Tigers visit Drexel tonight

After playing two of the nation's top-10 teams last weekend, the men's soccer team tonight faces Drexel (1-3-1 overall), an unranked opponent far less daunting at first glance. than the Tigers' previous opponents. But while the Dragons may not average 4.5 goals a game like Akron, Princeton's last foe, they could still pose every bit as much of a threat for reasons statistics alone cannot capture.

Granted, Princeton (1-3-0) notched a 3-0 win over Drexel last season. But, unlike last year, this game will not take place on the Tigers' familiar Lourie-Love Field, but rather on the Dragons' newly completed field-turf surface in Philadelphia, Pa. As head coach Jim Barlow '91 pointed out, though, the turf itself should not pose a significant problem. Princeton's Saturday game against Fairleigh Dickinson was played on field-turf at Mercer County Community College.

Instead, what may prove most difficult for the Tigers is maintaining their high energy and enthusiasm on the field in a midweek, non-Ivy League game.

"Middle of the week road games are always tough," Barlow said. "We've got to find a way to put the two losses from this weekend behind us and get just as excited for this game as if it were the Ivy League Championship because that's how we've got to approach every game from here on out."

On their home field, the Dragons will look to unleash a newly acquired freshman offensive arsenal that Princeton has yet to face. Three of the Drexel's five goal-scorers this season are freshmen, including Mike Crosse, the team's leading scorer.

"We do know they have some talented young guys, and some of their younger guys are pretty experienced players," Barlow said. "So it's not like they haven't played in big games and don't have a lot of maturity."

Both teams will play with the added urgency of trying to turn around losing records. After facing Drexel, the Tigers have just two games left before they open their Ivy season on Oct. 2. Going into conference play, Princeton would like to see some more tallies in the win column. The Tigers' losses thus far have been closely contested games, all decided by one-goal margins.

Princeton will rely on continued heads-up defensive pressure. In last weekend's action, senior goalkeeper Bobby Guelich was forced to make 10 saves, but as Barlow pointed out, that number reflects the offensive caliber of Farleigh Dickinson and Akron rather than inadequacies in the Tiger defense.

But to turn those one-goal deficits into wins, the Princeton offense needs to find more consistency on the other end of the field. The Tigers are working toward a higher conversion percentage on set plays.

"We're getting good service out of [sophomore forward] Kyle McHugh and [junior forward] Zach Schwarz on a lot of the dead balls, but for some reason we haven't been able to finish it off," Barlow said. "We need to get more goals off of those types of plays."