Men's Soccer: Tigers take 6-game win streak to the Big Apple

The men’s soccer team will find it difficult to keep its feet on the ground going into Saturday’s game against Columbia in New York. Indeed, one can hardly blame the optimism in the Tiger camp after the team recorded its sixth victory in a row Tuesday night, soundly beating Lafayette 3-0.

“I’m not sure we all thought we’d be coming into this part of the season with six wins in a row, but we thought we were more than capable of it,” senior forward Brandon Busch said. “The five-game homestand we had was really important for us because we have to be above .500 at home and pick up some home wins if we want an at-large bid [to the NCAA tournament].”

Princeton (7-3-1 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) has responded to its early-season woes with dominant play and confident performances. While the defense suffered a number of injuries and late-game comebacks earlier in the year, it has now become the team’s bastion, only allowing three goals over the past six games.

Likewise, Princeton’s offense has continued to increase its scoring dividends, netting a remarkable 18 goals over the course of the winning streak. The team has stayed consistent, scoring three goals in each of its last six games, with sophomore midfielder Lester Nare and senior midfielder Josh Walburn making significant contributions.

“The defense has been playing a ton better on set pieces and, especially, corners,” Busch said. “But as well as our defense has been playing, offensively we’re starting to put away chances. At the beginning of year, the goals weren’t coming, but coach [Jim Barlow ’91] told us to keep shooting.”

While most are attributing the winning streak to better overall play, senior goalkeeper and captain Sean Lynch also pointed to the team’s fundamental mental adjustment in training.

“The attitude has changed in practice,” Lynch said. “At the beginning of the year, everyone thought the nine guys who were returning were going to start ... But then we had people saying, maybe we’re not as good as we think we are, and we’ve really seen a change. Now, it’s really hard to tell who the starters are in practice because every guy is really pushing it. Guys like Antoine [Hoppenot] and Josh, who are some of the best players in the league, are being pushed by our subs,” he added.

Though the team is refusing to get carried away, the Tigers know that they have an excellent chance to make extend their winning streak to seven in a row.

Columbia (4-6-1, 0-2) enters the match with back-to-back league losses, having fallen to No. 17 Brown, 3-0, and to No. 23 Penn, 1-0, in the past two weekends. Prior to that, however, the Lions were riding a three-game win streak. The Tigers — who lead the Ivy League in goals scored (23), assists (24) and goals per game (2.09) — will be sure to take advantage of Columbia’s leaky defense, which stands second to last in the Ivy League in goals allowed (16).

“The whole team is up for this,” Busch said. “Being 3-0 in the league is a ton better than being 2-1. This is a game in which we can start separating ourselves from the pack.”

Similarly, Lynch said that the Tigers will have to work particularly hard if they want to get positive results from their remaining games.

“Every Ivy League game is a challenge,” he said. “[Columbia] has us pretty well scouted, and every team now knows we’re one of the better teams in the league. We’ve got a target on our backs.”