Missed penalty shot, FDU goalie end men's soccer's season in NCAA second round

Everything about yesterday's game was exactly what Princeton expected — everything except the final score. The Tigers dominated every aspect of the game, but two Fairleigh Dickinson goals in the second half were enough to give the Knights a 2-1 win in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

After a slow start by both teams, the game quickly evolved into a Princeton-dominated attack with a few rays of FDU offense. But the Knights were able to weather the relentless Princeton pressure. Out-shooting FDU, 19-10, the Tigers hadmore than three times as many legitimate scoring opportunities than the Knights.

The second half began the same way that the first half ended. Princeton took the ball and held it in front of the FDU goal. Despite their numerous opportunities, the Tigers were unable to convert any shots into goals.

But even with the imbalance in scoring opportunities, the Knights drew first blood with a quick goal at 53 minutes and 30 seconds into the game.

On one of the rare FDU offensive attacks, Knights' junior forward Aaron Paye moved downfield deep into Princeton territory. Senior midfielder Matt Behncke closed in on Paye from behind, then made a lunge for the ball and tripped Paye in the same action, awarding Paye an indirect kick from just outside the Princeton penalty box.

Paye lofted the ball towards a mixture of Princeton and FDU jumpers, where Knights sophomore Nate Olson got a head on the ball and directed it into the left corner of the Tiger goal, making the score 1-0.

Trying to equalize immediately, the Tigers moved right back into the FDU side. With a clear path to the goal, freshman forward Ryan Rich took his opportunity and sprinted forward. Realizing he was beaten, Olson, now back on defense, grabbed Rich by the arm and pulled him down to the ground. The referee awarded the Tigers a penalty kick with 31:13 remaining in the half.

Behncke took the penalty kick for the Tigers. He approached the ball slowly then had a sudden burst of speed before directing his shot towards the left corner of the goal.

FDU goalie Vytautas Lenkutis guessed that Behncke would shoot to the right side. Lenkutis dove to the right, leaving Behncke an empty left side of the goal.

Behncke did everything correctly; he found the open half of the goal and he kicked toward the upper corner. But the senior tried to be too perfect, and he bounced his shot off the bar, missing the empty half of the goal.

Speaking of the penalty kick, Behncke said, "It was unlucky. We had our chances, but we couldn't do it."

"We had the exact same opportunity against Lehigh earlier in the season," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said. "Matt missed a penalty kick, leaving us down one, but we managed to come back. Matt is the guy that got us here."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Deflating Princeton's confidence even more, the Knights extended their lead to 2-0 when their leading goal scorer, Paye, received a long pass after a quick restart and sprinted past Princeton defenders sophomore Jeff Hare and junior Rob Nye with 10:33 remaining in the game. Both defenders made a play for the ball, but Paye maneuvered through them and quickly found himself alone with junior goalkeeper Jason White.

White sprinted towards Paye, hoping to cut down Paye's shooting angle and force him to make a bad shot. But Paye did nothing of the sort. He delicately chipped the ball over White's left shoulder and let the ball fly into the back of the net.

"They play a simple game, and we knew that. They keep most of their team back on defense and rely on restarts and counters for their offense," Barlow said.

Now down 2-0, the Tigers became desperate. With only 10 minutes left in the game, the Tigers committed almost everyone to offense, while FDU put every player back on defense. With several aggressive attacks, Shaw finally found the back of the net for the Tigers. Eighty-six minutes, 31 seconds into the game, Shaw lofted a shot, hoping it would be playable for a teammate in front of the goal. But with the wind gusting, the ball was carried into the back corner of the net for the Tigers' only goal of the game.

Princeton had one final chance at the end of the game. With the entire team, including White, on the FDU side, Princeton held for the last shot.

Senior forward Mike Nugent placed a pass into a crowd of players five meters in front of the goal. The ball settled at the feet of Hare, but he kicked it directly at Lenkutis, ending the game and Princeton's season.