The Cornell–Princeton lacrosse rivalry is a college lacrosse rivalry between Princeton University and Cornell University and their respective men's lacrosse teams, Princeton Tigers and Cornell Big Red.
The rivalry stems from the dominance of the two programs in the Ivy League, where in the first 69 seasons (1956 through 2026 seasons, excluding pandemic canceled years of 2020 and 2021), Cornell won 34 Ivy League lacrosse championships (21 outright, 13 shared) and Princeton won 28 league titles (18 outright, 10 shared). The next nearest team in lacrosse titles is Brown University, which has won 11 (five outright, six shared) The Ivy League awards the league championship to the team with the best record at the conclusion of the regular season. In the event two or more teams are tied with identical records, the title is shared with no tie breaking mechanism. The teams shared the title in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010 (also with Brown and Yale University), 2015 (also with Brown), and 2026.
History In October 2011, CornellBigRed.com described the Cornell–Princeton lacrosse rivalry as "The marquee matchup in Ivy League lacrosse". Cornell has won four NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championships (1971, 1976, 1977, 2025) and four pre-NCAA era national championships (1903, 1907, 1914, 1916). Princeton claims six NCAA championships (1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001) and six pre-NCAA era national championships (1884, 1885, 1937, 1942, 1951, 1953). The most recent Ivy League title for both Cornell and Princeton was in 2026 when they shared the championship with identical 5-1 records.
Although the two schools have a long rivalry, they did not oppose each other in postseason play until the quarterfinals of the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship at Hofstra University's Shuart Stadium. Cornell won 6–4.
In 2010, Princeton defeated Cornell 10–9 in the inaugural Ivy League lacrosse championship tournament and received the league's automatic berth to the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship. Cornell would win the 2011 Ivy League tournament, defeating Harvard 15–6 in the final. Princeton defeated Cornell in the semifinals of both the 2013 and 2015 tournaments, but fell to Yale in the championship game both times. Cornell won the Ivy League tournament again in 2018 and 2025 (defeating Princeton 20–15 in the 2025 championship game) while Princeton won in 2023, 2024 and 2026 (defeating Cornell 19-9). Princeton has won four tournament championships to Cornell's three, with both trailing Yale's five tournament championships.
The teams first met in 1922, with Princeton winning 11–1. Cornell leads the series 45–43–2 over 90 games.
Rival accomplishments The following summarizes the accomplishments of the two programs. TeamCornell Big RedPrinceton TigersPre-NCAA National Titles56NCAA National Titles46NCAA Final Four Appearances1511NCAA Tournament Appearances3225NCAA Tournament Record40–2733–17Conference Tournament Titles34Conference Championships3428Tewaarton Award Recipients30Lt. Raymond Enners Award Recipients72Consensus First Team All-Americans5778All-time Program Record826–502–27721–502–18All-time Winning Percentage
Game Results
References