Princeton and Seton Hall share many similarities coming into tonight's men's soccer game at Lourie-Love Field. Both have losing records in their conferences. Both are coming off two-game winning streaks. And both need this win tonight.
"I think from here on out every game becomes really important to our postseason hopes," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said, "both the league games and the regional games."
The Tigers (6-3 overall, 0-2 Ivy League) need to win this game to help make their case for the postseason and to maintain momentum for an important league match-up this weekend against Brown. Seton Hall (6-5 overall, 3-4 Big East) is also still in the hunt for a postseason spot.
"We don't want to look past this one," senior forward Kevin Griffin said, "and the guys have been taking it pretty seriously in practice."
Princeton's opponent is no pushover, the Pirates' record being slightly misleading. Seton Hall had a grueling early season road stretch in which two of the Pirates' losses came against No. 12 Stanford and No. 13 Pittsburgh. The Pirates are also outscoring the Tigers so far this season — averaging two goals a game — while Princeton is averaging about one and a half.
But Seton Hall's defense is also giving up about twice as many goals as the Tigers, having let its opponents score 20 times so far this season to the Tigers' meager nine times — good news for a Princeton team that has been struggling to put points on the board. The Pirates will also have to contend with playing another road game. Seton Hall has done poorly on the road this season, going 2-4.
The Pirates and the Tigers have only had one common opponent so far this season — fellow instate rival Rutgers. Princeton came up short against the Scarlet Knights, 2-0, while the Pirates held on for a 3-2 victory.
Tough matchup
The Tigers realize that this is not an opponent to be taken lightly.
"Seton Hall is always a very good team," Barlow said. "They're talented up front and they get the ball moving very well and they spread you out. It's always a good game and our guys know it's an important step in terms of getting back in the postseason picture."
Seen before
The Tigers should be ready for the matchup, since the Pirates have a similar style of play to Hartwick, which Princeton defeated 1-0 Saturday.
"I think Seton Hall moves the ball faster from one guy to the next," Barlow said. "We've got to make sure that we don't get caught ball-watching or get caught letting guys sneak behind us. Because they move so quickly, if a guy gets free they're going to find him."
That happened a few times last year in Princeton's 6-2 loss against Seton Hall. The Tigers were caught napping early on, and quickly found themselves down 3-0 — a hole too deep to crawl out of.
"We've got to make sure that at the beginning of the game we step up and try and take control of it," Barlow said. "If they get a lead they're very hard to come back against."
The Tigers have been working to ensure that they keep their current winning streak alive and that they do not return to their offensive troubles. After winning its first four games of the season, Princeton proceeded to drop its next three, scoring only a single goal during a prolonged offensive drought.
But the Tigers have turned themselves around these past two games, and are on the right track to keep their new winning streak alive.
The offense has received consistent production from junior forward Mike Nugent, who recorded his team-leading seventh goal against Hartwick — one goal shy of his total from last season. Sophomore keeper Jason White has also been solid in the net, recording his third shutout of the season against the Eagles.
"When we were losing games, a lot of the blame was placed on our practice habits not being up to last year's par," Griffin said. "I think that's coming around right now and it's showing up in the results."
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