It is strange that a scoreless tie might be the highlight of the men's soccer team's season, but with the undefeated Penn team playing for the Ivy League championship, the Tigers chose a good game to play their best soccer.
Normally a Penn vs. Princeton game this late in the season would carry a lot more weight for the Tigers (3-8-5 overall, 1-3-2 Ivy League), but with Princeton well out of reach of an Ivy League championship or of qualifying for the NCAA tournament, the Tigers were playing with pride as their motivation.
This motivation and the opportunity of playing the role of the spoiler helped Princeton to a 0-0 tie.
In a season mixed with flashes of brilliance and game-losing mistakes, the Tigers have shown that while they are a team capable of competing, they rarely win. All season long head coach Jim Barlow '91 has focused on eliminating the costly mistakes.
Going into Saturday's game, the Quakers (10-2-1, 5-0-1) knew that all they had to do to clinch at least a partial Ivy League Championship was not lose to Princeton, and Penn did just that. But as any soccer fan knows, entering the game with the hope of a tie is the surest way to lose, and from the beginning of the game it was clear that the Quakers were playing to win.
Well aware of the Quakers' situation, Princeton went on the attack early and this style of play dominated the game. Sophomore forward Adrian Melville played a very aggressive game with two close shots on goal.
Melville led the Tiger attack by continually pressuring the Quaker defense. The Tigers knew that Penn was mostly focused on not losing, and this allowed the Tigers to take a few more chances.
But it was not the Princeton offense that prevailed in Saturday's game.
The Tigers had been able to score goals all year, but normally the goals were only scored once the game was out of reach. Princeton has spent much of the season trying to come back after it had fallen into a hole caused by mistakes by the defense.
With nothing to lose on Saturday, the Tigers went all out for the win. Princeton outshot the Quakers, 7-6, and the Tigers had a 5-1 advantage on corner kicks. Even with the prolonged Tiger attack, the Tigers failed to break through the Quaker defense. Earlier in the season, the Tigers might have let up or made a mental mistake allowing Penn a break away shot, but the Tigers finally had senior captain Jason White in the goal.
Already Princeton's all-time leader in single season and career shutouts, White is one of the Tigers' strongest players and with his experience in the goal, the defensemen were able to relax a little more and just play their game, instead of worrying too much, which has hurt their play this season.
White has missed most of the season after an injury in late September in a loss to Dartmouth. White's younger brother, sophomore Erik White has filled in during all of October, but playing without the team's captain and strongest defensive player has been difficult for the Tigers.
The 0-0 tie on Saturday was White's 25th shutout of his Princeton career.
No one on the Princeton team would describe Saturday's tie as an upset. Even before the game coach Barlow knew that the two teams would have a hard-fought game.
"I think we match up really well against them. They have a nice mix of youth and experience, but I know that we are just as fast as them and the game comes down to whoever makes the fewer mistakes wins," Barlow said.
Barlow's prediction for the game was absolutely correct. Neither team made any major mistakes and the equality of the two sides caused a scoreless game.
After a two-week slip where the Tigers were outscored 8-1, the Tigers have again shown the form of the team that beat American and Harvard.
The 0-0 tie against Penn did not put Princeton back into the Ivy League hunt. But the Tigers are the only Ivy team to keep the potent Quaker offense scoreless.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, now that they are approaching their best soccer they only have one more game remaining in the season, Saturday at rival Yale.
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