Mad-uh-lon, Mad-uh-lon

The Princeton men's lacrosse postgame tailgate was already in a highly festive mood Sunday afternoon at Columbia. 

And why wouldn't it be?

The Tigers had just completed a remarkable weekend in Upper Manhattan, taking down Penn and Yale to win the Ivy League tournament and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. When the selections came out last night, Princeton learned that it would be at Penn State in the opening round Sunday night at 7:30. 

The party just after the game consisted of parents, friends, alums. There were tons of former players, especially younger alums who embrace this team for the successes the last two years, a trip to Championship Weekend in 2022, a return to the tournament in 2023 — successes that many of them never go to experience first hand. Instead of bitterness, all they feel is love for the program.

Eventually, a chant of "Mad-uh-lon, Mad-uh-lon" broke out, a rhythmic salute to the head coach, Matt Madalon. As unassuming as a head coach can be, Madalon has done a remarkable job with his team the last few years, racing off to a 5-0 start in 2020 before that season ended, holding his players together from all over the country during the Covid year, hitting the ground running when play resumed a year ago and guiding this year's team through the worst injury crunch the team has seen in a long time, not to mention a four-game, 28-day losing streak in the early season that pretty much ended any hope of an at-large bid.

He'll tell you that he doesn't care about individual honors. He will constantly point out the work that anyone in his program does, regardless of their role. There hasn't been a bus driver whose hand he hasn't shaken or who has not been invited to team meals. There is no member of a hotel staff who hasn't been thanked profusely.

Madalon will tell you the best part of this weekend is that it gave them all at least one more week to practice and be together. Make no mistake. He's fiercely competitive. He just understands how to channel that competitiveness and get the most out of everyone around him.

This year's team went into the weekend knowing its path into the NCAA tournament was clear: Win twice, or go home. 

Friday night was a physical, difficult, gut-wrenching battle with Penn. Neither team ever led by more than two. A two-goal lead felt like five or six. Goals came at a premium for the first three quarters. Neither team scored in the first 14:57 of the third. Princeton scored just once from midway through the first quarter until early in the fourth, going a remarkable 37 minutes without a goal.

In the end, it was Princeton 9, Penn 8, a win not secured until freshman face-off man Andrew McMeekin won a draw with 13 seconds left, after the Quakers had once again made it a one-goal game. 

The game yesterday lacked that drama. This time, Princeton defeated Yale 19-10 in a game that was 13-3 at the half and 16-4 at one point of the third quarter. The Tigers rolled, all the way into the NCAA tournament.

Those were things that Princeton fans, media people, anybody could see. 

What you coudn't see was what happened away from the field, before the game Friday and especially between games Saturday.

First, there was Friday. Princeton played Penn at 8:30, which is a long time to hang around a hotel. So what did Madalon do? He found a park near the Fort Lee hotel and took his team there to get out and about, move the legs, stay fresh, stay loose, stay together. 

There wasn't much special about the park. There was a lake in the middle of it. Players could play catch. There was laughing and making fun of each other. Quinn Kramer threw a ball all the way across the lake, and Hunter Engel caught it on the other side. 

It was a perfect way to make a few hours of waiting melt away.

Then there was Saturday. Princeton, off of that physical game, had to quickly turn things around to get ready for Yale. There was a light practice at Columbia, but mostly the day was about hydrating, resting, refueling — feeding the Tigers, as it were. 

To make sure everyone was hydrated, Madalon got off the bus after practice, went over to the beverage store next to the hotel, bought eight cases of water, piled them onto two handtrucks and brought them back to the hotel. It was a small thing, but TigerBlog (who was pushing the other handtruck and who dropped four cases of water onto the shoulder of the road that leads to the George Washington Bridge) couldn't help but be impressed. There are not a lot of head coaches who would have done that. Like, almost none. 

After that, there was dinner, catered in the hotel by the Italian restaurant that Princeton went to Thursday night. Picture a hotel banquet room with 50-plus lacrosse players and another 10 staff members, with an Italian buffet. Of course there was a mess.

Then Madalon started to clean it up. By himself. Then the rest of the staff jumped in to help. Within 30 minutes or so, the room was back to being clean, neat and orderly. 

Again, that's not what head coaches usually do.

Princeton is back in the NCAA tournament after its remarkable weekend. This is a team that is playing without a starter on attack, two starting middies, a senior captain shortstick D middie and its No. 1 face-off man, all out with season-ending injuries. It has been plug and play all year.

You think they all weren't tortured every one of those 28 days in between wins? You don't think the entire team could have thrown its hands up after losing three overtime games? You don't think that all of the injuries could have taken a huge toll? 

Yes, all of that could have happened. 

This is a team that wins because of its deep pool of talent and the way they are prepared. As much as that part is obvious, this is also a team that wins because of its culture.  

And that culture has been built by its head coach. 

With a trophy in his hands yesterday, he certainly earned the chant of the fans — even if it probably embarrassed him.