The Brown men's soccer team has won the Ivy League three of the last four years. The only interruption in the Bears' domination came in 1999 when a young Princeton team ripped the rug out from under them. Shaken but not scarred, Brown came back in 2000 to reclaim the title.
If last year's Brown-Princeton match-up is any indication of how the Bears took losing the league title in 1999, Brown is still a little bitter. Last season, the score remained knotted with both teams at zero through the majority of the game. Then, at the 57 minute, 43 second mark, Brown forward Adrian Rapp netted a goal. In celebration, Rapp ripped his shirt off and danced across the pitch. His was the only goal of the game.
"This is always an intense game," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said. "Brown is a tough place to play. They get big crowds and they're very into it. This is a heated rivalry and that is the way it has been for the past several years."
Though the teams are not currently battling for the top spot in the league, the match-up has not lost its importance. The teams are within one spot of each other — Brown is tied with Yale for third place and the Tigers are right behind. Much is still at stake.
"[Brown] is very physical and very hungry for the league games because they haven't done that well outside the league," Barlow said. "They have a very strong schedule and they're looking to the league for their ticket to the NCAA tournament."
The Tigers are ready to battle with Brown's intensity, and several things are working in their favor. First, the Tigers have momentum after the Seton Hall win Wednesday night. Second, Brown's team took a beating at graduation last year. The Bears lost all three of their first-team All-Ivy players, including forward Scott Powers, goalkeeper Matt Cross and defenseman Croy Gibbs.
"[Gibbs] was a really good sweeper," junior forward Matt Douglas said. "He was definitely a threat to our attack, so we're happy [that he graduated]."
Princeton has also spent part of the early season learning a few lessons, the most important of which is to hit hard and hit early. Both of the Tiger's losses this season have come when the team allowed its opponent to get the first goal.
Last weekend against Harvard, the Crimson got things rolling in the first half, connecting with the goal at the 27-minute mark. The Tigers were not able to get things together quickly enough to respond, though, and fell to the Crimson, 1-0. Earlier in the season, Maryland scored 16 minutes, 49 seconds into the first half and dominated competition from there on out, eventually winning, 5-2.
"We realize now how important it is to be in it from the start," Douglas said. "Whoever gets the first goal kind of takes the wind out of the other team, so when we get a first goal scored against us, sometimes it effects our confidence and makes it really hard for us to come back. We're really going to work for that first goal."
The Tigers got some practice in scoring the first goal Wednesday night against Seton Hall. Princeton came out strong, scoring twice in the first 10 minutes.
"They were just shocked," Douglas said. "It was so hard for them to come back."
Princeton is hoping that coming out strong will have the same effect on Brown that it did at Seton Hall. The team is confident that if it can do this, it will be in good shape come 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
"If we get into the game mentally they shouldn't be able to stop us at all," Douglas said.
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