Jason White watched as the shot floated toward him like a beach ball, sliding slowly through the air from nearly 40 yards away. He raised his arms as if signalling a touchdown and the ball glanced off his fingertips and rolled into the goal.
Dartmouth had scored. The men's soccer team was tied with 10 minutes left in the first half and White stared at the ball in disbelief, as Big Green midfielder Damien Quinn swept the small scorer, Nick Magnuson, into the air and carried him around the field. Magnuson's arms were flung upward in triumph, as if Dartmouth had won the national championship.
The Big Green did not do that. But Dartmouth (3-2 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) did defeat a dispirited Tiger team in its Ivy opener, 3-1, as the Tigers put forth an effort as bleak and dreary as the weather.
Exposed
It was only a matter of time. Although the Tigers (4-1, 0-1) were undefeated entering the game, their victories had been sloppy affairs, as they snuck away with wins despite spotty play. But stretches of sparkling soccer and a string of wins convinced the team of its talent, which was confirmed earlier in the week by the national rankings.
The Tigers' win at the Stihl tournament last weekend in Norfolk, Va., boosted them into the top 25 for the first time this season. And despite warning themselves throughout the week not to peer past the Big Green — a shaky team last season, attempting to rebound from a 6-0 thrashing by nationally ranked Stanford — the Tigers did exactly what they had been lecturing themselves not to do. They coasted. And it cost them.
"We just played so poorly," coach Jim Barlow '91 said. "There were stretches where we were so careless, so complacent. I was disappointed in the lack of intensity and competitiveness."
Mike Nugent scored the game's first goal at 23 minutes, two seconds — his fifth in three games — as shrieks of offsides sliced across the field from Big Green coach Fran O'Leary. Nugent darted ahead of his defender and reeled in a pass from senior midfielder Kevin Griffin.
The goal provided the Tigers with a 1-0 lead that they quickly began to squander.
"After our first three games we took winning for granted," Nugent said.
Though the game was tied at halftime, the Tigers walked soberly to the sidelines, staring down at the ground, while the Big Green bounded as one back to their bench, tense and excited about the upset that was brewing.
Stymied
A furious Princeton push at the beginning of the second half was stifled by the Dartmouth defense, suddenly as smooth and impenetrable as a steel wall. Balls ricocheted off the goalie and the flying feet of the defenders in a flurry of deflected shots. When Dartmouth goalie Ben Gebre-Medhin blocked a swift, hard shot by Nugent — the Tigers' best opportunity to score during that stretch — Princeton visibly deflated.
With just under 12 minutes left in the game, freckled freshman Robbie Daly flicked a shot into the right corner of the goal as White crashed to the ground, his whole body extended. Dartmouth had taken the 2-1 lead. As the Big Green coaches assumed supporting roles as advocates and cheerleaders, chanting encouragements along the sidelines, chastising the referees and pumping their fists at every ball wrestled away from the Princeton players, the Tigers became flustered. And with just under four minutes left in the game, Daly scored again.
After the game, O'Leary called the win "magnificent" while Daly, his face flushed to the shade of his reddish hair, talked excitedly to his father on a cell phone.
Freshman Jeff Hare sat slumped on the ground, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. White tore off his knee pad and slammed it into the water cooler.
"This will be a wakeup call," Nugent said.
The Tigers certainly hope so.
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