College Notebook: Princeton men’s lacrosse travels to Maryland for NCAA Tournament

The Princeton University men’s lacrosse team has been drawn against Maryland in a first round NCAA Tournament game to be played on Saturday night in College Park, Md.

The Tigers earned a third straight NCAA bid by storming to the Ivy League Tournament championship with an 18-11 victory over Penn on Sunday afternoon. As it turned out, the automatic bid was the only route to the NCAA Tournament as the Ivy was a one-bid league this spring.

Princeton (11-4) was hoping its three-game winning streak to end the season — two victories over Yale and then the one over Penn in the final — would be enough for a top-eight seed and a first-round home game. Instead, the Tigers are headed to the Old Line State for a primetime face off (7:30 p.m., ESPNU) against the seventh-seeded Terrapins (8-5).

Maryland, making its 21st straight NCAA appearance, beat Princeton, 13-7, back on Feb. 24. The Terps got out to a 6-1 lead and were never seriously threatened in that contest. Maryland also beat the Tigers in the 2022 national semifinals in Hartford, Conn.

The Terps, however, have lost two in a row and are 4-5 in their last nine games following a 4-0 start.

The winner meets either Utah (12-4) or second-seeded Duke (12-5) in the quarterfinals on May 18. The semifinals (May 25) and national championship game (May 27) are at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Women’s Lacrosse

Princeton earned an at-large bid into the 29-team field and face Drexel in a first-round game in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on the campus of Boston College.

The Tigers (10-6) finished second in the Ivy League, but lost in the Ivy Tournament semifinals to Penn. The Dragons (13-5) were also an at-large selection after finishing second in the CAA before falling to Stony Brook in the CAA Tournament final.

Boston College (16-3) is the No. 2 overall seed — the top three national seeds get a first-round bye — after winning the ACC Tournament with victories over Duke, Notre Dame and Syracuse.

In the Division III Tournament, fresh off a 13th straight NJAC title TCNJ (14-4) hosts Colby (11-6) in a second-round game. This is a rematch of a third-round contest last season that was won by Colby.

Baseball

Rider snapped a four-game losing streak on Saturday when Luke Lesch hit a tie-breaking grand slam in the ninth inning that avoided a sweep at Mount St. Mary’s. The Broncs (22-20, 13-5) have six games remaining, beginning on Friday with Iona (11-32, 5-13) in town for three. The regular season wraps up next weekend with a three-game set at Manhattan.

Rider is in third place in the MAAC, trailing co-leaders Fairfield (27-20, 16-2) and Niagara (30-12, 16-2) by three games. The Stags and Purple Eagles play each in other three-game series this weekend at Niagara. The top six qualify for the MAAC Tournament at Clover Field in Pomona, N.Y.

In the Ivy League, Princeton (17-24, 12-9) locked up the No. 2 seed for next weekend’s Ivy Tournament in New York. Columbia (26-15, 17-4) finished five games clear of the Tigers for the regular-season title and hosts the four-team tourney. Princeton opens against No. 3 seed Penn (20-22, 11-10), while Columbia faces No. 4 seed Cornell (15-19, 11-10).

Softball

Princeton (26-15, 14-7) hosts the Ivy Tournament this week after it earned a share of the regular-season title thanks to a dramatic 3-run walk-off home run off the bat of Lauren Sablone in a 5-4 victory over Cornell. It was actually a three-way tie between Princeton, Yale and Harvard, but the Tigers earned the right to host thanks to their 4-2 record amongst the group.

The double-elimination tournament opens on Thursday for Princeton against No. 4 seed Dartmouth (17-15, 13-7), while No. 2 seed Yale (20-24, 14-7) faces No. 3 seed Harvard (24-15, 14-7). Keep an eye on Harvard junior Priyanka Kaul. The West Windsor-Plainsboro South grad batted .400 (30-for-75) with five doubles and 16 RBI in 30 games.

Over in the MAAC, Rider (23-26, 15-8) completed its regular season with a doubleheader sweep of Quinnipiac to earn the No. 3 in the league tournament, the highest seed in program history. Coach Davon Ortega’s team is 9-2 in its last 11 games and faces No. 6 seed Siena (29-20, 12-11) int he first round of the double-elimination tournament in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.