The Princeton men’s lacrosse team was cruising along, but then came a tough trip to Cornell, and while it’s not back to the drawing board it is time for the Tigers to refocus. No. 6 Princeton (4-2, 0-1 Ivy) doesn’t exactly have East Cupcake State invading Sherrerd Field at the Class of 1952 St adium this Saturday as No. 12 Harvard (5-1, 1-0 Ivy) is heading south with a ton of confidence after a win over Yale last week. “For us it’s been about getting better every single week,” said Princeton coach Matt Madalon. “Now we have to get back in it and clean up some things. They (Cornell) did a good job of playing hard and exposing some of our weaknesses.” Madalon has been using a lot of players in an effort to create some depth and at the same time checking for the best possible — and most successful — combinations. “We have been playing a pretty big roster and we want to try and continue to figure out our depth,” said Madalon. “What has been impressive is that a lot of guys continue to be stepping up and getting better.” The Tigers are home for just the third time this season and believe the friendly confines of Sherrerd Field will add even more emotion and intensity to the Ivy League battle. Last week, the Tigers couldn’t stop the Big Red’s CJ Krist from setting the Cornell scoring record, but now it’s their own Coulter Mackesy who’s moving up the all-time scoring charts. Mackesy, a senior captain, has 20 goals and six assists this season and is in third place on the all-time list, three goals behind Chris Massey. Massey had 146 goals and Mackesy enters play this weekend with 143. Jesse Hubbard is Princeton’s all-time leader with 163 goals. Chad Palumbo has seven goals and 10 assists, Cooper Muller has 13 ground balls, Cooper Kistler, a longstick, has 10 ground balls, and another captain, Michael Bath, has eight caused turnovers. Ryan Croddick leads all of Division I with 15.0 saves per game in the cage. “We want to be able to be a lot cleaner throughout the field and more aggressive in transition and with the clears,” stated Madalon. “The league 1s awesome and it should be an absolute dogfight. Everyone gets up for these games.” Harvard’s win over Yale was its first in eight years, and it will be looking to stop a two-game losing skid to the Tigers. Princeton leads the series 63-25-1. The Tigers have been getting great leadership from Mackesy and Bath, and the entire senior class seems ready to get back to its winning ways. “The leadership has been great; (Michael) Bath and Mackesy have done a great job as captains to this point,” said Madalon. “The senior class has been very dialed in and that is the group we are going to lean on down the stretch.” ...read more read less