Men's Soccer: Team drops lead, falls to shorthanded Hawks

The men’s soccer team had hoped that the come-from-behind victory over Villanova on Sept. 16 would turn their season around for the better. Instead, Princeton has suffered two frustrating losses since then, making the Villanova game seem like a distant memory.

After a 3-0 loss to Georgetown in Washington, D.C. ,on Sept. 18, the Tigers (1-4-1) headed to West Long Branch, N.J., hoping to defeat local rival Monmouth (6-2) last Sunday. Despite a strong defensive effort in the first half, the Tigers lost 2-1, struggling with the same issue that has plagued them all season: the inability to score after dominating possession and making runs.

The first half was a battle of two strong defenses with neither team recording a single shot on goal. Still, especially during the beginning of the half, Princeton picked apart its opponents and generate a few good opportunities.

“We didn’t have a shot on goal, but for the first 20 minutes of that half we felt we dominated them pretty well,” senior forward Antoine Hoppenot said. “We had a few almost drop. It was just the last pass or the last shot.”

Indeed, the Tigers created many of the restart opportunities which usually lead to their scoring chances. They were fouled four times in the first half and collected four corner kicks, but could only convert these opportunities into two total shots.

“We had a strong first 20 minutes and had several opportunities during that stretch — a bunch of corner kicks, free kicks, long throw-ins and some solid build-ups in their end,” head coach Jim Barlow ’91 said in an email. “We felt good about how we started the game but couldn’t get our shots on goal and just missed getting on the end of a few chances.”

While its offense kept the pressure on, the Princeton defense proved impenetrable, affording junior goalkeeper Max Gallin an easy half in goal.

“It was a strong effort,” Gallin said. “Our defense was playing pretty connected with regards to communication and working together.”

But the Hawks came out of the locker room in the second half with a new offensive energy, coming up with two shots on goal in the first 15 minutes. Less than a minute after play resumed, Monmouth midfielder Ryan Clark drove up the left sideline and forced Gallin out of goal.

Gallin’s challenge proved successful. However, when he came out of goal once again just 12 minutes later, he deflected forward Alex Weidman’s shot, but the ball kept rolling toward the open goal. Junior captain and defender Mark Linnville, along with freshman defender Andrew Mills, rushed toward the goal and forced an errant shot out of bounds.

The two saves shifted the momentum in Princeton’s favor, and in the 65th minute Hoppenot was pulled down inside the box, setting up a penalty kick.

“The ball popped up to me, and I was one-on-one with their center back. And then I just put it by him, and he had to stop me, otherwise I was going to go one-on-one with the goalie,” Hoppenot said.

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Hoppenot converted the penalty kick, giving Princeton a 1-0 lead. Additionally, defender Anthony Vazquez — who brought Hoppenot down — was given a red card, and Monmouth was forced to play the rest of the game with 10 men.

But the loss of the defender proved not to be too much of an issue for the Hawks, who ended up pulling ahead despite the disadvantage. Three minutes after the Tigers took the lead, Clark launched a shot from 30 yards out that rolled through Gallin’s legs. In the 80th minute, it was Clark once again who put his team ahead with a free kick from right outside the box that bent into the goal.

“We were very disappointed to give up goals once we had the lead and a man advantage,” Barlow said. “Gallin has had a great year for us and the first one just got under him somehow, but again give credit to Monmouth for creating some chances and picking up their level of play.”

The Tigers took Monday off and will resume practice on Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday night’s matchup against No. 12 St. John’s.

This Saturday, Princeton will open its Ivy League season in Hanover against Dartmouth.

“We know we have the ability to beat them if we just play our game,” Hoppenot said of St. John’s. “It really just comes down to us being positive and being able to keep our heads up and going in confident that we’ll be able to win.”