3 takeaways from No. 6 Syracuse lacrosse’s 11-7 loss to No. 7 Princeton

Syracuse spent the past week at practice with a bad taste in its mouth.

In what it hoped would be a contest that firmly cemented it as the No. 1 team in the country, SU came out on the wrong side of a very winnable matchup against Harvard — a program that had never defeated a top-ranked team before.

When asked about his team’s level of urgency in practice following the loss, SU head coach Gary Gait said it wanted to prove that “they were better than that” and “they can play a game with fewer mistakes.” However, Syracuse’s performance at Princeton on Friday didn’t do much to reinforce either of those points.

In its first of two games in a three-day span against Ivy League opponents, Syracuse suffered its second straight loss at Princeton. Smothered by the Tigers' defense from the beginning, the Orange struggled to possess the ball early and quickly found themselves in a 6-0 hole as a result. Though SU showed fight down the stretch, it never came close to pulling off a comeback as Princeton cruised to a four-goal victory — their first over Syracuse since April 4, 2009.

Here are three takeaways from the Orange's second setback of the 2026 campaign.

A nightmarish opening quarter

Similar to its last contest against Harvard, Syracuse didn’t come out of the gates playing anywhere near its best brand of lacrosse. Princeton did.

Stifled by Princeton’s aggressive defense, SU’s shot attempts were few and far between throughout the opening 10 minutes of action. It wasn’t until 5:31 remained in the frame that Payton Anderson finally gave goalie Ryan Croddick his first test of the night with SU’s first shot on target.

To make matters worse, the Orange committed five turnovers in the opening frame, which gave the Tigers all the ammunition they needed to produce at the other end of the field.

Highlighted by five different scorers, Princeton quickly turned goalie Jimmy McCool’s net into a shooting gallery. The netminder came up with just two saves and didn’t look comfortable between the pipes as the players in front of him couldn’t contain Chad Palumbo and Co.

When the dust settled, SU was left staring at a five-goal deficit after the first quarter in a regular-season contest for the first time since April 22, 2023.

Princeton flexes its offensive depth

As it prepared to face Princeton’s deep offense, Gait said his team used then-No. 14 Penn State’s 13-7 win over it earlier in the year as a model to follow. But despite having the benefit of film to review, it didn’t do much for SU when the time came to hit the field.

Coming into the second quarter with a comfortable lead, the Tigers continued to pound the net just as they had in the first. When Princeton’s Tucker Wade boosted its advantage to 8-3 in the final seconds of the first half, the tally marked the Tigers’ first repeat goal scorer of the game.

Though the Orange played a much more sound defensive game over the final 30 minutes, the Tigers’ attack still did enough to put an SU comeback out of the question. Six Princeton players ended the evening with multipoint outings, led by Palumbo and Nate Kabri with three apiece.

Jimmy McCool’s two-sided outing

Coming off a .500 save percentage performance at Harvard — his worst mark of the season — redemption was likely on Jimmy McCool’s mind as he stepped into the crease Friday evening. What followed was a performance that can best be summarized as a mixed bag.

SU’s No. 1 goalie wasn’t at his best by any means, but he did enough to give his team a chance despite the shoddy defensive performance in front of him. After allowing eight goals on 14 shots in the first half, McCool looked more like himself out of the break and allowed just three the rest of the way.

He finished the game with a .607 save percentage, his third-best mark of the campaign.

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