Duke Continues Chase for National Title Saturday against No. 1 Princeton

Saturday, May 23

Charlottesville, Va.

12 p.m.

Duke University

Princeton

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Duke celebrates a men's lacrosse win against Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals

Photo by: Nick Ieradi

Duke Continues Chase for National Title Saturday against No. 1 Princeton

5/22/2026 2:20:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Game Notes Championship Weekend Hub Watch Stats

The Opening Faceoff

Duke takes on top-seeded Princeton in the NCAA semifinals after cruising past Georgetown, 16-6, in the quarterfinals. The Blue Devils are 3-1 all-time against the No. 1 seed in NCAA postseason action.
The Blue Devils are 11-4 overall with the four losses coming by a combined eight goals. Princeton is 15-2 and Ivy League Champions. The Tigers' two setbacks came against Penn State (13-7) and Cornell (13-11).
Junior Benn Johnston paces the offense with 40 goals and eight assists for 48 points. Max Sloat is having a solid year out of the midfield with 36 goals and 43 points overall. Kyle Colsey has 31 goals at attack and Michael Ortlieb rounds out the attack trio with 24. Brady Scioletti has played both midfield and attack and owns 24 goals and seven assists. Thomas Mencke and Ortlieb are tied for a team-high 17 assists. Liam Kershis completes the first midfield with 17 goals and 15 assists.
The Blue Devils have a stalwart defense and are holding teams to 8.73 goals and to just 27-percent shooting. The close defense trio of Charlie Johnson (17), Nikolas Menendez (16) and Henry Bard (17) have combined for 50 caused turnovers and 78 ground balls. Menendez has been excellent off the ground with 28 ground balls, while Aidan Maguire leads the rope unit with 15 takeaways and 38 GBs. In goal, Buck Cunningham has a .527 save percentage and 9.53 goals against average.

By the Numbers
27-percent shooting. The close defense trio of Charlie Johnson (17), Nikolas Menendez (16) and Henry Bard (17) have combined for 50 caused turnovers and 78 ground balls. Menendez has been excellent off the ground with 28 ground balls, while Aidan Maguire leads the rope unit with 15 takeaways and 38 GBs. In goal, Buck Cunningham has a .527 save percentage and 9.53 goals against average.
14-1 - Duke's record in Charlottesville under head coach John Danowski - 11-0 versus Virginia and 3-1 in the other four games
24 - Points for Thomas Mencke this season - two more than he registered in any of his three years at Virginia and 47 percent of his career total of 51
.269 - Duke opponents' shot percentage this season with the Blue Devils holding 10 of 15 foes under 30 percent shooting
36 - Goals by senior Max Sloat - the most by a Duke midfielder since Deemer Class had 50 in 2016
3-0 - Duke's record against No. 1 seeds under John Danowski
.732 - Faceoff win percentage for Princeton specialist Andrew McMeekin in the NCAA Tournament
.568 - Cal Girard's win percentage at the dot during postseason play
.586 - Cal Girard's faceoff win percentage this season, winning at least 50 percent of his restarts in 12 of 15 games
8.83 - Points per game for Princeton attackmen Nate Kabiri and Chad Palumbo - 4.59 and 4.24 per game, respectively
3 - Games this season Duke has allowed two players to combine for nine or more points in a game

Series History

Duke and Princeton face off for the 12th time overall and for the third time in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils are 2-9 all-time against the Tigers with the last meeting between the two programs coming in 2025 - a narrow 15-14 victory for Princeton in Durham.
The Tigers are 2-0 in NCAA Tournament games, besting the Blue Devils in the semifinals in 1997 (10-9) and the quarterfinals in 1998 (11-9).

Duke in NCAA Tournament Tidbits

Duke is playing in its 28th NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils are 46-24 all-time in NCAA postseason games and 7-7 in NCAA semifinals.
The Blue Devils are 37-14 in the NCAA Tournament under John Danowski and have advanced to the semifinals in 12 of 18 NCAA Tournament appearances since 2007.
John Danowski has 41 NCAA Championship wins (4 at Hofstra, 37 at Duke) to lead all active Division I coaches and rank second all-time behind Bill Tierney's 44 as the DI leader.
The Blue Devils are one of eight Division I programs to appear in at least 28 NCAA Tournaments. Duke's 46 wins in 28 showings make it one of 10 teams to have more wins than appearances. The Blue Devils became the fifth Division I program with 45 NCAA postseason wins with the opening round win at Richmond.

A Win Over Princeton Would …

Be head coach John Danowski's 496th career win
Be Danowski's 277th win at Duke
Be Danowski's 42nd NCAA Tournament win
Make Danowski 4-0 against No. 1 seeds as Duke's leader
Be Duke's third top 5 win this season
Advance Duke to its eighth national title game and seventh under Danowski
Give Duke its sixth top 20 win of the season and 149th under John Danowski

Duel at the Dot

Junior Cal Girard looks to continue his strong play at the faceoff dot. He was dominant at the dot against Richmond, winning 21-of-27 faceoffs and picked up a career-high 16 ground balls. He won 10-of-21 versus Georgetown and scored a goal.
Duke has won at least 50 percent of faceoffs in 12 of 15 games this season and won 13-of-31 against the country's best FOGO in Brady Wambach. Princeton's Andrew McMeekin also has been outstanding this season (210-of-356, .590) and has shined in NCAA postseason play at 73 percent.

Kershis Kicking it into High Gear

Sophomore Liam Kershis has taken his game to a new level in the past three games, providing five goals and five assists for 10 points. He also has just four turnovers total in those three games. Thirty-one percent of his points on the season have come in the past three games - all against top-10 teams.
In Duke's four setbacks, Kershis had just two goals and four assists for six points, but turned the ball over six times, including five against Cornell.

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