High-scoring Princeton women’s lacrosse standout and Haddonfield, NJ, native McKenzie Blake is the PSWA’s choice for Amateur Athlete of the Year
By Glenn Papazian – PhillyCollegeSports.com
In the sport of women’s lacrosse, the Ivy League is a powerhouse conference. Three teams being in the NCAA Tournament is an annual expectation for the Ancient Eight. The reasons are: excellent programs, topflight coaches, and exemplary players. The Philadelphia Sports Writers Association’s Amateur Athlete of the Year, McKenzie Blake from Princeton University, takes her place as one of those storied players.
This past season Blake set the school record for most goals in a single-season netting 89 goals. Three times this season the Princeton graduate from Haddonfield, NJ, scored three goals in a game, doing so against Rutgers, Stony Brook, and postseason foe Johns Hopkins, all highly regarded opponents. Over this past season Blake ranked third in the nation in goals and her goals per game (4.45) ranked 10th in the country. She led her team in six other categories. Blake had the most points, scoring 98 which was 14th best nationally. The attacker was first in shots, getting off 185, and 136 of those shots went on goal requiring the opposing goalie to make a save. Blake was the most fouled player, and she had a team-best 27 free position shots connecting on 13 of those shots. The Tigers standout had 4.9 points per game, ranking 20th in the nation.
Blake tied for the top spot in game-winning goals getting five. It is a very important statistic for her.
The season for the ages for Blake culminated with her being named the unanimous Ivy League Attacker of the Year. She was named to the IWLCA All-American Second Team. Blake was named a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award symbolic of the best player in lacrosse.
Her nationally ranked team won the Ivy League regular season and posted a 16 – 4 overall record. Princeton lost to Yale in the Ivy League Tournament Championship Game but still received a bid to the 2025 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament, joining leaguemates, Yale (Ivy Tournament Champion) and the strong University of Pennsylvania squad.
Princeton defeated Massachusetts (19–10), and #8 Johns Hopkins in Baltimore (18–12), before suffering a season-ending 19–10 loss to the top seed and eventual national champion, North Carolina, on their home field in Chapel Hill, NC. It marked the first time Princeton reached the NCAA quarterfinals since 2019. In tournament play, Blake scored 16 goals, accounted for 18 points, and took 29 shots of which 24 were on goal. The graduate scored three free-position goals on 6 attempts.
When Princeton toppled the eighth-seeded Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins she was perfect scoring 8 goals on 8 shots on goal. The goalie had no answer. Blake took 10 shots total.
In her career Blake scored 231 goals which is second all-time in the Ivy League behind Francesca DenHartog of Harvard (1980 – 1983, 249 goals). Impressive statistics despite suffering an injury during her sophomore year.
McKenzie is the daughter of Matthew and Jessica Blake. Her mother Jessica was a lacrosse player for Saint Joseph’s University, is the head girls’ lacrosse coach at Haddonfield High School and a teacher, and father Matthew was a college basketball player at Gettysburg, is a teacher and has coached youth sports. During her high school days at Haddonfield in South Jersey, McKenzie scored 241 career goals despite missing about half of her sophomore season to a torn ACL.
The Outstanding Amateur Athlete of the Year earned this award by performing on the lacrosse field, playing the game and scoring goals in a manner that few have seen in the sport.
(Photos: Courtesy, Princeton Athletics)