Men's soccer faces Yale, needing help to win second Ivy title in three years

It's the last game of the year, under the big lights, before the home crowd. Princeton men's soccer wants this win. The Tigers are focused, determined, and on a winning streak. As much as they need the victory, as much as they want to beat Yale into oblivion, they want something else just as much - they want Harvard to lose (badly).

This is men's soccer's situation as the team heads into competition against Yale on Saturday in Princeton's final Ivy League contest of the season. The Tigers (9-2-5 overall, 4-1-1 Ivy League) are currently in the No. 2 spot, while Harvard (9-3-1, 4-1-0) barely controls the No. 1 position, just a tie ahead of the Tigers. Princeton won't have a shot at them this weekend, though; the Crimson will be off galavanting in Cambridge, trying to clinch sole possession of the title against Penn, fifth in the Ivies. All Princeton is left with is a matchup with cellar-dweller Yale, currently tied for last in the league.

For now, the Tigers are focusing on what they can - the task at hand. Even if Harvard does do what Princeton desires (lose), the Tigers have to win to claim the title.

Yale (5-7-2 overall, 1-4-1 Ivy League) may be at the back of the pack, but Princeton is not looking past the team that has haunted them over the past two years. Always the last game of the season, Yale is in the position to thwart the Tigers' plans at a critical point in the season. In 1999, the Elis tied the Tigers, who were otherwise en route to the Ivy title.

"Our freshman year, we tied them, but it was a really tough game, our toughest game of the year," junior forward Matt Douglas said.

Last year, Yale threw Princeton a tough 3-1 loss to end the Tigers' season. This year, a lot is on the line. First, Ivy League position. Second, postseason chances. Yale could ruin both.

Head coach Jim Barlow '91 is taking this game, against what he describes as "one of the most talented teams in the league," as serious as they come. Barlow feels that Yale's position at the bottom of the pile is an unfortunate accident - a product of a string of games in the middle of the year during which the Elis were haunted by injury.

Thus the Tigers refuse to underestimate the Elis, despite their abysmal Ivy League standing.

"It is amazing that they are number seven," Douglas said. "We're totally excited for it. After losing to them last year and having so much riding on the game for our season this year, we'll be very much up for it."

The Tigers appear to have little to worry about. After an outstanding run over fall break, Princeton has momentum working in their favor. Its only fear is of becoming complacent.

"This has been a really good stretch for us," Barlow said. "We're playing with a lot of confidence but we cannot get complacent. There is a lot on the line with every game. We've got to keep working as hard as we have been these past couple weeks."

A win may secure the Tigers' NCAA bid, but as far as the Ivy title goes, the team's future is not completely its own making. Princeton will have to depend on the Crimson to lose, or at least tie. Even as the team warms up for its own game, focusing all energy on winning one more soccer match, it will be hard for the Tigers not to be somewhat distracted, wondering what is going on at a different field, where their Ivy League fate may be being determined.