Men's soccer seeks continued success

Jason White remembers offensive players swarming like ants, burrowing through a defense that was left frantically trying to fill the holes. It was last year in the first round of the men's soccer NCAA championships and the Tigers were struggling to keep up with the slicing Virginia Cavaliers, who pressed in furiously, firing on the freshman goalkeeper.

White watched and grinned as he blocked shot after shot, many of them from friends he had played with for years during the summer. They were not pleased.

"Actually it was a real fun game for me," said White, reflecting on the game at the start of the 2000 season. "My buddies on that team were carrying on. They would start yelling at me. That only made it more fun."

His friends would have the last laugh, finally pushing past Princeton in triple overtime, 2-1.

But after brooding about letting their playoff chances slip away, the Tigers realized what a stellar season it had been. They won their first outright Ivy Championship since 1960. After going 8-8-1 each of the two previous seasons, they finished the year at a sparkling 11-5-2. They were returning eight starters.

They realized next year could be even more fun.

"I remember being really frustrated and at the same time remembering a couple of years before that we had lost to them pretty easily," head coach Jim Barlow '90 said. "So it was great to see how far we had come and know we had so many guys returning."

Now they have a chance to see if the words with which they consoled themselves at the end of last year's wrenching final loss will come true.

Last Friday, the Tigers opened the 2000 season against American University. For White, it was a familiar scene. He was under siege from a dominating team that sped smoothly around the goal, controlling the ball for long stretches of time.

He saw a friend from his club team bearing down on him, trying to erase a shaky 1-0 Tiger lead.

With White stranded slightly out of position, Chris Bertsch's shot ricocheted off the cross bar. But the ball bounded straight back to Bertsch and he slammed a shot that sailed into the right corner. White dove desperately across the goal and stopped it with the tips of his fingers, deflecting the ball out of danger.

The Tigers would go on to win 3-0 and though no one was entirely satisfied with the dulled edges of their game, they are now 1-0.

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Junior midfielder Matt Behncke scored two goals and junior forward Lucas Moskowitz chipped in two assists. All three goals were tucked neatly into the corners of the net.

Their calm conversions of scoring opportunities were a welcome sight for Barlow as his team scored only 31 goals all of last season. Fortunately, they allowed only four. But generating opportunities and then capitalizing on them is becoming a theme of the season. Assistant coach Don Betterton, nicknamed "The Shot Doctor," is devoted to analyzing scoring chances and working with players to polish their finishes.

Barlow will also be attempting to integrate more players into the offense and last Friday experimented with putting midfielder Matt Striebel on defense and then having him push up-field to add another offensive threat.

Striebel will be joined at midfield by Behncke, who is playing without his brother Griff for the first time at Princeton. Behncke, second team All-Ivy last season, has already emerged as a more versatile player than he was last year.

"He seems like he's put a lot of effort over the summer to improving as a two-way player, defending and covering ground," Barlow said.

Although the defensive gaps left by the graduation of Griff Behncke and Chad Adams have been filled by freshman Jeff Hare and junior captain Graeme Rein, this year's team is still trying to emulate their more elusive contribution of dedicated leadership in practice and on the field.

"Last year guys were so hungry for it," Barlow said. "Now a lot of teams are going to be coming after us, and we're trying to put in the same kind of honest work to get us to the same point we were last year."