Men's soccer downs Binghamton 2-0

This weekend witnessed the men’s soccer team accomplish something that it was unable to do last year: come out of the month of September with a winning record. After taking down Drexel on the road on Wednesday evening, the Tigers (3-2-2) won their first home game and third overall contest of the season on Saturday. The victory was a 2-0 decision over Binghamton (2-7), which was not only the Tigers’ first time winning back-to-back games this season, but also the team’s first time posting consecutive shutouts.

The first 45 minutes of play on Saturday afternoon saw a continuation of the dominant play Princeton had maintained against Drexel, as the Tigers worked toward several strong scoring opportunities while limiting Binghamton to few. But despite six shots and four corner kicks during the first half, compared to Binghamton’s one ninth minute corner kick and its sole shot at the 34th minute, the Tigers found themselves looking at a scoreless draw at halftime, just as they had against Drexel.

But the Bearcats were unable to keep up with the Tigers’ fast-paced play in the second half, which only became more dominant as the game went on. Seven Princeton shots in under 20 minutes saw the most aggressive offensive effort the Tigers have displayed this season. The deadlock was finally broken in the 64th minute when senior forward Cameron Porter got past his defender and pushed the ball to junior midfielder Thomas Sanner, who put it away for his fourth goal of the season.

The offensive storm continued, as six more shots came before the Tigers found the back of the net again in the 81st minute. Another throw-in, this time from Porter, found the feet of junior midfielder Nico Hurtado, who dribbled inside the box and fired it to the lower right for his first goal of the season. The Tigers continued to dominate possession as they rattled off a remarkable 16 shots in the second half while not allowing junior goalkeeper Ben Hummel to make a save until the 88th minute of the match. The performance marked Hummel’s second consecutive shutout, and his third of September.

“It was a great win, we dominated possession and we were finally able to break through with two second-half goals,” Hurtado said. “We have great momentum and confidence heading into the start of the Ivy League season. I was personally really happy to finally score again and hope to keep it going next Saturday. But for now we really have to focus this week in practice in order to be ready for Dartmouth.”

The Tigers do not play again until Saturday, when they host Dartmouth to begin their quest for an Ivy League title. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at Roberts Stadium.