MAC ATTACK: Princeton University women’s lacrosse player Jami MacDonald, left, goes after the ball in a game earlier in her career. Junior attacker MacDonald, who tallied 34 goals and 21 assists last spring, figures to be a go-to scorer for the Tigers this season. Princeton opens its 2025 campaign by hosting Virginia (1-0) on February 15. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Justin Feil

The Princeton University women’s lacrosse team won’t have to wait long to gauge its strengths.

The Tigers face a pair of challenging non-conference foes to open their 2025 campaign, hosting Virginia at Class of 1952 Stadium this Saturday and then hosting Loyola on February 23.

“It’s going to be a quick kind of trial by fire, see what we’ve got, see how we compete against the nation’s best,” said Jenn Cook, who is in her third season as head coach at Princeton and guided the Tigers to the second round of the NCAA tournament last spring. “And really I think that helps you learn so much about yourself early in the season that allows you to go back and tweak different things as you head into really, really critical Ivy play throughout March and April.”

Virginia already has a game under its belt, a convincing 20-5 win over Liberty last Saturday. Jenna Dinardo had four goals, and Kate Miller, Abby Manalang, and Jayden Piraino all posted hat tricks. Addi Foster scored twice and assisted on four goals for an offense that had graduated some of its top players. Princeton got a look at the offense and defense they’ll face in their opener.

“They have a bit of a different look, but they do have a core of returners that are incredibly solid,” said Cook. “UVA is a really, really talented team. I think one thing that really jumps off the page for me is Mel Josephson for them in the goal cage. She does really, really well. She had a great year last year. She’s an incredibly talented goalkeeper, so we’re going to have to shoot well this upcoming Saturday and make the most of our opportunities when shooting on cage because she’s an incredibly talented goalie.”

Princeton has the sort of firepower that will give it opportunities to score on the Cavaliers. Last year, Virginia pulled out a 14-12 win over the Tigers in Charlottesville, Va. Princeton has a number of key players back from last year that will be looking to turn the tables. While Princeton graduated Grace Tauckus, who was second on the team last spring with 47 goals, it returns three of its top four scorers in McKenzie Blake (67 goals, 5 assists in 2024), Haven Dora (29 goals, 40 assists), and Jami MacDonald (34 goals, 21 assists).

“Losing Grace and her leadership and her understanding of the game is of course going to always impact any type of team, but I think what’s fantastic is we’re returning those three core individuals in McKenzie, Haven and Jami,” said Cook. “They know the offense — they know how to lead. They’ve really stepped into that role in stride,, and they really just allow us to have continuity on that offensive end.”

Princeton also said goodbye to a couple of big contributors in the midfield in Kari Buonanno and Sam DeVito. It’s not as though the midfield doesn’t have players back with experience though, it’s just a matter of finding their chemistry together in elevated roles.

“Sophie Whiteway is a returning senior midfielder for us who takes the draw,” said Cook. “Lane Calkins, Maggie Molnar, Colette Quinn, all those guys are in the midfield and they’re returners who have had significant time and know our systems on both sides of the ball. And of course they’re taking more of the lead now. They have that experience, so it’s been pretty seamless.”

Whiteway was second on the team in draw controls last year behind Abigail Roberts, who also returns. The Tigers feel good about the returners that they can use and what they’ll be able to show given their increased opportunity.

The defensive end also returns a lot. The unit graduated Caroline Burnett, but the remainder of the defense is back in front of goalie Amelia Hughes (13.40 goals against average, 223 saves in 2024).

“On the defensive side of the ball, you have returners like Sam Whiting, Dylan Allen, Abigail Roberts, and then also a sprinkle of other players that have had time in the past in Mia James and Paige Vegna, along with obviously our Ivy League Goalie of the Year, Amelia Hughes,” said Cook. “We’ve been able to implement new things and really lock down certain concepts on the offensive and defensive side of the ball that we have wanted. For us on the defensive side with that maturity allows us to be a little bit more creative, have a little bit more of a lockdown D on certain important individuals.”

The experience returning allows the newcomers time to adjust to the college game before being thrown into the mix. Princeton does have some freshmen who will make an impact this season.

“Grace Mulham on the offensive side of the ball,” said Cook. “On the defensive side of the ball, I would say Zoe Bye is a freshman who could get some good time for us. And Amelia Hughes is our go-to Ivy League goalie of the year, but Elizabeth Gonnella has had a really good fall and preseason as well in the cage.”

They are learning on the fly as Princeton’s wealth of experience gives them a good starting point. The Tigers feel they can start out ahead of some previous seasons.

“Because of the experience that we have, I think it’s allowed us to really work in some new offensive pieces and defensive pieces through the fall just because we have that experience,” said Cook. “They already have that foundation. Offensively that group in general likes to play fast, and shares the ball incredibly well.”

Princeton took a big step forward last year in an 11-7 season in which it went 6-1 in the Ivy League after going 7-9 overall and 4-3 Ivy in 2023. The Tigers are looking to improve on those marks and win an Ivy title.

“What we’ve been really stressing on both sides of the ball is fundamentals, like playing what we know, playing what we see and just executing the fundamentals at a really high level because that’s all we need to do,” said Cook. “We don’t need to get too overly cerebral. We need to play what we know and play what we see with this group because they’re that talented.”

It’s another strong conference. Cook believes the Ivies are underrated nationally. Last year, they had the second best RPI (Rating Percentage Index) as a conference in March. Yale and Penn are both ranked in the national top 20 along with Princeton. The Tigers open Ivy play March 8 when they host Harvard. By then, the Tigers will have had five non-conference games to prepare. They take on Delaware, Hofstra, and Penn State before starting the Ivy slate.

“We’re playing really, really good talent outside the league,” said Cook. “The league itself is really talented as well, so I think it all kind of plays into each other. Honestly, I just don’t think the Ivy League has been given the respect that it’s due or the media attention that it’s due because a lot of that goes to the ACC and Big Ten in general. I think the Ivy League’s always been here, always given out of conference opponents a run for their money and challenged them.”

Princeton expects to do its part, beginning Saturday with a difficult opener. The Tigers are looking forward to using their returning experience and working together to improve on last year’s season.

“It’s continuing to play for each other,” said Cook. “I think we did that really, really well last year. We just loved playing together and we really love our teammates, and we really love the game, and we just want to continue to play for each other as long as we can. That is something I want us to continue into this season — playing for each other, making the most of our opportunities, having each other’s backs. And just being relentless in everything that we do and having that belief. That’s really what we’re talking about with our players day in and day out.”