McHugh seals victory in OT

Senior forward Kyle McHugh's second goal of the game came in the seventh minute of overtime, as the men's soccer team defeated Adelphi (0-8-2 overall) by a score of 4-3 last night at Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. Princeton (2-6-1) let a 3-1 halftime advantage disappear in the second half before McHugh's golden goal.

To set up the game-winner, freshman defender Ben Burton passed the ball into the Adelphi box to McHugh, who had slipped behind the Panther defense. McHugh turned and finished low, bringing an uproar from the entire Adelphi side, who believed McHugh was offsides. The linesman did not raise his flag, and the goal stood.

"It may or may not have been offside, I don't know," McHugh said. "It went our way, and we haven't had many this season that have."

The Tigers received goals from sophomore forward Max Hare and junior midfield Brad Fechter. Sophomore midfield Devin Muntz, freshman forward Ted Wolfson, Fechter and Burton each notched assists.

Hare put the Tigers on the board in the 11th minute. His run was timed perfectly with Muntz's long ball, and while the Panther defense's offsides pleas were silenced by the linesman, Hare one-timed the ball over the head of the stranded keeper.

Freshman midfielder Teddy Schneider almost added another a minute later, just missing a diving header.

Fechter doubled the lead in the 30th minute. After dribbling past two defenders on the left flank, the junior cut the ball back to his right foot and sent a curling strike from 20 yards out past the goalkeeper's outstretched left arm.

Adelphi's first scoring threat came on a near own-goal when the Tiger central defense nearly headed the ball over freshman goalkeeper Sean Lynch. The Panthers got on the board three minutes later when a defensive miscommunication left the goal exposed, allowing forward Rob Philippou to send home a sliding finish.

McHugh restored the two-goal lead with two minutes, 27 seconds remaining the first half. Fechter again cut back to his right from the left wing, but this time found the open captain McHugh, who promptly buried a bouncing header.

Adelphi applied pressure early in the second half, striking the woodwork in the 47th minute and forcing Lynch into an error in the 55th. Lynch denied two onrushing attackers, but the Tigers only weathered the storm temporarily.

Panther forward Patrick Figueiredo latched on to a well-placed through-ball before putting a rolling shot past Lynch to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Princeton nearly reestablished a two-goal lead in the 64th minute, when sophomore midfield Ben Harms burned his defender and played give-and-go with Fechter, only to put the subsequent shot in the goal's side netting.

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Instead, it was Adelphi who leveled, as its pressure again paid dividends. Midfield Andrew Worth connected for the Panthers with a well-placed in-swinging corner kick, driving a powerful header into the back of the net.

The teams played evenly for the final 20 minutes of regulation, with the best chance for either team being a low right-footed strike from Hare, forcing the goalkeeper to a sprawling save.

Princeton dominated possession during the extra frame, applying consistent pressure until McHugh's finisher ended the game.

"I thought in the overtime we did have a hold on the game, as opposed to a big stretch of the second half," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said.

As for the blown lead, Barlow believed that his team was a little lucky to be up in the first place.

"The score was misleading at halftime," he said. "The score was 3-1 at halftime, but it was much closer than that. We were a little cautious at half time that one goal might let Adelphi back into the game, and it did. Fortunately we regrouped for overtime."

Both Barlow and McHugh agreed that the Tigers finished their opportunities well.

"We're taking care of our chances," McHugh said. "Up until the last few games we hadn't taken advantage of our chances."

"The finishing was better," Barlow said. "I think [in other games] the offense has put more plays together, but it was nice to see us more finish a higher percentage."

Princeton outshot its opponent 15-11, including 8-5 on goal. Lynch grabbed two saves in 97 minutes of action.