Tigers try to forget late loss

Coming off a strong performance Wednesday night, albeit a narrow 2-1 loss to undefeated Loyola, the men’s soccer team looks to keep building momentum when it hits the road again this weekend. Another powerful opponent awaits the Tigers (1-3) in the nation’s capital, as Coach Jim Barlow’s squad prepares for a Sunday afternoon showdown against No. 19 Georgetown. The Hoyas (4-2), who marched all the way to the NCAA Championship match last fall, started the season ranked third in the nation. But losses to California and New Mexico almost dropped Georgetown out of the nation’s top 20.

Despite Georgetown’s early season struggles, the Tigers are more than aware of how dangerous the Hoyas’ squad can be. In the last meeting between the two teams on Sept. 14, 2012, the Hoyas dominated possession and pace of play in a 1-0 victory at Roberts Stadium. But with painful memories of missed opportunities in last season’s match, Barlow’s lads are fired up to pull the upset this time around.

“We’re definitely looking for revenge,” sophomore forward Thomas Sanner said. “Last year, we could’ve had a better result when we lost at home. It was painful because we had a bunch of good chances, and I thought I had some that I could’ve put away. It’ll be a good test to see where we measure up with one of the best teams in the country.”

“Georgetown’s coming off a huge season,” junior forward Cameron Porter said. “But we’re confident in our work so far. We had a good spring season training in Barcelona, and we’re coming off a great win last weekend against Seton Hall.

Princeton is hopeful that its defense will have the same Sunday vibes this weekend that it did last Sunday in its 1-0 shutout of Seton Hall.

“Getting that win over Seton Hall was a huge victory that felt good. We definitely needed that,” Sanner said. “We’d given up three goals in both of our first two games, but our defense held up great last weekend and can hopefully keep it up.”

“We’re feeling good that we have [senior defenseman] Patrick O’Neil back from injury,” Porter said. “And hopefully we can get [junior defensive midfielder] Myles McGinley back too.”

Princeton has its work cut out for it against one of the most threatening offenses in the nation. The Hoyas’ sophomore forward Brandon Allen will be the primary man to guard this Sunday. The NCAA Men’s Soccer Freshman of the Year last season, Allen already has four goals and 10 total points in the first six starts of his sophomore campaign. Senior forward/midfielder Steve Neumann, named to the First Team Preseason All-America Team by College Soccer News, has scored twice this season. The Tigers are all too aware that something will have to change from last year if they want the final whistle blowing in their favor.

“We’re trying a 4-3-3 lineup this weekend,” Porter said. “We haven’t played this way in our first few games, so we’ll see if the adjustment works.”

“We’re definitely trying to control the tempo this time around,” Sanner said. “For us, it’s just about trying to realize that sometimes the game will be coming at you, and you just need to weather the storm. Other times, we can take advantage of opportunities, but we also need to start making more chances on our end.”

Game time is set for 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Georgetown’s Shaw Field.