Men's Soccer: Tigers net 1st conference win

Struggling to accumulate momentum in a disappointing Ivy League season, head coach Jim Barlow ’91 made a number of changes to the men’s soccer team’s lineup on Saturday night at Harvard, hoping that different combinations of players on the field would yield a different result.

It wasn’t always a pretty game and never appeared to be a sure win for the Tigers (4-8-1 overall, 1-3 Ivy League), but freshman forward Cameron Porter’s second-half goal broke a tie to hand Harvard (2-10-1, 0-4) a 3-2 defeat.

“It was amazing, especially to be on the road against Harvard,” Porter said of the win. “We can go above .500 in the league if we keep playing like that.”

The win came after a string of tough and unexpected losses to teams against which Princeton had coasted to victory last year. Though its first-half defense remained problematic, switch-ups on both ends of the field allowed many young players to have their best performances of the season.

Like all of Princeton’s Ivy League opponents so far this season, the Crimson got on the scoreboard first. In the 17th minute, midfielder Obiajulu Agha received a long pass from defender Eric Slingerland in the box and headed it past oncoming junior goalkeeper Max Gallin. Harvard’s second goal — off a through run by forward Michael Innocenzi in the 32nd minute — also came against the run of play, a trend that Barlow said has been troubling the Tigers all season.

“We felt that we should have been able to take care of both of the plays yesterday that led to their goals, but in past games we weren’t able to bounce back and get the win,” Barlow said in an email. “Yesterday we put the mistakes behind us and battled until we were ahead.”

Indeed, after Columbia scored its first goal in the 17th minute in a 2-1 victory over Princeton on Oct. 15, the Tiger offense was quiet and ineffective for the rest of the half. But on Saturday, Princeton responded less than five minutes later.

In the 21st minute, sophomore defender Chris Benedict sent a through ball to freshman forward Julian Griggs as he was running with a defender. As the ball bounced off Griggs’s shoulder, the keeper came out and Griggs put it past him for his first career goal.

“It felt a bit overdue,” Griggs said of scoring his first goal. “For me, it was more of a relief. I felt like I got that monkey off my shoulder. It’ll definitely be something I remember.”

After the Crimson took a 2-1 lead in the 32nd minute, it was once again Griggs who responded with the equalizer shortly thereafter. In the 38th minute, Porter stole the ball from the Harvard left back and took it up to the right corner. He then crossed it over to Griggs, who knocked it in to tie the score at 2-2.

With junior forward Matt Sanner — the team’s leading goal scorer — sitting out the game with a foot injury, Barlow decided to play Griggs and Porter up top and move senior Antoine Hoppenot to the wide midfield position. Porter said that he and Griggs had played well up top together this past week in practice, and Barlow said he was impressed with Griggs’s performance in training this week.

“Julian and Cameron both played really well, and they look like they are on the same page both offensively and defensively,” Barlow said. “Antoine coming from the midfield also added a different dimension to our attack and helped us to create a number of good chances.”

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Because of the two goals the Tigers gave up and an injury to junior defender David Dubow in the first half, Barlow also made some changes to the defensive makeup in the locker room. Sophomore Seth MacMillan replaced Gallin, who ranks last in the Ivy League with 24 goals allowed and a 1.98 goals-allowed average.

Sophomore defender Billy McGuinness got his first extended minutes of the season at center back in the second half, and Barlow said his performance helped the Tigers tighten up their defense to ensure a scoreless second period.

The lockdown defense set up Porter’s go-ahead goal in the 71st minute, which turned out to be the game winner. Freshman defender Myles McGinley played a through ball that split the Crimson defense. Porter chased after it, and his first touch was a shot from the right side that found the inside left post to put the Tigers ahead 3-2 for good.

Harvard mustered up its only two shots on goal of the half in the 82nd and 89th minutes, but MacMillan stopped both of them.

While its chances of winning the league title are slim, the encouraging performances from freshman and sophomore players could help propel Princeton to a winning record and consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.