The men's soccer team kicked off its season in style — with a thorough 5-0 beating of Monmouth Saturday at Lourie-Love Field. The Hawks (1-3) were outplayed in every aspect of the game, especially where it counts the most — on the scoreboard.
Offensively, Princeton (1-0) recorded 17 shots on goal, compared to only five by Monmouth. The Tigers topped the Hawks 28-9 in total shots.
Defensively, junior goalkeeper Jason White managed five saves and a perfect shutout. Monmouth goalkeeper Mike Erskine may have outdone White with 12 saves, but the Tiger offense smoked him for goals him five times. And in the end, that was all that mattered. Princeton had outdone Monmouth by a wide margin.
As expected, senior forward Mike Nugent and senior midfielder Matt Behncke headed up the offensive effort. But the contribution of the freshmen was encouraging — their demonstrated ability to compete from the very first game makes it seem as if the nine recruits will be a big part of this year's team.
Freshman forward Adrian Melville netted the season's first goal, setting the stage for the rest of the Tiger onslaught and the class of 2005. He made his way to the Monmouth side at 12 minutes, 42 seconds to give Princeton the lead and set the ball rolling — straight into the Hawks' goal — for the rest of the game.
Nugent followed the freshman's example, quickly scoring the first of his two goals, and Behncke got in the last goal of the half to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead.
"We had a good start, especially in the first half," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said. "We had lots of good goals. But we have to be able to create chances and we're not moving the ball that well. We're also vulnerable in the back. There's not a lot of time to fix these issues."
Despite any problems, the second-half produced nearly a repeat performance by Princeton. The Tigers continued to dominate the field, with Nugent charging in for another goal.
Freshman forward Ryan Rich finished off the offensive glory with his first goal as a member of the Princeton squad at the 65:30 mark, just in time to score in the first game of the season.
Other point contributors included sophomore midfielder Marty Shaw, who chipped in with two assists during the game. Behncke, Rich and junior forward Matt Douglas also each contributed an assist.
Despite the Tigers' success in their first contest of the season, head coach Jim Barlow '91 is searching for areas of the game where Princeton can improve before heading into the Ivy League season and the tougher non-Ivy games.
"We're struggling to keep the ball, which is usually a strength for us, and not lose it in bad parts of the field where we will be punished for it," Barlow said.
Before the Monmouth game, Princeton had also competed in the Mercer Cup as a scrimmage, where their success began even before their season officially started. The Tigers took out Mercer County Community College, 3-1, before going on to tie with Penn, 0-0.
Princeton is left with only a few days to prepare for its second game of the season and work on any weaknesses before heading back into competition Thursday at Lourie-Love Field at 7:30 p.m. against Farleigh-Dickinson University (2-2, 0-1 NEC).
"FDU will be a tough game; they're good," Barlow said. "They've had two big wins."
Ivy League competition begins Sept. 22 at Hanover against last year's Ivy champion Dartmouth at 1 p.m.
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