Disappointed men's soccer still winless in Ivy League after tie with Brown

It was a somber group that walked off Lourie-Love Field after the men's soccer team tied Brown, 1-1, on Friday night.

With the tie, the Tigers (2-6-4 overall, 0-2-1 Ivy League) remain winless in the league and equal their record for most ties in a season, set last year. The tie also reduces Princeton's already slim chances of successfully defending its Ivy title and returning to the NCAA tournament.

"The two losses early on hurt us a lot," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said. "We're probably going to need to win out to have a chance at the title."

The players realized the importance of getting a win over the Bears, and played with urgency throughout the game.

Brown (4-3-4, 0-1-2) had the upper hand early on, pressuring the Tigers with its quick footwork and good ball control. Sophomore goalkeeper Erik White thwarted a Brown shot attempt early in the game by aggressively rushing the ball carrier, and other Brown shots at the beginning of the half soared just wide or high of the Princeton goal.

As the half wore on, however, the Tigers slowly put more pressure on Brown. The two teams vied for possession in midfield and neither was able to advance very far into the other's defensive zone.

Within the last 10 minutes of the first half, the Tigers started attacking with more urgency and threatened to score several times.

With a minute and a half remaining before halftime, junior midfielder Marty Shaw received a pass about 25 yards out from the Bears' goal. Shaw dodged sharply to his right, evading a Brown defender, and carried the ball to the 18-yard line before firing a shot that arced just high and to the right of the goal.

Princeton followed this shot with a header that also came tantalizingly close to the goal within the last minute of the half. But once again the Tigers failed to convert and the teams went to halftime with the score tied, 0-0.

The Tigers came out of halftime strong and showed that they could sustain the momentum that they had built up at the end of the first half.

After a few exciting rushes ending in wide shots or saves by Brown's goalie, Princeton finally got on the board at 54:42 of the game.

Sophomore forward Adrian Melville won the ball at midfield and sent a long pass up to Shaw, who managed to stay onsides and corral the pass. Shaw then fed the ball to sophomore forward Ryan Rich, who fired a hard shot to the left side of the Bears' goal. After a shirts-off celebration deep in Brown's zone, the Tigers were up 1-0 and needed only to defend for the rest of the game in order to pick up their first Ivy victory of the season.

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Unfortunately for the Tigers, they could not hold the lead. A little over 10 minutes later, Brown was awarded a free kick on the right side of the field about 25 yards out from the Tigers' goal. The Bears sent the kick deep into Princeton's territory, where Evan Ryan headed it in at 65:53 to knot the score at one apiece.

The score would remain 1-1 through two overtimes in which neither team had many quality scoring opportunities.

Barlow cited some familiar factors as the Tigers' undoing.

"I thought we played well to get ourselves a lead, but then we lost it which seems to be a pattern," Barlow said.

"One thing we're not doing well is defending set plays and restarts, even when we know what's coming."

The Tigers out-shot Brown by a margin of 14-10 and put more of their shots on goal than did the Bears. Gomez was forced to make 10 saves in the game while White only had to stop two for the tie, but Princeton could not turn this comparative advantage into a win.

The Tigers will continue their quest for that all-important first league victory against Harvard (8-3-1, 2-0-1) next Saturday.