Men's soccer team bit early by Hoyas, fail in comeback attempt

After playing nine overtime periods in its first six games, the men's soccer team was looking to go to Georgetown on Tuesday and pick up a quick win to revive its season.

Things did not go quite according to plan for Princeton (1-4-2 overall, 0-1 Ivy League). Instead of the Tigers jumping out in front, it was Georgetown (4-5 overall, 2-2 Big East) that withstood a late Princeton rally to emerge with the 3-2 win.

The Hoyas started fast, jumping on Princeton from the get-go. Georgetown striker Kaiser Chowdhry scored his first goal of the season only two minutes, 31 seconds into the contest when a Princeton defender inadvertently deflected the ball towards the goal. Chowdhry and sophomore goaltender Eric White both lunged for the ball, but Chowdhry won the battle and put the ball in the empty net to give Georgetown the early lead, 1-0.

The lead remained one through the first ten minutes of the second half, when two Hoya goals within a minute and a half of each other widened the margin to 3-0.

The first of these goals was set up when Georgetown's Paul Brandley carried the ball up the right sideline deep into the Princeton zone. After evading some Tiger defenders, he sent the ball across the mouth of the goal where it just snuck by White and found Hoya teammate David Eder. Eder converted, putting Georgetown up, 2-0, at 55:21.

The lead was extended once again just one minute, 34 seconds later when the ball ricocheted off a Princeton defender right onto the feet of Dan Gargan. Gargan rifled a 45-yard shot into the top left corner of the Princeton goal to extend the Hoya lead to three, ostensibly putting the game out of reach for Princeton.

The Tigers refused to give up, however. Down three goals with just 33 minutes remaining, they began to play more aggressively in the midfield and drove the ball into Georgetown's defensive zone.

Princeton's efforts were rewarded when sophomore forward Adrian Melville connected at 65:24 to bring the Tigers within two.

Princeton continued its charge, scoring again at 71:27. Sophomore forward Ryan Rich returned the Hoyas' favor by scoring a long goal of his own — a 35-yard shot that brought the Tigers within one.

That was as close as Princeton would get, however, as its remaining shots were all turned away by Georgetown goalie Tim Hogan. Hogan finished the game with four saves while White, starting in place of injured brother Jason, wracked up six in the losing effort.

The game was very physical, as both teams played hard, especially at the beginning of the second half. The Tigers were whistled for 17 fouls during the contest while Georgetown was called for 11.

It was not all pushing and shoving in the midfield, however, as Princeton and Georgetown both took a high number of shots in the game. By the final whistle, the Tigers had outshot the Hoyas by a slim 19-17 margin.

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Although Princeton has managed to get off many shots in its games, many of the team's troubles have come from the fact that it has had problems converting. The Tigers have scored only 10 goals in their first seven games, and their four losses were each one-goal defeats.

They have also looked for a go-to player to step up and put the ball in the net when it really counts. The Tigers' 10 goals on the season have been netted by 10 different players, and while depth is certainly a good thing it is also important to have a player that the team can look to in the clutch.

Princeton next takes the field on Saturday against Columbia, a team that has given it trouble in the past. The Tigers and Lions fought to a scoreless draw last season, but Columbia came out on top in the teams' three prior meetings. Although Princeton has done very well in Ivy League play over the last four years, winning the title twice, the Tigers have always had problems taking down the Lions.

If the Tigers want to make a serious run at defending their Ivy League title and getting back to the NCAA tournament, they will need to be ready to play from the opening whistle on Saturday and not wait until they are tested to respond.