Men's Soccer: ‘Frustrating’ loss dashes title hopes

Princeton (5-9-1 overall, 2-2-1 Ivy League) fell by a score of 2-0 to Harvard (9-4, 4-1) during the first weekend of the break. The Tigers then rebounded, 3-0, against Cornell (1-13, 0-5) on Saturday to conclude their Fall Break slate.

Princeton had high hopes heading into the contest against the Crimson: If the Tigers had won, they would have become a genuine contender for the Ivy League title. The timing seemed perfect. After a slow start to the season, Princeton had put together impressive back-to-back performances against Rutgers and Columbia.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, nothing went Princeton’s way against the Crimson.

“It was a frustrating loss against Harvard,” head coach Jim Barlow ’91 said. “It was early in the game. We had things under control, they got one counter, and they put it away.”

The Tigers seemed to be in good shape early on. Junior forward Ben Harms had the game’s first good opportunity, narrowly missing the goal when his shot sailed over the crossbar just three minutes into regulation. Princeton was applying pressure throughout the first half when Harvard finally found the space to unleash its devastating counterattack.

After the Crimson regained control of the ball in its half, forward Andre Akpan carried the ball up the middle of the field and found streaking forward Michael Fucito on the left side of the Tigers’ goal box. Fucito controlled the pass and quickly flicked a cross to midfielder Adam Rousmaniere, who punched it into the near corner of the net.

In the blink of the eye, the Tigers were down 1-0 after a play for which they had prepared countless times during practice the previous week.

“Their two forwards are really dangerous, and we wanted to try and stop any counters really early, making sure not to dive in,” Barlow said.

Princeton continued to play tough, but Harvard’s style lends itself to playing with the lead. The Tigers, forced to play somewhat more aggressively, had to commit more players to the attack, opening up spaces in their defense.

The Crimson capitalized on the tactical shift in the 41st minute when midfielder John Stamatis hammered the ball into the back of the net after receiving a blistering pass in the goal box.

Princeton headed into halftime down 2-0. Despite battling hard throughout the game — the Tigers had seven corner kicks to Harvard’s four — Princeton couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.

“They have two very special forwards,” Barlow said. “They get behind the ball quickly as a team, and they are big and athletic in the back, and they are hard to score against when they have a lead.”

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Senior goalkeeper Joe Walter recorded five saves in the loss.

A week later, the Tigers traveled to Ithaca, N.Y., to take on the Big Red. Cornell played hard, posing more of a threat than its woeful record — the Big Red has only one victory to its name — would indicate. Princeton rebounded from its loss to Harvard with a solid effort.

At the center was Harms, who recorded a goal and an assist on the afternoon. Harms kicked off the fireworks in the 27th minute, when the junior forward juked his defenders with a quick cut and rocketed a shot into the back of the net.

Less than 10 minutes later, Harms was at it again, possessing the ball deep in Cornell territory. Unable to get off a shot, Harms instead slid the ball to the middle of the goal box, where sophomore midfielder Brandon Busch finished the play for a 2-0 lead.

“It was nice to see Ben Harms have a very good game offensively,” Barlow said. “He’s been very good at getting by people, but he hasn’t had it add up to getting goals or assists.”

It was a solid afternoon of soccer for the Tigers, but the win may be not enough at this stage in the season. Princeton currently sits in fifth place in the Ivy League, five points behind co-leaders Penn (10-2-3, 4-1-0) and Harvard, who have 12 points each.

Princeton also suffered a painful loss earlier in the season to Brown (9-5-1, 3-2-0), but the Tigers can’t afford to dwell on past mistakes.

“You can’t go back to what’s already done,” Barlow said. “We had two leads in the second half [against Brown], and we didn’t get it done. We win one of those two games, we have as good of a chance to win the league as anyone. But we can’t go back to those games.”

While Princeton’s hopes of an Ancient Eight title are slim, the team still has a chance. With that in mind, the Tigers will focus on next Saturday’s home match against Penn. Princeton has yet another opportunity — perhaps its last — to prove itself up to the task of winning a big game.