Men's soccer keeps title hopes alive versus Penn

With a chance for an Ivy crown hanging in the balance on Saturday night at Lourie-Love Field, the men's soccer team held on to defeat rival Penn, 1-0, on a Ben Young goal. The game at times resembled the resolution of a medieval blood feud more than a soccer game.

Coming off a disappointing tie against Cornell on Oct. 30, the Tigers (8-4-4 overall, 3-1-2 Ivy League) went into the match against Penn (6-8-2, 2-3-1) knowing that only a win would keep their hopes of winning a title alive.

This time, however, head coach Jim Barlow '91 had his players ready.

"We're pretty happy with the win today," Barlow said. "The games are always a battle, especially this time of year, but I thought our guys competed hard and didn't quit until it was over."

The game was particularly physical, as three different Tigers were flagged for four yellow cards during the game.

The Tigers caught a break in the 34th minute when junior midfielder Ben Young got free behind the Penn defense and scored on a shot to the right of Penn goalie Daniel Cepero. It was Young's second goal of the season.

The goal would prove to be all the Tigers would need, as the Quakers managed just three shots on goal for the game. The Tigers again benefited from the strong play of senior goalkeeper Erik White, who notched his sixth shutout of the season.

Deja vu?

With Young scoring the early goal in the game, it would have been hard for the Tigers not to think back to last week's game against Cornell. In that match, Princeton got an early goal from junior forward Darren Spicer, only to watch the lead vanish into a 1-1 tie against a Big Red, a team that came into that game 1-11.

This time the Tigers looked sharp all the way until the final whistle, fighting off a Penn rally near the end of the game.

If the Tigers deserved criticism for losing the lead in last week's game, they deserve equal credit for holding onto it tenaciously in this one. Some of that credit must go to Barlow, who told his players not to dwell on Cornell.

For the Quakers (6-8-2 overall, 2-3-1 Ivy), this loss was yet another in a rivalry that has become more of an annual drubbing than a series of competitive games. Although Penn leads the all-time series 46-38-9, they haven't beaten the Tigers since 1985. Princeton is 17-0-2 since then, and is now 8-0-1 under Barlow.

Out of their hands

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The Tigers' hopes for an Ivy title are now out of their hands. Princeton must beat Yale next weekend in New Haven and hope that league unbeaten Dartmouth falls at home against Brown. If such a scenario were to occur, the Tigers would find themselves in a three-way tie for first with the Big Green and the Bears.

But the first and most important step was getting past Penn on Saturday night. Having accomplished that, Barlow summed up the mood of the team best.

"We know we still have a chance."