After summer tour in Italy, m. soccer ready for season

Athletes who play a fall sport are accustomed to returning to campus early for pre-season practice. The men's soccer team gave its pre-season an international flavor this year, however, as it spent 10 days in August touring Italy and taking on some of the top Italian under-21 professional teams.

The Tigers began their tour on a high note as spectators at Milan's world-famous San Siro Stadium for a game between AC Milan and Juventus.

"Seeing Milan play Juventus in San Siro Stadium, two of the best teams in the world in one of the most amazing stadiums in the world, was certainly a thrill," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said.

The team continued its fun after the game with a tour of the historic sights in Florence. The Tigers made sure to hit all the major tourist attractions during their day trip as well as the Italian national team's training center.

After the trip to Florence it was down to business, as Princeton prepared to go up against some of the finest soccer players Italy had to offer.

"Each professional team has a first team, a reserve team and a U-21 team, in a system that works like our baseball farm teams," Barlow said. "Occasionally, if a player is injured he will do some time on the reserve team or even the U-21 team, so not all the players are necessarily under 21 and it is a very, very high level of play."

Princeton's first taste of the Italian professionals was against Parma in a game the Tigers dropped, 2-0. The team then battled hard through 100-degree heat against Hellas Verona, but once again came up just short.

In a physical game, Verona was able to get on the scoreboard early, scoring twice in the first half. Junior midfielder Teddy van Beuren brought the Tigers within one with a blast to the upper left corner of the goal from 25 yards out in the first half, but Princeton could not capitalize on any of its scoring chances in the second half and Verona held on for the one-goal victory. The Tigers then enjoyed a home game of sorts playing against AC Noceto at Princeton's temporary home base of Tabiano Terme.

Princeton pulled the game out in thrilling style, as sophomore forward Darren Spicer continued his penchant for scoring dramatic, game-winning goals in the final moments of play. Spicer received the ball from van Beuren and sophomore forward Bolko Rokicki with fewer than 20 seconds remaining. Earlier, senior defenseman Jeff Hare headed in a corner kick by junior midfielder Matt Semmelhack to get the Tigers on the board. Princeton also received strong support in goal from sophomore Bobby Guelich and senior Jason Bell.

As the mercury continued to climb to 105 degrees Fahrenheit the Tigers only got hotter against a very deep Piacenza team.

After battling through a physical first half, Princeton faced an entirely new set of legs in the second. The score remained knotted at zero apiece until Semmelhack once again came up with an assist. He sent a cross from the right flank towards Rokicki, who left it for senior midfielder Marty Shaw. He rifled the ball into the net for the first and only goal of the game. Bell provided a huge save in the final 30 seconds to seal the win for the Tigers, who finished their Italian tour with a 2-2 record.

The Italian professional teams provided Princeton with a chance to see how it might match up with some of its more challenging opponents this season.

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

"The Italian teams are very organized and very structured," Barlow said. "Most play a four-four-two system and are very strong defensively but then are able to get up on offense and attack quickly.

"The speed of play is very fast there. Although American college soccer is definitely a fast game, the Italians are able to go extremely fast while still running plays together one after another."

The Tigers open up their regular season this weekend at the Penn Tournament with games against Villanova and Lehigh. After finishing in the middle of the Ivy League pack in 2002, Princeton is continuing to challenge itself with a season that features games against five 2002 NCAA tournament participants.