UNLEASHING CHAOS: Chad Palumbo, right, heads to goal in a game this spring during his senior season for the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team. Palumbo culminated college career by scoring four goals for Princeton as it topped Notre Dame 16-9 in the NCAA championship game on Memorial Day. Days after the final, Palumbo made his debut for the Carolina Chaos of the Premier Lacrosse League. Midfielder Palumbo has emerged as a star for the Chaos, tallying 9 goals and four assists in his first five games in the PLL. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Justin Feil
Chad Palumbo made his Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) debut just five days after scoring four goals to help the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team top Notre Dame 16-9 in the NCAA final to win its first national championship in
25 years.
It was tough to turn the page so quickly from a historic moment that took place on Memorial Day in Charlottesville, Va., but it went pretty well for the former Tiger.
Palumbo scored the final two goals for the Carolina Chaos in a 10-8 win over the Philadelphia Waterdogs on May 30. He was the leading scorer with three points on the day.
“I love this sport, so I’m never going to deny an opportunity to play,” said Palumbo. “So it’s like, if you’ll have me, I’ll be there. I’m so incredibly blessed and happy that I got to jump right into it.”
Palumbo also scored twice in his first-ever game for the Tigers back in 2023. He counts many blessings in his life, not all of them exactly the sort you’d expect. His path to realizing his professional dream had a big bump in the road that was both life-threatening and life-changing. He was heading into his senior year at Noble & Greenough School (Mass.) when he was diagnosed with cancer. He survived, resolving stronger than ever.
“I look back on that as the most formative, I guess, blessing of my entire life,” said Palumbo, a 6’2, 205-pound native of Newton, Mass. “And, at this point, if you would have told that kid in the hospital that four or five years later he’d be standing where I’m standing with the accomplishments I have under my belt, I don’t know if he would have believed you. So beyond blessed to have gone through that, to have made it through that, and then to have taken the lessons from that and applied them to my life and gotten to the point where I am now.”
Those dark days shaped him and stayed with him and as he blossomed into a star for the Tigers and a first-round PLL pick. They are still an important part of him.
“That experience for me is something that made me turn to faith and made me strong in my faith, and I’ll always be thankful for that,” said Palumbo. “And then the connections that I’ve made out of it, just a lot of people who have had cancer understand that you automatically have brothers and sisters. There are people who had cancer at one point that reached out to me and helped me when I needed it most and it’s part of our job now as survivors to do the same going forward.”
At one of his first PLL games, he stopped to speak to a young fan battling leukemia. It was bigger to him than his three points in a hard-fought overtime loss to the California Redwoods.
“That honestly meant the most to me because at the end of the day, I’m a lot more than a lacrosse player,” said Palumbo. “It’s not something that defines me. And being able to build relationships and make people smile when they need it most is incredibly fulfilling.”
Palumbo made Princeton fans, teammates and coaches smile plenty over his career. He was one of their most productive players with 102 goals and 61 assists in his career. His senior year was his best significantly with 48 goals and 31 assists. The only thing that mattered, though, was the national title that Princeton had been chasing.
“It’s a lot different than I expected,” said Palumbo. “It took a while for me to really understand what had happened because it all happened so fast. And then, with how long the season ran, the team at the end only really got to have a couple days before everyone had to go, move on to jobs and internships and whatever they had to do.”
For Palumbo, it meant beginning his professional career. It was something he had thought about for much of his life, and he’d watched as former Princeton teammates made the leap into the PLL. He was hoping to follow suit.
“That was a goal of mine my whole life, pretty much,” said Palumbo. “It’s always something I wanted to do.”
In mid-April, he was selected in the first round by the Chaos with the seventh pick overall. It helped fulfill his dream, but it also came at a time when the Tigers had just clinched a spot in the Ivy League Tournament and were angling for a
good seed.
“I had a couple good games actually like right before the draft, but I didn’t feel as though my commitment to my team was where it needed to be for us to play at a championship level, especially considering my leadership role as a captain,” said Palumbo. “So after that draft night, I kind of took a moment to myself and, with the other two captains, kind of locked back in.”
His focus was entirely on helping the Tigers reach the top of the Ivy League and the NCAAs, and Princeton would win their next eight games to do just that. Then he turned his attention to the pros.
He got off to a fast start in his debut, and kept it up, tallying nine goals and four assists over his first five games with the Chaos.
“I was in midseason form,” said Palumbo. “I was kind of playing the best lacrosse in my life a couple days before. So skill-wise, I felt like I was as good as anybody. I always feel like I’m always very confident in my skills. The athleticism is definitely a jump up. Everyone’s like a freak athlete. Everyone’s a phenomenal lacrosse player.”
Palumbo has been able to make an immediate impact. The Chaos are currently fourth in the tightly-bunched Western Conference with a 3-4 mark to start the season with the California Redwoods in first at 4-3.
“Carolina honestly was the perfect fit,” said Palumbo. “I truly believe that, so I’m incredibly blessed with how it went down. I would not have wanted to be anywhere else more than here so I’m definitely happy with where I went. Obviously being in the first round that’s an honor as well.”
Palumbo has found himself surrounded by other young stars in Carolina. That’s made it easier for him to get comfortable with his new team. They have a common goal of lifting the Chaos to new heights together.
“It’s a really young offense,” said Palumbo. “It’s a principles-based offense so it’s fun. I get to come in with a young head coach, [Steven] Brooks, and literally I think our entire offense, almost all of us are under the age of 24 and 25, so we kind of get to make our own identity, which is nice, and we have a lot of room for improvement. But I was most excited about honestly being in a young offensive film room with a young coach, young players, and then and me and coach Brooks have gotten along great. We’ve bonded a lot over our faith, over our religion, and our love of lacrosse, so I can’t say enough nice things.”
Palumbo knows his professional legacy will be judged, not by where he was drafted, but by how he plays in the PLL. There are plenty of aspects that he is still adjusting to in his first months of his career.
“Schematically there’s definitely in the shot clock, a whole new level of the lacrosse IQ stuff and then obviously just learning new teammate tendencies and a new offense as well on top of that,” said Palumbo. “I think skills-wise I felt like I fit in great, but athletically, schematically, I definitely think that there’s a lot of room for improvement and I look forward to making strides to continue to get better in those areas.”
It’s been a steep learning curve for the young Chaos. Palumbo is part of a promising group that is finding its way. He is trying to bring his voice to the team and share some of the qualities that brought success to Princeton.
“I’m kind of just being authentically myself, not scared to do what I think is right or say what I think is right,” said Palumbo. “And the chips will fall where they fall, but I think so far the team has been unbelievably welcoming to us rookies. We have a good chunk of us on the team and we’re kind of having fun together building relationships together. The team’s just kind of welcomed all of us as individuals rather than forcing us to slot into roles, so I’m pretty grateful for that.”
It’s been a quick transition overall for Palumbo. He’s gone from fulfilling one big dream with Princeton’s national title win to seeing his professional aspirations realized. He still catches himself thinking about the Tigers’ unforgettable win, and now he’s hoping for similar success in the PLL.
“That first week or two, I don’t know if my mind was all there,” said Palumbo. “Even though I was playing solid and I was having fun with my team, I think after that two weeks, I kind of got to turn the page a little bit and kind of focus more on being a professional.”