PENNED IN: Princeton University men’s lacrosse player Peter Buonanno looks to elude a Penn State defender last Saturday as the Tigers lined their 2026 season. Sophomore attacker Buonanno tallied one goal and one assist in a losing cause as Princeton fell 13-7 to the Nittany Lions. The No. 12 Tigers play at No. 2 Maryland (1-1) on February 21. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
After starring in the midfield last spring in his freshman season for the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team, Peter Buonanno was excited to move up the field this year into the squad’s top attack line.
“It has been awesome,” said Buonanno, a 6’1, 175-pound native of Providence, R.I. who tallied 18 goals and 11 assists last season on the way to being named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. “Nate [Kabiri] and Colin [Burns] have been great leaders, they have helped me a lot. It is a lot of fun.”
As then-No. 3 Princeton opened its 2026 campaign by hosting No. 14 Penn State last Saturday at high noon, the Tigers didn’t have a lot of fun as they fell behind the Nittany Lions 7-1 in the first quarter on the way to a 13-7 loss before a crowd of 1,326 at Class of 1952 Stadium.
“It was a tough start,” said Buonanno. “I am proud of how we rallied in the third and fourth, but at the end of the day it wasn’t enough. We have to be better.”
Buonanno credited the Penn State defense with thwarting the Tigers for much of the contest.
“They are a really good group; they pressed out and got on our hands,” said Buonanno, who got on the score sheet with a goal and assist in the fourth quarter. “We didn’t handle pressure well enough early in the game.”
As he looks to do well in his new spot on the field, Buonanno has consulted with Coulter Mackesy, Princeton’s all-time goal scorer who played on the line with Burns and Kabiri last year.
“I talk to him a lot,” said Buonanno. “He gives awesome advice, he is a great leader, I look up to him a lot.”
With one college season under his belt, Buonanno is looking to fine-tune his game.
“I am just trying to be more diverse and attack the game in different ways,” said Buonanno. “I am just trying to play on the offense. It is one big offense, it is kind of positionless.”
Following his big sister, Kari ’23, a former All-Ivy League standout for the Tiger women’s lax program, to Princeton has proven to be a good move for Buonanno.
“She helped recruit me a little bit, she would have been happy if I went anywhere,” said Buonanno. “I am glad I ended up here.
I talk to her all of the time, she can give some pretty good advice.”
Princeton head coach Matt Madalon was not happy by how his squad got out of the gate in the opener.
“Penn State had two games under their belt that helps them gain experience-wise but the trade-off is that they don’t have a true scout on us,” said Madalon of the Nittany Lions who improved to 2-1 with the win over Princeton. “We can’t make any excuses, we just frankly didn’t play well enough, not to take anything away from them. They kicked our butts.”
Madalon acknowledged that Princeton’s high-powered attack got out of synch under the early barrage by the Nittany Lions.
“They jumped on us right off the bat and put us on our heels a little bit, it was tough digging out of that,” said Madalon. “I think with the limited amount of possessions early on, the group plays tight. Only getting a handful of possessions early on and then when you get behind a little bit, I think you play a little tighter. You still have to execute, the score shouldn’t matter.”
While the Tigers did put together a brief surge at the beginning of the fourth quarter by scoring three straight goals, it was too little, too late.
“Lacrosse is a game of momentum, we get that to 10-7 and I think we even had a transition opportunity that we played like knuckleheads and didn’t execute,” said Madalon. “If you can get that to two, you start letting doubt creep in and have an opportunity get back in it.”
Buonanno helped spark the brief fourth quarter run. “He was a spark later on,” said Madalon, who got two goals and an assist from Kabiri with Tucker Wade chipping in two goals and Burns and Chad Palumbo each tallying one goal and one assist. “Early on, he had a couple of turnovers. He is a young guy starting his first game on attack. He did a nice job.”
Going forward, Madalon will be looking for his team to do a better job in two key areas of the game.
“Obviously one-on-one play defensively, we have to make sure that we come out of the gate and get better coverage off the bat to protect Ryan [senior goalie Ryan Croddick] and give him some outside shots to let him get going as little bit,” said Madalon. “You have to dominate possession at the face-off X, we have got to go to work there too.”
With Princeton, now ranked 14th, playing at No. 2 Maryland (1-1) on February 21, the Tigers have their work cut out for them.
“They are one of the best teams in the country and they are coming off a tough Syracuse loss,” said Madalon of Maryland who is 6-0 against Princeton since 2022. “That was a pretty fast, physical game so we will get right back to work.”
Buonanno, for his part, believes that Princeton needs to stick to fundamentals to get on the winning track.
“It is just cleaner stick work, being a little more deliberate,” said Buonanno. “It is slow down, play our game and don’t let the defense dictate to us.”