the fourth quarter as Yale opened the last frame with three unanswered goals, trailing 16-9 with nearly 10 minutes left. But their run would stop there as Princeton locked in on defense and used that to propel their offense to the tune of three more goals over the next 6-plus minutes to regain a 10-goal advantage. Nicholas Ramsey scored his second goal of the year to bring Yale to 10 goals on the afternoon, but the final minutes were a coronation for the No. 3-seeded Tigers as they coasted to the 19-10 victory.
 
Princeton wins the automatic qualifier into the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament for the Ivy League, with the field set to be announced later tonight. With three teams in the top-10, No. 7 Cornell, No. 9 Yale, and No. 10 Penn, the Ivy League expects to hear more than just Princeton’s name called tonight.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Emmet Carrolll, Penn
CJ Kirst, Cornell
Jack Stuzin, Yale
Chris Lyons, Yale
Matt Brandau, Yale
Andrew McMeekin, Princeton
Jake Stevens, Princeton
Beau Peterson, Princeton
Sean Cameron, Princeton
Michael Gianforcaro, Princeton (Most Outstanding Player)