Men's Soccer: Walburn's free kick good for tie

Despite these advantages, Princeton (2-6-1 overall, 0-0-1 Ivy League) drew 1-1 with Dartmouth (5-2-1, 0-0-1) after two periods of extra time.

“Some of our soccer today wasn’t the best that we’ve had,” junior midfielder and captain Devin Muntz said. “Maybe the nerves, maybe the first Ivy game got to us a little bit. We fought hard, and we got a tie. We didn’t bury ourselves with a loss.”

In the first few minutes, the teams traded possession and created opportunities on both sides of the field.

Dartmouth, ranked as high as No. 18 in national polls earlier this season, found the back of the net midway through the first half. After a soaring cross from the right side of the field, Dartmouth forward Craig Henderson casually flicked the ball just past senior goalkeeper Joe Walter.

The Tigers responded with several attacks, including a shot Dartmouth goalkeeper Sean Milligan bobbled between his hands and the crossbar before safely tucking the ball away.

Milligan, however, wasn’t fast enough to stop sophomore defender Josh Walburn’s free kick. One minute before halftime, Walburn shot low past the wall of defenders and the goalie to send the stadium to its feet.

This was Walburn’s first game back after a concussion kept him out for three matches. Unfazed by his injury, he played with tremendous energy throughout his minutes on the field.

“I thought [Josh] stepped into the game and picked up where he left off,” head coach Jim Barlow ’91 said. “He looked pretty good on both sides of the ball.”

The rest of the game, however, remained scoreless despite solid efforts on both sides. Dartmouth dominated offensively for most of the second half, putting a great deal of pressure on Princeton’s defense. Early in the second half, the Big Green earned five corner kicks in five minutes but failed to convert any of them into goals.

Dartmouth got close to a second goal with three minutes remaining in the second overtime. Henderson shot the ball out of Walter’s reach. It hit the goalpost but bounced back into a precarious position in front of the goal before being cleared to safety.

“We defended well,” Barlow said. “They grinded it out in the back. We were under a lot of pressure today, more than usual. We had to defend a lot of corner kicks, a lot of free kicks, a lot of serves.”

The game furthered the Tigers’ season-long trend of strong defense and ineffective offense. Walter ? who finished the game with seven saves ? and fellow senior midfielder Matt Care led the back line in its stoic defense. Princeton’s front line, though it created several opportunities in Dartmouth’s box, continually took one step too many or passed the ball when a shot was available.

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“We just never really got a great stretch of possession where we could get into a rhythm and create some more chances,” Barlow said. “To Dartmouth’s credit, they make it really hard because they’re a very organized and tough team defensively.”

The game was also riddled with fouls, and the players became testy with each other and the referee by the end of the 110 minutes. Dartmouth committed 17 fouls while Princeton had 15, and each team picked up a yellow card.

But ultimately ? despite the offensive struggles and the messy fouls ? the end result was some consolation to the Tigers, a team that has become all too familiar with close losses.

“This is a really good team, and [the tie] doesn’t kill us in the league right now,” Barlow said. “We just have to now get back to work and see if we can take it to another level next week against Brown.”

Muntz echoed Barlow’s cautious optimism.

“We would’ve really liked to win,” Muntz said. “We’re still in good shape. We just have to look up. We’ve been losing close games like that before, and now we’ve tied one. Next game, we win one.”