Shutout leads to first win

"It's been a long time coming."

After the men's soccer team (1-6-1 overall, 0-0-0 Ivy League) captured its first victory of the season on Sunday night against Fairleigh Dickinson (2-5-1), both senior captain forward Kyle McHugh and head coach Jim Barlow noted how long they'd been waiting for that win. For a team that has gone winless for seven straight games, this was a big moment.

"We deserve one," McHugh said. "We've had too many games now where we've outplayed the teams and haven't gotten the job done. It was our priority to get the win today, and we made it happen. It might not have been the best game we've played, but we got a W."

Barlow echoed McHugh's sentiments, citing the team's determination as a key component of this success.

"We've had a lot of frustrations through the first half of the season, and our guys kept plugging away," Barlow said. "In the first seven games, we didn't have a win, but we outshot our opponent ... We've found some really heartbreaking ways to lose."

The stats back up Barlow's claim. In the seven games leading up to this one, Princeton had 97 shots on goal while their opponents garnered 89. While the Tigers have been unable to find the back of the net, they have played some tight matches.

Against Fairleigh Dickinson, the Tigers matched the Knights with 10 shots, but, unlike in previous games, the Orange and Black converted two of those shots into goals.

"We didn't have that many chances, but we finished the ones we got," McHugh said. "We haven't done that in the past seven games."

The first half of the match ended scoreless but provided exciting close calls. The second half began with fast-paced action on both sides of the field as FDU picked up a trio of fouls, and both teams got a couple of good looks on the goal. After the Knights' fourth foul, freshman defender Josh Walburn turned the free kick into his first goal of the season and a 1-0 lead for the Tigers. The score came 63 minutes into the game.

Princeton's second goal came with five minutes left from sophomore forward Max Hare. After freshman midfielder Teddy Schneider crossed the ball and sophomore forward Ben Harms sent it into the box, Hare used his head to flick the ball into the net.

Though the Tiger offense was clearly more successful on Sunday than it has been in previous games, Barlow credited the defense with keeping the ball out of Princeton's goal.

"I said to them after the game that the key to doing well in our league is not giving up goals," Barlow said. "That's two games in a row that we've gotten a shutout in the back."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

This shutout was partially thanks to freshman Sean Lynch, who has recently assumed the role of starting goalie. Lynch, along with four other freshmen who started against FDU, has quite successfully made the transition to a higher level of soccer in college play.

"I went from playing against kids who were freshmen in high school to now, when I'm playing seniors in college," Lynch said. "I think the big difference is the speed of the game and how quickly you have to make decisions."

Lynch certainly had to worry about the speed of one player on the FDU team: Samson Malijani, the Northeast Conference's Rookie of the Year in 2006. According to Barlow, Malijani is one of the best forwards in college soccer. Lynch dealt with him by communicating often with his defensive corps.

"I really try to keep him away from me by telling my defenders where he is at all times, [making] sure he's marked," Lynch said.

Princeton's defense was effective, limiting Malijani to four unsuccessful shots on goal and cutting off the Knights' offense.

With the victory, the Tigers avenged their 3-0 loss from last season. Though most students may not have heard of them, FDU was not an opponent that Princeton wanted to take lightly.

"They have a lot of skillful guys," Barlow said. "They have a lot of guys that aren't typical college soccer players. They have guys from all over the world, and some of them are pretty crafty on the ball and pretty creative ... We had our hands full. We know they're a very good team. They're in the NCAA tournament almost every year, so it's always a real good game with them, and we're fortunate we got the result."

The Tigers are hoping to make this win into a streak to turn their season around. They will face Adelphi at home on Wednesday before opening Ivy League play at Brown on Saturday.