Bears drop men's soccer to 0-2 in Ivy

Just a week and a half ago, the men's soccer team looked poised to charge into the Ivy League season. With zero losses in their last three games, the Tigers had pushed their overall record to .500 through nailbiting contests never decided by more than a one-goal margin.

On Friday, though, Princeton played a game that was decided by a two-goal edge for the first time this season. Much to the Tigers' chagrin, the game ended with a loss notched in their record, their second in a row to open Ivy play.

Princeton (3-5-1 overall, 0-2 Ivy League) battled Brown (7-3, 2-0), an athletic and speedy squad, in Providence, R.I., looking to break the Bears' three-game winning streak. Despite a solid defensive presence in the backfield overall, two brief Tiger lapses led to Brown goals. With the 2-0 win, the Bears jumped into a three-way tie for first in the league with Cornell and Dartmouth, while Princeton spiraled down into a three-way tie for last.

Brown first capitalized with 17 minutes, 43 seconds to go in the first half after a Bear forward pushed the ball through the Tigers' midfield and the Princeton defense overcommitted. Brown's Scott Geppert nailed a pointblank shot on net in the box with no defender threatening. Though Guelich prevented the ball from getting past him, he could not gain full control. The Bears' Ian Premo swept the ball low just inside the near post on the ricochet for his third goal of the season.

The Tigers retained their composure and managed to menace Brown's net with a few solid chances, including two from senior forward Adrian Melville, Princeton's second-leading scorer. A hamstring injury had sidelined Melville for the Tigers' Ivy opener versus Dartmouth and an instate rivalry contest against Rutgers. With his recovery nearly complete, Melville came in off the bench to contribute, instead of filling his usual role of starter.

"Melville had our two best chances, and both of them just went wide," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said.

The Bears sealed the win, however, on a second goal at 73:55 after Brown's Rhett Bernstein converted on an indirect serve from Brian Joyce.

"It was just frustrating that right when we thought we had gotten a hold of things we gave them a second [opportunity] on a restart," Barlow said.

The Bears' strength in the game centered around "getting dangerous quickly," Barlow said, by taking advantage of restarts to gain momentum. While Princeton managed 10 shots in the game, Brown defensively squelched the Tigers' opportunities to further develop many plays, limiting Princeton to zero shots on goal in the first half.

Despite the score, the game was by no means a pull-away win for the Bears. Aside from the two disappointing goals, the Tiger defense sheltered Guelich from having to come up with many difficult saves. Barlow did note, though, that when Guelich did have to exercise his role as the last line of defense, "he came off his line well." With seven saves on the night, Guelich broke up several threatening Brown crosses by punching the ball out.

Next Saturday Princeton will look to continued leadership from Guelich, as well as from captain Darren Spicer, Melville and the other five seniors as the Tigers try to stop their losing ways and move up the standings by handing Columbia, currently tied with Princeton for last, a loss.