Men's soccer finishes Ivy season with convincing win over Yale

On a tear for the past month, the men's soccer team completed its Ivy League dominance with a convincing win over Yale. Still a half a game behind in the Ivy standings, the Tigers are forced to watch helplessly to see who will win the league title and earn the coveted automatic NCAA tournament berth that comes with it.

After a loss to Harvard on Oct. 6, the Tigers (10-2-5 overall, 5-1-1 Ivy League) have been unbeaten for their final 10 games of the season, completing their regular season with a 2-0 defeat of Yale (5-8-2 overall, 1-5-1 Ivy League) on Saturday.

While Yale is tied for last in the Ivy League, Princeton was never overly confident against the Elis. The Tigers remember their surprising early-season tie with lowly Columbia all too well, as that tie has left Princeton behind Harvard in the Ivy League standings.

Saturday's game began slowly as the score remained tied going into halftime at 0-0. Princeton clearly controlled the first half, keeping the ball on the Yale side for most of the 45 minutes.

"Yale never posed much of a threat to our defense in the first half. I really never worried about them scoring," sophomore midfielder Marty Shaw said.

Princeton had many great scoring opportunities in the half, but the Yale goalkeeper made several good saves to keep the Tigers off the scoreboard.

Coming into the second half, the Tigers were visibly more aggressive.

57 minutes, 55 seconds into the game, sophomore sweeper Jeff Hare finally broke the tie as he scored his first goal of the season. Taking a free kick from 18 yards outside of the goal, senior Mike Nugent made crossing pass that found Hare in front of the goal. Hare normally moves to attack for free kicks because he is the best mid-air player on the team.

Even with the lead, the Tigers remained aggressive. Freshman midfielder Teddy van Beuren put the game away when he scored at 85:13 with an assist by Nugent. His first of the season, van Beuren's goal put the game out of reach for Yale and finalized Princeton's unbeaten second half of the season.

Yale's style of play was perfect for the Tigers, as the Elis relied on finesse and passing. This worked well for the Tigers, as Princeton has arguably the best skill players in the league and possibly the region.

Princeton's defense is a major reason for the Tigers' success for the past 10 games. In this stretch, the Tigers have had six shutouts, four Ivy League wins, and have outscored their opponents 22-6.

With this win, Princeton is still a half game behind Harvard. The Crimson are now 5-1 in the Ivy League with a win against Penn on Saturday. But Harvard still has one Ivy League game remaining. In the most important game for both Harvard and Princeton this year, the Crimson will decide the Ivy League championship next Saturday when they play Brown. The Bears are in third place in the league right now and have been playing very strong soccer recently.

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"I think Brown will match up really well against Harvard next week. While we beat Brown, 3-0, and lost to Harvard, 1-0, I really think that Brown is the better team," Shaw said.

Even if Harvard beats Brown, the Tigers should have no problem making the NCAA tournament. They are ranked No. 16 by the media and No. 22 in the national coaches poll.