After early goal, men's soccer gives up lead, falls to Yale

Going into this weekend, the men's soccer team needed a win and some help to win the Ivy League title. But the soccer gods looking down upon the Tigers on the frigid New Haven tundra on Saturday decided not to provide either one.

The Tigers (8-5-4 overall, 3-2-2 Ivy League) dropped the game to Yale (7-10-0, 4-3-0) by a score of 4-2, relegating Princeton to a three-way tie for second in the Ivies. After beating Brown, Dartmouth won the title with a 5-0-2 league record, an amazing turnaround after placing eighth in the league last year.

The game started off about as well as a soccer game can for the Tigers, making the eventual loss all the more painful.

Just nine seconds into the game, senior forward Ryan Rich put the Tigers ahead, 1-0, with an unassisted goal. Rich's score tied the NCAA record for the quickest goal in a game, a feat last accomplished by Alecko Eskandarian of Virginia, who now plays for D.C. United of the MLS.

But Rich's goal was not enough for the Tigers, as Yale came back with a vengeance in the form of three unanswered goals.

"We had some defensive lapses in the first half and gave up some bad goals," junior defenseman Neil Chaudhuri said. "We were forced to play catch up and never really could get back into the game."

With 14 minutes, six seconds elapsed in the first half, Eli midfielder James Stewart scored the equalizer off an assist from forward Lindsey Williams.

Yale kept the pressure high, outshooting the Tigers in the half, 10-3, and forward Andrew Dealy put Yale up, 2-1, in the 40th minute, right before halftime.

The second half would see no letdown by the Elis. Dealy beat senior goalkeeper Erik White again in the 69th minute, with midfielder Jordan Rieger and forward Alex Munns picking up assists.

But the Tigers still had life in them. At 76:32, junior forward Adrian Melville put Princeton in position for a comeback, beating goalkeeper Geoff Hollington for his fifth goal of the season. Rich picked up the assist on the play.

Any hopes of a rally quickly faded. Just seven minutes later, the Tigers saw their title hopes disappear as Munns put the game out of reach with another goal, putting Yale ahead by two, 4-2.

Overall for the game, the Tigers were outshot by the Elis, 22-8. Despite giving up the four goals, White racked up 10 saves. Hollington earned one save in the win.

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Despite the disappointment of falling just short of the championship, the Tigers remain hopeful for the future.

"I thought the season went pretty well," Chaudhuri said. "The past two seasons were definitely sub-par, and I feel that we are definitely back on the right track."

Princeton's last Ivy League title came in 2001. The Tigers won three Ivy titles from 1993-2001.