In the mid-19th century, thousands of Americans traveled westward in search of greater fortune. This weekend, the men’s soccer team (4-1-0) will travel to California on a similar quest.
With their first loss of the season fresh in their minds, the Tigers are looking to new opponents and a new coast to regain focus and get back on track. They will travel to San Diego, Calif., to participate in the Nike Aztec Classic hosted by San Diego State. Princeton will face No. 23 UC-Irvine (5-2-0) on Friday and San Diego State (1-2-2) on Sunday.
After the close loss to No. 14 Monmouth, the Tigers are ready to use this trip to bounce back and reenergize their play.
“Giving up a game at home and giving up a goal so early in the game against a team that’s really hard to score on — I think there was a lot of frustration after Sunday,” head coach Jim Barlow ’91 said. “I think the guys, hopefully, are using it as a wakeup call to make us prepared as we can be for this next stretch of games.”
Princeton is beginning to garner some country-wide recognition, as it received eight votes in this week’s NSCAA/Adidas national poll. Currently, the Tigers are led in scoring by junior midfielder Josh Walburn, who has scored five goals. Sophomore midfielder Antoine Hoppenot, freshman forward Matt Sanner and junior midfielder Teddy Schneider have also contributed goals this season, including Schneider’s game-winning penalty kick in double overtime against Fairleigh Dickinson.
Senior forward Ben Harms and senior midfielder and captain Devin Muntz have each dished out an assist. Junior goalie Sean Lynch has played every minute thus far, recording two shutouts and 16 saves.
Barlow said he is satisfied with the progress of the front half of the field, but noted that he wants Princeton to improve defensively against these California teams.
“I thought our shape got a little stretched out at times again Monmouth. I also felt like we struggled connecting our passes out of the back, and Monmouth definitely went after us and pressed our defenders, and we coughed the ball up too easily,” Barlow said. “Trying to get ourselves sharper in several different areas this week is a priority.”
The Tigers will face their second ranked opponent when they face UC-Irvine. The Anteaters — who have yet to play a ranked opponent this season — are coming off a 2-0 win over Sacramento State. They are averaging 1.7 goals per game while holding their opponents to one goal and doubling their opponents’ number of shots.
Forward Amani Walker leads the squad with four goals and two assists, with two of these goals coming from penalty kicks. Forward Spencer Thompson has contributed three goals and one assist, while forward Carlos Aguilar has recorded two goals and three assists.
While San Diego State boasts the 22nd-best rookie class in the nation and a Preseason All-American — Nick Cardenas — according to College Soccer America, the team has struggled in early season play, averaging 1.6 goals per game compared to opponents’ 1.8.
Nevertheless, the Aztecs tied both Penn and Wisconsin-Green Bay, a team receiving votes in national polls. Midfielder Evan Toft has scored two goals and helped with two others, while six other players have recorded goals this season.
Experience and history can help the Tigers anticipate the potential and difficulty of this road trip. In 2007, Princeton flew to California to pick up two losses at the hands of Stanford and UC-Davis.
“We’ve got a really hard schedule and play a lot of really good teams,” Barlow said. “Doing well in these games can put us in a good position to get into the NCAA tournament and give us some confidence going into the Ivy League.”
The Tigers will need that confidence, as the Ivies are off to an impressive start. No. 8 Harvard and No. 25 Brown are both undefeated, while No. 15 Dartmouth and Penn have suffered only one loss each.
“It’s just a really strong league,” Barlow said. “These games are good challenges for us to help us get ready for the league, but also really important games in terms of trying to put ourselves in position to get into the tournament.”
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