No. 1 Princeton Tops Duke in NCAA Semifinals

Saturday, May 23

Charlottesville, Va.

12 p.m.

Duke University

11-5, 1-3

Princeton

16-2, 5-1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Duke	2	2	2	1	7
Princeton	3	3	5	3	14

The Duke men's lacrosse team faced No. 1 Princeton in the 2026 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Final Four.

Photo by: Nat LeDonne / Duke Athletics

No. 1 Princeton Tops Duke in NCAA Semifinals

5/23/2026 2:13:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Duke junior Benn Johnston registered a hat trick, but a 5-2 third quarter in Princeton's favor pushed the top-seeded Tigers to a 14-7 victory in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Semifinals Saturday afternoon at Scott Stadium.

Princeton goaltender Ryan Croddick had 20 saves to lead the Tigers to victory. Johnston paced all Duke (11-5) scorers with three points. Cal Girard went 12-of-18 at the faceoff dot.

How it Happened

Defense was the story in the opening minutes with both teams combining for five turnovers. Princeton took advantage of a couple of the unsettled situations in the first seven minutes to grab a 2-0 lead.
A save from Duke goalie Buck Cunningham allowed the Blue Devils to get out in transition. Aidan Maguire ran the length of the field and found Johnston for the stinger to make it 2-1 with 7:12 left in the opening quarter.
Johnston got his second of the day five minutes later to tie the game at 2-2.
After Princeton (16-2) scored in the final 30 seconds of the first quarter, the Blue Devils charged to the 4-3 lead with goals from Mac Christmas and Girard eight seconds apart to begin the second.
The Tigers registered the final three tallies of the half to take a 6-4 lead into the locker room. Duke hit two crossbars and a third went off the pipe in the opening 30 minutes.
Princeton outscored Duke, 5-2, in the third quarter to surge to an 11-6 lead after three. Michael Ortlieb and Johnston had Duke's two goals as the Tigers scored five goals on 15 shots in the frame. Cunningham had five saves for the Blue Devils while Croddick had four for the Tigers during the third quarter.
After Princeton went up six, Duke attackman Kyle Colsey made it a five-goal game with 10 minutes to play. The Tigers added two goals in the last 3:06 remaining for the 14-7 final.