Ivy League championship within reach for men's soccer

After taking down American University (10-4-3 overall, 4-2-2 Patriot League) 2-0 on the road on Wednesday afternoon in its final non-conference game of the regular season, the men’s soccer team (9-3-3 overall, 3-1-1 Ivy) moves into its penultimate match of the regular season on Saturday evening, and the stakes cannot be higher.

With just two Ivy League matches remaining for each team in the conference, the Tigers stand atop the conference standings, tied with Dartmouth with a total of 10 points. Harvard and Penn follow with eight points, and Columbia and Cornell have seven and six points, respectively. While Brown and Yale only have five points and one point, respectively, the next two games present a number of possibilities for a majority of the teams to capture the Ivy League title, along with an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

The squad of head coach Jim Barlow ’91, in its final regular season home game, will have an especially crucial battle on Saturday evening, as the team hosts Penn (6-7-2, 2-1-2) in a matchup that has enormous implications for the Ivy standings. The Quakers’ sub-.500 record reflects the team’s streaky nature over the last two months. While the team has recorded impressive victories over Cornell and Dartmouth, it has struggled to execute against the conference’s weaker members. In its last two Ivy games, the Quakers played to a 1-1 draw against Brown on Nov. 1, and less impressively played to a 1-1 draw against Yale. That game made Penn the only one of five Ivy opponents that Yale (1-11-3, 0-4-1 Ivy) has not lost to so far this season, and just one of four teams that Yale has not lost to through 15 games.

Despite the Quakers’ streakiness, the Tigers know better than to underestimate their nearby rivals. It was just last year that the Quakers staged a two-goal comeback in Philadelphia to eliminate the Tigers from a shot at the Ivy title. With the proven ability to compete with strong teams, Penn poses a high threat that the Tigers know they will have to be ready for on Saturday night, with a potential NCAA berth on the line.

“Once again, this is a must-win game,” junior forward Nico Hurtado said. “We’ve gone seven games in a row unbeaten, but we have to make sure we win these last two. We have great momentum coming off a great win in D.C. Penn has a really good attack like us, so I expect it to be a high-scoring game. Our season last year ended with our loss to Penn, and we don’t want that to happen again.”

Game time is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday evening at Roberts Stadium.