BOSTON STRONG: Princeton University men’s lacrosse player Coulter Mackesy, left, races past a Rutgers defender in action this spring during his final campaign with the Tigers. Mackesy, who set the Princeton career goals record with 167, went on to star this summer in his debut season with the Boston Cannons of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). He tallied 15 goals and five assists which ranked him in the top 30 in scoring in the PLL. (Photo by Steven Wojtowicz)

By Justin Feil

Coulter Mackesy grew up idolizing Tewaaraton Award winners and professional lacrosse players.

He never expected to be one when he came to Princeton University.

“Throughout my whole career, I’ve definitely — whether it’s good or bad – underestimated myself,” said Mackesy.

Mackesy always had confidence, but his focus was singularly on helping the Princeton men’s lacrosse team any way he could for the past four years. After a record-setting career for the Tigers, Mackesy was one of five 2025 Tewaaraton men’s finalists, which is given to the college player of the year, and started his career in the Professional Lacrosse League (PLL) with the Boston Cannons, who selected him fourth overall.

“I honestly never thought that I would be in that position and the position I am today,” said Mackesy. “I think not really chasing that goal also helped me achieve it in some way and just putting my head down and working hard and trying to be the best player and teammate at Princeton and in high school I could be, I think helped me get to that point and obviously the coaching staff and different teammates I’ve had, I couldn’t have made it without them too.”

The 5’10, 185-pound Mackesy has always been quite the athlete. He was highly touted out of Brunswick School in Connecticut as a left-handed scorer, but he’d also been a key cog for Brunswick’s national No. 1 boys squash team. Squash took a back burner to lacrosse and lacrosse has become a career for Mackesy, who fit in well with the Cannons. His 15 goals and five assists in his rookie season ranked him in the top 30 for points in the league.

“It’s been a ton of fun,” said Mackesy. “Obviously coming off a great season and career at Princeton, it was a tough end there, but being able to just jump right into playing with the Cannons and being with the new locker room has been awesome and I’m super grateful for how my teammates have treated me so far.”

Mackesy graduated after leading the Tigers to a 13-4 record and the NCAA quarterfinals this spring where they lost 19-18 to Syracuse. He scored a program-record 167 career goals — including a single-season record 55 in 2023. His 248 career points rank second all-time. He didn’t have much time before he was into his first PLL game.

“Right after the season ended was definitely a little bit overwhelming just having graduation and training camp and wanting to spend time with all my teammates at Princeton and all my guys there,” said Mackesy. “It’s definitely a quick turnaround and I had to close that chapter so quickly, but I’ve really enjoyed it and my body feels pretty good. Obviously not having five practices a week and being in school and stuff like that, it’s been a fun adjustment so I can really just focus on getting better and getting healthy every week.”

Mackesy didn’t score in his first PLL game. He has scored in every game since then, including a pair of goals in a crucial 13-10 win over the Philadelphia Waterdogs on August 1 that helped Boston’s playoff chances. It was the first time that he and fellow lefty Will Manny started together, and the combination seemed to help spark the offense.

“Coming off of a three-game losing streak and having our backs against the wall definitely gave us some extra motivation there,” said Mackesy. “But I think where we fell short in the past few games was just lack of discipline and kind of beating ourselves, a lot of mistakes that cost us the game, but nothing where teams were beating us. I think it was more we were beating ourselves and I think you saw that on Friday night where we corrected a lot of those mistakes and we were able to dictate the game throughout the whole 48 minutes.”

The final regular season action was hosted last weekend by Boston, and the hosts suffered a gut-wrenching 18-17 loss to the California Redwoods on Friday despite a career-best four goals from Mackesy and then lost 15-9 in a do-or-die game to the Maryland Whipsnakes on Saturday to end their season 4-6 overall. Mackesy was hopeful that his first year at Boston could mirror some of the success he experienced in his first season at Princeton when the Tigers advanced all the way to the 2022 NCAA semis. Mackesy and the Cannons will be hungry to return to the playoffs when it gets into the 2026 season.

“Once you just get into the playoffs, it’s kind of anyone from there can win,” said Mackesy. “You never know what can happen.”

Mackesy never could have predicted all that he enjoyed as a player at Princeton. Setting the scoring record and being a Tewaaraton finalist and a Top-5 PLL draft pick were all affirmations that his dedication to lacrosse paid off. His mindset enabled him to become a professional player.

“Towards the end of my career, as it got more realistic, I kind of just kept it in the back of my mind, but never really made an effort to make that the priority,” said Mackesy. “It was always Princeton and always trying to maximize my four years there because it goes by so fast. But I think towards the end of my career it was a cool opportunity to experience the draft with my teammates, especially with the guys I’ve been playing with for four years and at the program that I love so much. It was definitely an exciting moment to hear my name being picked.”

Mackesy has since taken to adjusting to the PLL. It’s faster paced with a faster shot clock than the college game. (52 seconds versus 80 seconds in college.) He’s third in scoring on the team behind veterans Asher Nolting and Marcus Holman, and he singled out another veteran, former Princeton standout Alex Vardaro, with helping him adjust in his first season. The shot clock forces every player to be more aggressive and joining a new team also opened him to finding his role.

“I’m playing without the ball more, playing with guys like Matt Campbell, Asher Nolting and Marcus Holman and the rest of our midfield guys who are more ball dominant,” said Mackesy. “I’m trying to find a role where I can be effective to help the offense out more without the ball, which is a little bit of an adjustment coming from college where I had the ball on my stick a lot more than now. It’s been fun just realizing how talented everyone is on the offense and just trying to work as a group to get the best shot possible.”

Mackesy has jumped right in as a contributor, which has helped confirm that he can play at this level.

“I’ve always had confidence deep down and in my work ethic and who I am as an athlete, but I think everyone feels some sort of impostor syndrome throughout every step in their career,” said Mackesy. “I definitely felt that committing to Princeton, being at Princeton, being able to play, and then obviously being able to be at that Tewaaraton ceremony and now in the PLL. It’s always a bit of imposter syndrome and being that little kid and remembering all those days and hours of watching lacrosse and idolizing those older guys and now being in that position, it’s definitely an honor.”

Mackesy still has to pinch himself sometimes to realize he’s at the pinnacle of the sport professionally only a couple months after graduating from college. He’s playing among some of the best the game has ever seen, including Princeton products Michael Sowers ’20 and Tom Schreiber ’14.

“I still have some of that like fanboy in me every time I step into our locker room and being with guys like Marcus Holman and Will Manny, all these guys who’ve been in the league for so long and who are still super successful today,” said Mackesy. “It’s been incredible.”

Mackesy has poured his energy into his new job, but he’s also trying to share his love of the game on the business side. Outside of playing, he’s been coaching and started a stick stringing business — Tiga Strings — which features pockets patterned and named after Princeton players like Sowers, Nate Kabiri and Mackesy himself. He’s also conducting clinics and camps.

“We’re doing just little things like that, just to give back to the next generation,” said Mackesy.

In Mackesy, young players have a great example of how far a player can go just by focusing on working hard and helping his team. He never imagined getting so much out of his four years at Princeton.

“It’s hard to pay it back in a way,” said Mackesy, “but I’ll just try to be the best fan and best alum I can be for those guys.”