In the men's soccer team's 3-1 win over Richmond on Sept. 24, junior forward Antoine Hoppenot led the offense with two goals off assists from senior midfielder Josh Walburn. The stats were reversed on Saturday night against Dartmouth, with Hoppenot’s clever setups allowing Walburn to score two goals in leading the Tigers (4-3-1 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) to a 3-0 shutout victory over the Big Green (4-3-1, 0-1) in the Ivy League opener for both teams.
Despite getting off to a slow start, Princeton came into Saturday’s match at Roberts Stadium riding a two-game win streak. The Tigers knew that they had to capitalize on that momentum in order to start the league season on a positive note.
“Last year we started off 0-2 in the league, and that’s a tough hole to dig your way out of when you only have seven games,” Walburn said. “It’s great to get a win over Dartmouth, [which] is one of the better teams in the league. It’s going in the right direction.”
Walburn saw his first opportunity to help push the team in the right direction in the 35th minute, when Hoppenot, who took the ball into the box on the left side of the goal, ran into a row of defenders. Dartmouth goalkeeper Sean Donovan, anticipating a shot from Hoppenot, had moved up. Walburn, unmarked, ran into the box and handled Hoppenot’s cross before easily touching it past the line.
“I was in the right place at the right time,” Walburn said. “I saw Antoine dribbling up, so I just tried to get in the box to give him an option, and he played it right to me. He made that one easy.”
The goal came just minutes after assistant coach Steve Totten suggested moving Walburn up to forward, where he had not played before in his Princeton career.
“Midway through the first half, we felt like Josh was doing really well when he got close to the goal, and Antoine was making good runs off him,” head coach Jim Barlow ’91 said. “We knew that our midfield was starting to get a little stretched ... so we pushed Josh up, and within a minute he scored.”
“Josh does everything for us right now,” sophomore defender Mark Linnville said. “He’s been dangerous in the air and on the ground.”
In addition to piloting a lockdown defense that allowed only two shots on goal in the first 88 minutes, Linnville was credited with a secondary assist for Walburn’s second goal. Before one minute had elapsed in the second half, Linnville launched a strong throw-in into Dartmouth’s box from the top right sideline. After floating loose, Hoppenot recovered the ball in the back of the box and lobbed it up for Walburn, who headed it past Donovan on a bounce.
“Every game now, we know the offense is going to score goals, so we know it’s on us to get that shutout,” Linnville said. “There was no different game plan — just more focus and more tenacity all over the field.”
The Tigers put the game away in the 71st minute, when Donovan blocked a shot by Walburn. Junior Manny Sardinha recovered the rebound and kicked it into the back of the net, putting the Tigers up 3-0, where the score would remain.
Before continuing Ivy League play against Brown next Saturday, the Tigers will face Seton Hall at home on Tuesday. Seton Hall’s head coach, Manfred Shellscheidt, was an assistant coach at Princeton during Barlow’s playing days.
“We know their approach to things, but it’s going to be a challenge,” Barlow said. “They get you chasing [and] they move the ball well, so we’ve got to match that and we’ve also got to be able to bounce back on short rest and get ready for a big game.”
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