Men's soccer's stretches of solid play fail to yield goals against ranked opponents

Princeton (1-4-0 overall) fell 2-0 Friday evening to No. 11 University of Illinois-Chicago (5-0-2). The Tigers outplayed the Flames for the majority of the first half but failed to beat UIC goalie Jovan Bubonja, who is arguably one of the best keepers in the country.

During this stretch, Princeton took four shots, two of which came from freshman forward Antoine Hoppenot. Though he has yet to score his first collegiate goal, Hoppenot has been a continuous threat in the offensive end.

UIC found the back of the net with just five minutes remaining in the first half when Baggio Husidic, who has tallied a point in all but one game this season, finished a corner kick sent into the 18-yard box by Charlie Trout.

The goal ignited the Flames, who controlled the remainder of the half and the match. UIC put the nail in the coffin at 80:50 when Alen Husidic found Trout on the right flank, and Trout slipped a shot behind sophomore Princeton netminder Sean Lynch.

Sunday afternoon told a similar story, as Princeton succeeded in dominating long stretches of play against No. 9 Northwestern (7-0-1). Despite outshooting the Wildcats, who entered the game averaging 15.7 shots per game, the Tigers failed to capitalize on chances and came away with another loss.

Junior midfielder and captain Devin Muntz led the offensive charge for the Tigers, tallying four shots on the afternoon. Hoppenot continued to create chances, recording three shots. Senior midfielder Brad Fechter had two, one of which dinged the crossbar in the 56th minute.

Northwestern’s Matt Eliason broke the stalemate less than four minutes later when the Tigers failed to clear a cross that bounced dangerously in front of Lynch. Eliason gave Northwestern a lead it would not relinquish, collecting a ball in traffic in front of the net and slipping a 10-yard shot behind Lynch.

“[Sean] couldn’t be faulted for any of the goals he gave up — he played solid in there,” Muntz said.

Efforts by sophomore forward Brandon Busch and junior forward Ben Harms in the closing minutes of the match were not enough to give Princeton the equalizer, and Northwestern preserved its unblemished record.

“I think [we panicked] a little in the final third of the game, and I think we had tired legs, too, from the Friday-night game. But that’s something that definitely shouldn’t happen. We should be getting more shots on goal and testing their goalie,” Muntz said.

The Tigers’ primary concern coming away from the weekend — which has been a concern throughout the season — is taking advantage of chances early in the game.

“For both games, we couldn’t quite find the net,” Muntz said. “The way we need to look at it, though, is that we played pretty well as a team and that we’ve definitely been improving. These games were against two of the best teams in the nation. I think we need to look forward from this and find a way to start finishing and getting goals early, and I think we’ll be a lot better off.”

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Despite the disappointment of coming away without a win, the Tigers will use their experience this weekend as motivation in their three upcoming away matches, beginning with Monmouth on Thursday and Farleigh Dickinson on Sunday.