Women's team rebounds to victory, while men's team hits rough patch

Women’s Soccer

The first skid of the season came to a halt for the women’s soccer team. After taking their lumps in a loss against Delawareon Thursday, they bounced back with a victory against Villanovaon Sundaymorning.

Heading into the game against the Blue Hens (5-3-0), the Tigers (3-3-0) had already found themselves on a two-game losing streak. They had fallen to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (ranked 19th among NCAA schools as of Sept. 8) and the Duquesne Dukes. If one were to ignore the first five minutes of the game, the Tigers would have appeared the aggressors throughout, getting 18 shots off compared to the Hens’ seven. Unfortunately, it was within the first five minutes where Delaware took their decisive edge, scoring at the4:34mark to put them up for good. The Tigers ultimately fell 0-1 on the game, having lost all three games of their homestand.

A trip on the road, however, was apparently just what they needed. The Tigers pounced all over the struggling Wildcats (0-7-0), winning comfortably 3-1. This one had gotten away from Villanova by halftime. The Tigers were already up 3-0 by halftime, including goals within a minute of each other from junior forward Tyler Lussi and junior midfielder Nicole Loncar.

Sophomore forward Beth Stella noted that the Tigers’ going at 100 percent intensity for the entire game was the key to victory.

“We were lacking a degree of focus on finishing the full 90 [minutes] and composure in front of the goal that we needed to win,” Stella said. “We finally took control of the game this last weekend.”

Junior midfielder Haley Chow expressed a similar sentiment, pointing out that the Tigers need to be the ones taking control of their own destiny in their games.

“We have realized that we have to come out hard to every game.” Chow said. “A couple times we have waited for other teams to dictate the pace of how we start, but when we came out hard, we were really able to put our opposition on the back foot early in the game.”

With the road win in the books, the Tigers seek success back at Roberts Stadium. They will begin their three-game homestand with a match against La Salle Universityon Wednesdayat7 p.m.

Men’s Soccer

After a successful season opener against St. John’s in New York City, the men’s soccer team has hit a rough patch of their own. The Tigers (1-2-0) have gone 0-2 since their Big Apple excursion.

Heading down to Florida, the team first fell to Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles (1-1-1) to the tune of 2-3. The match was a thriller, as the Tigers traded goals tit for tat with their foes. Senior midfielder Nico Hurtado and senior defender Josh Miller each were responsible for drawing the Tigers level after falling behind – Hurtado with a goal at the 49-minute mark to make the score 1-1, Miller at the 70-minute mark to put the score at 2-2. Unfortunately, their efforts weren’t enough as FGCU’s Preston Kilwien found the back of the net in the 88^thminute to put the Eagles up for good.

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The Tigers’ second match in the Sunshine State would be against Florida International University. The game started out in a far different way — the Tigers found themselves up 1-0 at the half, courtesy of a goal in the eighth minute from senior forward Tom Sanner. The Panthers (4-2-0) turned the tide, scoring two goals in the 74th and 77th minutes to give them the lead, which they rode to victory. The flip at halftime can be seen in the box score – shots in the first half favored Princeton 8-2, but the second half saw FIU overtake their foes 10 shots to 6.

With their road trip to open the season complete, the Tigers return to Roberts Stadium, where they hope to begin their campaign at home with a victory against visiting Boston University.