Men's Soccer: Big East teams live up to hype

For much of Friday night, it looked as if Princeton would slump to its third defeat in as many games. The Hoyas (2-3-1) came out firing in the opening minutes, recording six shots as the Tigers struggled to cope with the pace of the Georgetown attackers. Yet senior goalkeeper Sean Lynch, who ended the match with a career-high seven saves, was equal to these attempts. Perhaps his best save came in the 13th minute when he tipped a particularly powerful header around the post.

After a lackluster opening 15 minutes, the Tiger midfield and attack finally seemed to find its composure. Indeed, senior defender Tim Sedwitz attributed the team’s early season difficulties to inconsistency in the middle of the park.

“The midfield play needs to be more consistent,” he said.

“When they play well, we dominate the game, but when they’re not playing so well, we tend to get overrun.”

The central midfielders began linking up with the strikers, which led to Princeton’s first goal: Sophomore forward Matt Sanner made a run toward the byline before serving in a dipping cross that found its way to sophomore midfielder Lester Nare in the middle of the box. Nare made no mistake about the finish, poking the ball through the keeper’s outstretched hands to give the Tigers the lead.

After the opening goal, Princeton surged forward in search of a second. The Georgetown defense was pushed to the edge of its box multiple times as the Tigers threatened to deliver the killer blow. Despite being outshot 11-7 and conceding six corner kicks, Princeton went into halftime with the lead.

The start of the second half saw more of the same Tiger pressure. The team’s best chance to double its lead came after 52 minutes when senior midfielder Josh Walburn rattled a header from a set piece off the post.

“If we had put away one more, the game would’ve been over,” Sedwitz said.

And indeed, the Tigers were punished just 3 minutes later, when Georgetown attacker Seth C’deBaca curled in a shot past the fingertips of the diving Lynch from 18 yards out.

After the equalizer, both teams fought hard for a winner. Princeton had a great opportunity after 80 minutes when junior striker Antoine Hoppenot received the ball 20 yards out and turned his defender, but his subsequent shot flew inches wide. The Tigers had to survive a late scare from a Hoya attack, but the defense held strong and the match went to overtime.

A particularly contentious moment came in the 103rd minute when Hoppenot appeared to have been brought down in the box. Instead of awarding a penalty, however, the referee booked Hoppenot for diving.

“It was an outrageous yellow card,” Sanner said. “Antoine was fouled before that but he stayed up and played on, so the ref shouldn’t have given him a card for falling down the second time.”

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Although Georgetown outshot the Tigers 4-1 in overtime, the match finished 1-1.

“They had good chances, we had good chances, but I think 1-1 was a fair result,” Sanner said.

“We just need to focus on controlling the midfield and finishing our chances.”

On Sunday afternoon, the Tigers were not as fortunate. Like Georgetown, Villanova (3-2-1) came out strong in the opening exchanges, forcing a goal-line clearance from senior defender Teddy Schneider after Lynch was beaten.

Still, Princeton’s midfield slowly stabilized and the team began to attack. In the 18th minute, sophomore defender Mark Linnville’s long throw was deflected goalward after a penalty box scramble, but the Wildcat keeper saved well. Minutes later, Schneider almost gave his team the lead from a free kick on the edge of the box, but his effort was also held by the keeper.

Indeed, the Tigers were punished for spurning a number of good opportunities when they were undone by a remarkable piece of individual skill in the 37th minute: Villanova striker Kevin Garcia received the ball 20 yards from goal and delivered a perfectly placed lob over Lynch into the back of the net.

The two teams went into the half evenly matched and continued to spar until Princeton was forced to push forward in search of an equalizer in the final 20 minutes. Senior midfielder Peter Callahan almost repeated Garcia’s lobbed goal after 70 minutes, but his 30-yard attempt was tipped over by the keeper. In the 73rd minute, freshman midfielder Chris Benedict saw his shot creep by the post after receiving a cross from Hoppenot.

Again, Princeton’s wasted chances proved costly. The game was settled in the 86th minute when Villanova capitalized on a counterattack: A quick attack up the wings was finished off by striker Dylan Renna, whose shot skimmed Lynch’s leg on its way in.

Princeton will have a chance to rebound from its slow start next Friday night when it takes on Adelphi University in the Princeton Invitational.