Men's soccer hosts Ivy champ Brown

At the end of the 1990s, two teams dominated Ivy League men's soccer. From 1997-2001, either Brown or Princeton won every Ivy championship, with the Bears taking the title three times, the Tigers winning it once and the two teams splitting the honor another season. In each of these years, the winner of the Tigers' and Bears' midseason matchup went on to win the title — Princeton won the game in the year that the two teams shared the title — marking the contest as the game to watch in the Ivy League.

Since 2001, Brown has won one Ivy championship (2003) while Princeton has remained mired in the middle of the pack. The Tigers are winless against Brown the past two seasons, a fact that Princeton (4-3-2 overall, 0-0-1 Ivy League) will try to change this weekend as it hosts the Bears (4-2-2, 1-0-0) tomorrow at Lourie-Love Field.

"Brown's got a very good team this year," sophomore defender Jame Wunsch said. "They're coming off a big win last week against Columbia so they're going to come to play. I think they're definitely a beatable team. We're playing them at home so we'll have to use that to our advantage."

Brown rolls into New Jersey with confidence after opening its Ivy season with a win over Columbia last weekend. The win extended Brown's unbeaten streak to six games.

Princeton will have to be on its toes from the beginning of the game, as the Bears netted all three of their goals against Columbia in the first half. Senior midfielder Marcos Romaneiro was involved in all three goals, putting the first one in himself and assisting on the other two. Romaneiro's two assists brought him to three on the year, good for second place in the league. For his efforts, Romaneiro was named Ivy League Player of the Week.

In addition to Romaneiro, the Bears' Jeff Larentowicz and Keith Caldwell could be problems for Princeton. The two are tied for first place on the team in scoring with three goals apiece.

While Princeton's defense will need to keep these players in check throughout the game, the Tigers must be wary of making unnecessary fouls. Brown has made good use of restarts so far this year, with two of the team's goals against Columbia coming off of free kicks.

This should not be too much of a problem, however, as Princeton's defense has kept the team in games throughout the season. While the offense has sputtered, Princeton's defense has limited its opponents to only one goal in the last three games.

In order to win tomorow, the Tigers will need to take their defensive strength and translate that dangerous offensive opportunities. Princeton has not scored a goal in its last two games, both scoreless ties.

"We need to be sharper in the attack than we have been in the last two games," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said. "We have been solid in the back the last two games, but as a team we need to be cleaner with our plays, move the ball quicker, and have more people join in the attack at the right times."

Wunsch echoed his coach's comments on the importance of cleaning up the offense. "The key for us is just to get the ball in the back of the net," he said. "We've been creating a lot of good chances, just haven't been able to put it away lately. We're in a little bit of a rut right now, but I'm very confident in our offense, and I believe we're going to get the win this weekend."

The Tigers have outshot their opponents this season, 115-98, but have allowed 13 goals while scoring only 12 themselves.

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Princeton will primarily look to junior forward Darren Spicer to generate this offense. In nine games this season, Spicer has scored seven goals for a total of 14 points. This is more than twice as many points as the Tigers' second leading scorer, senior forward Ryan Rich, who has six points on one goal and four assists.