The Princeton University men’s lacrosse team went from needing a win on the final day of the regular season to make sure it qualified for the Ivy League Tournament to lifting the championship trophy for the second straight year. Three different players recorded a hat trick and the Tigers delivered a dominant wire-to-wire, 18-11, victory over Penn in the Ivy final on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y., to secure a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Princeton (11-4) will find out its first-round opponent — and whether it snuck into the top eight for a home game — during Sunday night’s selection show. The NCAA field consists of 17 teams, with nine automatic qualifiers and eight at-large choices. BACK TO BACK IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/HEr6OhDGpd — Princeton Men's Lacrosse (@TigerLacrosse) May 5, 2024 The Tigers were in peril of missing out on the Ivy Tournament heading into the final weekend of the regular season, but got the victory the needed over Yale to make sure of their place in the top four. They beat Yale again in the semifinal before turning it up against the Quakers (9-6) in the championship game. Colin Burns, Sean Cameron, Tommy Barnds and Coulter Mackesy all had three goals each as part of a balanced offensive effort. Princeton controlled the ball and time of possession, out-shooting Penn, 51-37, and took advantage of penalties by scoring on 4-of-6 man-up opportunities. The defining sequence arrived at the end of the third quarter when Tucker Wade and Mackesy scored rapid-fire goals in the last 13 seconds to push the Tigers’ lead to 15-11 with 12 minutes to play. When Burns caged his second of three tallies 18 seconds in the fourth quarter, the game was all but over. :02 Q3 │ CMAC WITH 2 SECONDS LEFT IN THE QUARTER 2 GOALS IN 12 SECONDS TO GO UP 4!! pic.twitter.com/ngNT5OwRK9 — Princeton Men's Lacrosse (@TigerLacrosse) May 5, 2024 Mackesy’s three goals give him 39 on the season and 122 in his career, which moved him into fifth on the program’s all-time scoring list. He put the cherry on top of his afternoon with a terrific effort to fight through two defenders and score on an empty net. This play by Coulter Mackesy to seal victory in the Ivy League Championship was PURE GRIT @TigerLacrosse (via ESPNU) pic.twitter.com/Gzkuzd0p9N — TLN (@LacrosseNetwork) May 5, 2024 Princeton out-scored Penn, 3-0, in the final 12 minutes and finished the contest on a 5-0 run going back to the final 13 seconds of the third quarter. Michael Gianforcaro stopped 11 shots for the Tigers. This was the second straight season Matt Madalon’s side had to earn the automatic berth to reach the NCAA Tournament. They got an at-large in 2022 and advanced all the way to the Final Four in Hartford, Conn., before falling to eventual national champion Maryland.