Men's soccer tops the Ivy table with one week of play remaining

When Ivy League play consists of only seven games, winning the conference title requires clutch performance each Saturday between October and November. And “clutch” is the only way to describe the men’s soccer team’s last two weeks of play, as the Tigers (8-3-3 overall, 3-1-1) took down strong opponents in both Harvard(9-4-2, 2-1-1)and Cornell (9-5-1, 2-3).

The Tigers began fall break on Homecoming weekend with a heated showdown against the Crimson. With completely different styles of play, in addition to the heightened rivalry, sparks flew early and frequently. Junior midfielder Brendan McSherry put the Tigers on the board first, as he launched his second goal of the season off a remarkable free kick from outside the box. Physical play continued after the goal and reached a tipping point when junior forward Thomas Sanner was given a red card at the 37th minute mark, which brought the Tigers down to 10 men for the remainder of the match. But the ejection did not seem to hinder the Tigers much, as senior forward Cameron Porter put away a penalty kick in the 43rd minute and then scored again in the 48th minute to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead early in the second half.

But the Crimson would come back, as midfielder Christian Sady headed in a cross to put Harvard on the board in the 60th minute, and midfielder Tim Schmoll converted a penalty kick in the 80th minute to make it a 3-2 game. But the Tigers would hold on over the last 10 minutes of play, handing Harvard its first and only conference loss thus far.

The following Saturday, a trip to Cornell brought the Tigers to a highly-anticipated matchup against the Ivy League’s toughest defense. But the Tigers were not intimidated by the 11 shutouts or the 0.43 goals-allowed average that the Big Red boasted. A tight first half of play, which ultimately saw Cornell with the edge in scoring opportunities, looked like it was going to reach the 45th minute mark at a scoreless draw. But Porter was taken down in the penalty box in the 41st minute and converted the penalty kick to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead at the half. It was Porter’s league-leading 12th goal of the season, and furthered his magnificent senior campaign as the NCAA leader in points per game.

Despite leveling the field in terms of scoring opportunities in the second half, the tables turned on the Tigers when they allowed a game-tying goal at the 84th minute mark on a header from Cornell back Devin Morgan. Heading toward overtime, the Tigers ramped up the offensive attack as the clock edged closer to the 90-minute mark. The attack was rewarded in the 88th minute, when McSherry launched a cross into the Cornell box that ended up finding the foot of senior back Andrew Mills. Mills put the ball away into the right corner of the net to cap the game-winning goal for the Tigers.

The first goal of the senior’s career could not have come at a more important moment. Princeton’s win places the squad tied with Dartmouth for first in the Ivy League - each team has 10 points with two Ivy matches remaining. With just three games left in the season, the Tigers are confident based off their recent play that they can close out the season on a strong note and hopefully make a run at the postseason.

“These games against Cornell and Harvard in recent years have been some of our scrappiest and most challenging,” senior back Joe Saitta said. “These two teams make it very difficult to put together plays and are capable of punishing you on mistakes. I think our wins in these types of environments have shown that we can grind out wins even when things aren’t going so great.”

“In these last two games we have seen the team come together to get the job done offensively and defensively,” Porter said. “More than anything, these games have given the team confidence. We are really looking forward to our games against American and Penn this week.”

“Cornell was a great win, and now we are tied with Dartmouth for the [Ivy] lead,” junior forward Nico Hurtado said. “But we have to focus on our game against American before worrying about Penn, because the American game is important for our RPI (Rating Percentage Index).”

The Tigers will face their last non-conference opponent of the season on Wednesday, when they travel to Washington, D.C. for a 2 p.m. showdown at American University. The squad’s next Ivy contest will be on Saturday, as Penn comes to Roberts Stadium for a 7 p.m. meeting that will be the final home match of the regular season.