M. soccer to play Loyola and Towson on home turf

Having traveled to Philadelphia to open its season with the Penn/Kappa Classic, the men's soccer team will take its turn to roll out the red carpet this weekend in the Princeton Invitational at Lourie-Love Field.

The Tigers will first play Loyola (3-2), hosting the Greyhounds at 7:00 pm on Friday. Sunday, Princeton takes on the Towson Tigers (0-4-1).

Princeton (1-1) comes into the weekend with some momentum, having won its second game of the Penn/Kappa Classic over a Lehigh team that had not been scored upon in four previous games.

'A great battle'

"Sunday's win was a great battle for us and a great result," senior midfielder Marty Shaw said. "Lehigh was undefeated and had not allowed a single goal until our game. It shows that we have the potential to do some great things this season, but I think it also showed that every game is going to be a battle and that no team is going to make it easy for us."

Loyola will enter the contest playing some strong soccer of its own. The Greyhounds got back on track Sunday with a 3-2 victory over a solid Cornell squad. Loyola was able to pull out the victory by way of two goals from freshman Omar Alfonso, as well as a score by junior Kevin Nash.

For his efforts, Alfonso was honored with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's Rookie of the Week award. Alfonso was not the only Greyhound to receive recognition on Sunday, however — fellow freshman Michael Kolosvary was named Defensive Player of the Week for his play against Cornell in his first start.

Although Alfonso and Kolosvary will certainly pose threats to the Tigers on Friday, the team is not preparing for them in any unique way.

"Of course we take into account what shape our opponents have and how they like to move the ball and who their more dangerous players are," Shaw said. "But if we are unable to play the way we want to play and outwork our opponent as a starting point then scouting reports become useless."

Senior midfielder and co-captain Gianfranco Tripicchio concurred.

"This week we're spending our time sharpening up our offense and really making sure that our team strengths, which are the fact that we have very talented and technically strong players up the field, continue to improve," Tripicchio said.

In addition to focusing on the offense, the team has turned its attention to the defense this week. Princeton has focused on its team shape in its own half, practicing swarming the ball and winning possession higher up the field.

Home field advantage

The Tigers should also benefit from the fact that they are hosting Loyola, and not the other way around. The Greyhounds boast a 29-game unbeaten streak at home, the second-longest such streak in the nation.

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After a day of rest Saturday, Princeton will tangle with the Towson Tigers.

Towson struggles with some of the same issues that Princeton has highlighted for work this season – namely, scoring goals and converting the offensive chances that arise in a game.

After opening its season with a 0-0 tie at Lehigh, Towson has gone on a four-game slide. Only in its last game against Georgetown did the team post its first goal of the season. Junior Pete Johnson chipped the ball over the Hoya goalkeeper to end Towson's scoring drought at 418 minutes, one second.

NCAA parity

"The fact that Towson is coming into the weekend on a four-game losing streak really can't be a consideration for us at all," Shaw said. "Division I men's soccer has more parity than probably any other sport. The box scores every weekend prove that any team is capable of beating anybody else out there."

Although Princeton is taking no team for granted, Tripicchio is confident that the lessons learned on Sunday will prove valuable this weekend.

"[On Sunday] we really learned how to win, playing good team defense, taking advantage of our chances, and really being a team," Trippichio said. "If all goes well we should be able to pick apart both teams."