CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Chad Palumbo scored all four of his goals in the first half, Colin Burns also had a hat trick and Princeton beat Notre Dame 16-9 on Monday for its first NCAA men’s lacrosse championship since 2001.
The top-seeded Tigers (17-2) won their 12th straight game this season to improve to 7-2 in NCAA championship games. Their first eight appearances in the title game came between 1992 and 2002.
No. 2 seed Notre Dame (13-3) was in the final for the third time in four years, with titles in 2023 and ’24. The Irish also had championship losses in 2010 and ’14.
Princeton trailed 3-0 before scoring the last 11 goals of the first half.
Palumbo had a hand in the Tigers’ first three goals. Then he scored his 48th goal of the season with 22 seconds left before halftime for an 11-3 lead. It was Palumbo’s fifth game this season with four-plus goals.
Luke Miller scored a man-up goal with 4:54 left in the third to pull Notre Dame within 12-7. But Burns answered with his 11th goal of the tournament to extend the lead to 13-7.
Tucker Wade made it 14-8, on Princeton’s 50th shot of the game, for his 13th multigoal game of the season.
Goalie Ryan Croddick made 13 saves to help Princeton keep its sixth postseason opponent to 10 goals or fewer.
Notre Dame’s only regular-season loss came against Virginia — also in Charlottesville.