Winning record on the line vs. Bulldogs

One day after Yale and Princeton face off in their annual football extravaganza, the men's soccer team (5-8-2 overall, 3-2-0 Ivy League) will take on the Bulldogs (3-7-5, 1-2-2) in its final appearance Sunday at 4 p.m. on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium.

The Tigers hope to pick up their fourth Ivy win. A victory over the Bulldogs will secure Princeton a winning record within the league.

After starting this fall with six straight losses, the Tigers have gone 5-2-2 in their most recent games and are currently tied with Harvard for third in the Ivy standings. Princeton lags behind Brown and Dartmouth, both of whom are undefeated within the league. The Bears are currently ranked No. 4 nationally.

Yale is looking to rekindle its former glory. After sharing an Ivy championship in 2005, the Bulldogs plummeted to a sixth-place finish in 2006. This season ? after losing six starters from last fall ? they remain in the same spot. Sophomore Kevin Pope is the team's leading scorer with six goals, followed closely by freshman Andy Shorten with five. Talented senior goalkeeper Erik Geiger is the team captain and has 63 saves this season ? the second-highest tally in the league.

"[Against Yale,] it's usually a back-and-forth game, with both teams looking to create chances and looking to get numbers into the attack," head coach Jim Barlow '91 said. "I think they have a quality team in every aspect. They attack as a group pretty well, they defend, and they are a pretty athletic, tough team."

Both the men's and women's teams will be celebrating their Senior Day on Sunday. Eight seniors from the men's team will don the Orange and Black jersey for the last time in their collegiate careers.

"It's definitely going to be an emotional feeling," senior forward and co-captain Kyle McHugh said. "I'm very proud to have played with [these teammates] over the years, with such great coaches."

The seniors will use that extra emotion to try to avenge their 0-3 record against the Bulldogs during their previous seasons at Princeton. The Class of 2008 includes captains McHugh and defender Matt Kontos along with defender Dan Cummins and midfielders Mike Jester, David Metcalf, Robbie Morgenroth, Victor Noskov and Ted Wolfson.

"[The seniors] were really put to the test this year with their 0-6 start," Barlow said. "With so many close, heartbreaking, frustrating losses, it would be easy for any group of seniors to get down on themselves or get down on the team, but these guys never did that. This group just kept working hard."

McHugh and Kontos will leave particularly large shoes to fill. McHugh has started every game he played in his Princeton career and landed a spot on the All-Ivy Second Team for his performance during his freshman and junior seasons. He has scored a team-high seven goals for Princeton this season, including the lone goal that led to the Tigers' 1-0 shutout against the Quakers last weekend.

Kontos has started 60 of his 65 games in a Tiger jersey. He was an All-Ivy Honorable Mention pick as a sophomore. As a defender, he has proved crucial for Princeton over the past four years.

"Kyle and Matt have all year long set a tone that we're going to be disciplined, be professional, be completely focused and into every single training session and every single game," Barlow said. "They've been really good role models for the freshmen ... I think having two captains like Kyle and Matt to help them through the rough stretches and to help them get accustomed to college soccer has been really important to their success."

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As the Tigers walk off the field Sunday evening, they want to take home a win.

"I'd love to walk out of my last home game at Princeton with a victory, especially against Yale," Kontos said.

But the seniors also hope to leave something behind.

"I've met a great group of people, but I've really learned what it means to be part of something greater than yourself," McHugh said. "It's really what it's about when it comes to being a team ... I hope that maybe this group of seniors can leave that as their trademark for the team and hopefully they can carry it ... from here on out."