Yale shuts out men's soccer in Tigers' season finale

For the diehard Princeton sports fans, Saturday was a rough day. As the clock wound down at Princeton Stadium, the action was just getting underway at a packed Lourie-Love Field. A few hours later, the men's soccer team (6-8-3 overall, 3-3-1, Ivy League) found itself on the losing end of a 1-0 contest against perennial rival Yale (10-3-4, 5-1-1). The season-ending loss snapped a three-game Ivy League win streak for the Tigers.

Yale's Gage Hills kicked the lone goal of the game 14 minutes, 22 seconds into the second half. Hills received a crossing pass at the left side of the penalty box and booted a line-drive shot past senior goalie Bobby Guelich. Fending off several strong Princeton attacks, the Bulldogs secured at least a share of the league title.

Though the Tigers fought hard for 90 minutes, the game was decided as much by the officiating crew as the players' effort.

After stymieing Yale's Alex Munns deep in the Tiger zone, senior defender Neil Chaudhuri was pulled down by his shirt as he attempted to clear the ball. While lifting himself off the grass, words were exchanged, and Chaudhuri was shoved by a Yale player. The officiating crew quickly intervened and summoned the players to midfield for their penalties.

Despite being on the receiving end of the aggression, Chaudhuri received a yellow card, his second, which resulted in a red card and an automatic ejection. Ejected players cannot be replaced in soccer games, so Princeton played the final 52 minutes of the match with a one-man deficit. Despite the handicap, the Tigers had several second-half opportunities to tie the game.

With 13 minutes left in the game, a Bulldog foul gave Princeton possession just across midfield on Yale's defensive end. Senior forward and captain Darren Spicer curved the resulting penalty kick around the Bulldog wall to a Tiger teammate, who quickly chipped the ball into the penalty box. Senior forward Adrian Melville saw the ball coming and launched into a bicycle kick which sent the ball flying toward the net. But the Yale keeper was able to react quickly enough to prevent the potential game-tying shot from reaching the back of the net.

A few minutes earlier, Melville had another scoring opportunity, but this one had been much further from the net. He drove the ball to the right corner of the field, squared up and ripped a high, curving shot to the upper right corner of the net. For a moment, it looked as if the shot had enough curve to sneak into the net, but it sailed high and fell harmlessly onto the top of the goal.

In the closing minutes, Princeton had several corner kicks but could not convert the scoring opportunities into points. The Tigers had five corner kicks to the Bulldogs' one in the final 45 minutes of the match.

Guelich had a solid finish to the season, giving up just one goal in 90 minutes. Guelich concluded his only full season starting as the league leader in both saves and saves per game.

Guelich put his skills on display in the closing minutes of the first half. With five minutes left, two Yale players managed to streak up the field, beating everyone except sophomore defender Matt Kontos. As the players approached the Princeton penalty box, Kontos shifted to the left to stop the man with the ball. His shift forced the Bulldog player to dump the ball to his teammate on the right, who quickly took a shot.

The shot only traveled a few inches, though, because Guelich, recognizing Kontos' move, charged the trailing player to cut off his angle. As the ball came off the Yale player's foot, Guelich was already sliding to his left to block the shot. Unfortunately for the Tigers, this was the last time they could rely on Guelich's prowess to keep them in the game.

The team will be graduating eight seniors, including team captain Spicer, who finishes his Princeton career as one of the most potent offensive weapons in team history. Along with Spicer, Guelich and Melville, Saturday's game was the final one for Chaudhuri, midfielder Ben Young, defender Marc Dubois, midfielder Alex Reison and forward Bolko Rokicki. The team bid farewell to the departing players in a pregame ceremony.