No. 15/16 Men’s Lacrosse Undone at No. 3 Princeton

Saturday, March 7

Princeton, N.J,

12:00 PM

Rutgers University

5-2

Princeton

4-1

Rutgers

Princeton

Photo by: Dakota Moyer

No. 15/16 Men’s Lacrosse Undone at No. 3 Princeton

Mar 07 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery

PRINCETON, N.J. – No. 15/16 Rutgers men's lacrosse headed south for an in-state rivalry matchup against No. 3 Princeton on Saturday afternoon. In the 102^nd edition of the Meistrell Cup, Rutgers lost 20-9. Princeton improved to 4-1 overall and RU fell to 5-2.

Bennett Raphalian matched his career-high in goals and Colin Kelly had his third multi-goal game of the year. Goalkeeper Carden Kirst made a career-high six saves in relief of Cardin Stoller.

Princeton had the advantage in shots (50-40) and ground balls (42-19). The Tigers won 23-of-33 faceoffs.

Princeton won the opening faceoff and put home a rebound in the opening 10 seconds of the game, and took an early 3-0 lead in the first three minutes of the contest, leading to a Rutgers timeout. The Tigers extended their lead to 4-0 before RU had its first possession.

Greyson Vorgang scored on the first possession for RU, putting home a lefty shot from in front off the feed from Kasey Mongillo. Then, Mongillo had the second goal of the game for RU with a strike from long range. However, Princeton built a 9-2 lead after 13 minutes of action.

Colin Kelly got on the scoreboard for RU with the team's third tally of the game. However, Princeton extended their lead to 11-3 after the first 25 minutes. At halftime, Princeton led 14-3.

Bennett Raphalian scored the opening goal of the second half. The Tigers came back with another run, leading 18-4 at the third quarter media timeout. Bennett Raphalian tallied again from Mongillo late in the third. At the end of the third, Princeton led 19-5, and the Tigers finished off the victory.

Postgame Notes

The first quarter output for Princeton represented the first time that RU surrendered nine goals in a quarter since 2012. In Brian Brecht's first season, Syracuse scored nine goals in the opening quarter against RU in a neutral site matchup in Charlotte, at the ESPNU Warrior Classic. The previous time that RU had allowed eight goals in a quarter, they won the game, defeating Utah 18-14 on March 3, 2023 despite an eight-goal fourth quarter for Utah.
Princeton reached 20 goals in a game against Rutgers for the first time in 102 meetings between the teams.

Up Next

A midweek game at St. John's is on tap this Tuesday. That is followed by RU hosting Bellarmine in the final home non-conference game in the LaCROSSE Out Cancer game. Supporters can donate to the cause to support the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation by visiting here.

Gallery: (3-7-2026) Men's Lacrosse at Princeton