PRINCETON, N.J. — Towson men’s lacrosse could not sustain what Richmond started.

Perhaps looking to ride the momentum created when the Spiders upset No. 8 seed North Carolina in the opening game that kicked off the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Towson could not keep up with No. 3 seed Princeton’s firepower in a 22-12 setback Saturday afternoon at Sherrerd Field.

Despite falling into a 4-1 hole after the first quarter, Towson tied the score at 5 with 6:24 left in the second frame, providing the fans who made the 2 1/2-hour trip with some semblance of hope that the team could duplicate Richmond’s 13-10 stunner against the Tar Heels. But Princeton reeled off four consecutive goals in a span of 83 seconds and outscored Towson, 17-7, the rest of the way.

“They definitely had us spinning through the middle part of that, for sure,” said Towson coach Shawn Nadelen, who returned to campus after serving as a defensive coordinator under former Princeton Hall of Fame coach Bill Tierney from 2002 to 2004. “But our team is full of warriors, and it was something that showed through again today. Our ability to make some pushes and have some runs and be able to kind of stay in the fight as long as possible, our guys continued to show the resiliency.”Towson (11-6) watched its 10-game winning streak come to an abrupt end and was bounced from the first round for the third straight time with its last quarterfinal appearance coming in 2017. It ceded the most goals in an NCAA Tournament game since 1996 when that squad also surrendered 22 to Princeton in a 16-goal loss in the quarterfinals.

Redshirt freshman attackman Ronan Fitzpatrick — who paced Towson with four goals, including a hat trick in the first half — was relatively subdued after the game when asked if the ending to the season was disappointing.

“I’m not that upset,” he said. “Had a good one.”

Outside of Fitzpatrick, the offense was relatively toothless in the first two quarters when the team trailed 11-7 at halftime.

Junior attackman Mikey Weisshaar, the Coastal Athletic Association’s Offensive Player of the Year who entered the game leading the team in goals (46), assists (22) and points (68), was limited by Princeton senior defenseman Colin Mulshine to zero goals and assists in six-on-six situations in the first half.

Weisshaar, an Arnold resident and Archbishop Spalding graduate, did score twice, but both occurred in a second half during which Towson was outscored, 11-5.

He also finished with two assists with both developing during extra-man opportunities.

Princeton coach Matt Madalon said the defensive strategy entailed asking Mulshine to mark Weisshaar and pressing out on his offensive teammates.

“Mulsh, since he’s walked on campus, he’s been tasked with the hardest matchups week in and week out,” Madalon said. “That will continue as far as we’re playing.”

Towson was crippled by an inability to win faceoffs.

The team lost 23 of 39, and although senior Matt Constantinides went 15 of 34 and raised his career faceoff win total to 712 and his ground ball total to 361 to further solidify his legacy as the school’s all-time leader in those departments, Towson’s lack of consistency in that category prevented the offense from keeping up the kind of pressure to mount a comeback and placed a burden on an overworked defense to regain possessions.

Towson had few answers for Princeton junior faceoff specialist Andrew McMeekin, who won 62.5% of his faceoffs (20 of 32), picked up a game-high 10 ground balls and added a goal and an assist. Of the 23 shots he has taken in his career, McMeekin has scored on nine of them and missed the cage on the remaining 14.

“They started to get some off the faceoff, and he was either getting quick off the X or a couple nice wing advantages off of that,” Nadelen said. “And with those possessions, they were able to stack them and be able to get some scoring opportunities and kind of build that lead from that.”

McMeekin’s prowess fueled a Princeton offense hitting on all cylinders and matching that 1996 team for the most goals in the NCAA postseason. Sophomore midfielder Tucker Wade and sophomore attackman Nate Kabiri shared game-high honors in both goals (five) and points (seven). It marked the first time in school history that the program had two players score five goals in an NCAA Tournament game.

Wade credited his teammates with finding him for scoring chances.

“Today, I might have been a little bit more on the receiving end, and that’s just kind of the way the offense and the team overall has been,” he said. “I think why we’ve been so connected is a lot of those goals were off of feeds. It’s just that ‘one more’ mentality, and we’re just working to get the best opportunity and put ourselves in the best spots and look a little bit more away from ourselves and kind of work towards those goals.”

Sophomore attackman Colin Burns scored four times, senior attackman Coulter Mackesy contributed one goal and four assists, and senior midfielder Sean Cameron came off the sideline to score three times.

Princeton looked every bit as impressive as its seeding might suggest. The offense ripped off seven straight goals in a 10:16 stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters, and the defense shut out Towson’s offense for 13:06.

Princeton (13-3) advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinal at Hofstra’s James M. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, New York – its first quarterfinal since 2022. The team will meet the winner of Sunday’s first-round matchup between No. 6 seed Syracuse (11-5) and Harvard (10-4) at 5 p.m.

Mackesy, who passed Jesse Hubbard as the program’s all-time leader in goals with 164, is one of a few players who played on that 2022 squad that advanced to the Final Four before falling to eventual national champion Maryland. Traveling further on that path is the objective.

“Just a testament to the team and where this program is going,” he said. “Now we get the chance to go back to Hempstead. The last time was freshman year. I think we’ve come a long way since then and just keep doing our thing.”

Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@ baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.