Men's soccer suffers first Ivy League loss at hands of Harvard

The cold rain falling on Harvard's Ohiri soccer field was just the beginning of a disappointing game for the men's soccer team on Saturday.

Entering the game, both Princeton (3-2-2 overall, 1-1-1 Ivy League) and Harvard (6-2, 2-0) were undefeated in the Ivy League.

Missing three starters and in difficult conditions, however, the Tigers were unable to recover from a slow start, and the game ended in a 1-0 Princeton loss.

After two bad games for the Tigers, a 0-0 tie with Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 29, and then a 5-2 loss to Maryland last Wednesday, the Princeton captains called a player's meeting to discuss the team's recent problems and hopefully to straighten up after an unsteady week of play.

The players came to a consensus that they were not focused enough and needed more urgency in their play. But a lack of focus was again a major problem in the Harvard game.

"We came out flat, and that hurt us a lot," senior forward Mike Nugent said. "Harvard scored early in the first half, and in a game like yesterday, a one goal lead is all that they needed to win."

The uncomfortable weather was certainly not what the Tigers needed in order to have a focused and mistake-free first 15 minutes. About 20 minutes into the game, the weather got worse, as the rain turned from a steady nuisance to a heavy downpour with no visibility.

While these conditions obviously affected both teams, these difficult conditions favored the more experienced team. Normally that would be good for Princeton, but after a red card to sophomore sweeper Jeff Hare in the Maryland game, a bad ankle injury to senior Lucas Moskowitz and a leg injury to sophomore Marty Shaw, the Tigers were missing three of their starters, including the heart of the midfield.

The replacements for the injured starters all played strong games, but a defensive coverage mistake during the heaviest of the rain at 27 minutes into the game left Harvard sophomore and team goal leader Ladd Fritz with an uncontested shot 18 yards away from the goal. Junior goalie Jason White had a strong game, making six saves — several of which were on open shots — but he was unable to reach Fritz's game-winner, which went straight to the back corner of the goal at 27 minutes, three seconds into the game.

The one goal and the heavy rain were all that Harvard needed to shut the door on Princeton and end the Tiger's unbeaten Ivy League record.

"Ivy League games are always low scoring, as many teams will sit back and just play defense once they have a one-goal lead," Nugent said.

That is exactly what Harvard did on Saturday. After the Fritz goal, Harvard dropped one of their forwards and played with four defensemen.

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"After their goal, they sat back and focused on their defense. We knew at the beginning of the game that the team to score first would most likely be the winner," Nugent said. "With the wet conditions, the forwards could not get much ball movement and were not able to utilize our speed as much."

With the lead, Harvard stopped taking chances, and they refused to commit several players to offense, which ended Princeton's fast break offense.

"We played sloppy today and we did not deserve to win. I'm not totally sure why we played badly, but it happened and we need to improve from here. As a forward, I know that a lot of the blame falls on us," Nugent said. "We need to score goals for our team. But on a bright note, when we won the Ivy League championship two years ago we had a 5-1-1 record, so the one loss is annoying, but it does not mean that our season is over."

None of the injuries to Princeton players are very serious, so all of the starters should return to play soon.

Princeton will need to be at full strength to straighten out the season. With several tough upcoming games, the Tigers will be at no loss for competition. The next game for the Tigers will be against a strong Seton Hall team who beat the Tigers last year and are playing very well this season.