Men’s soccer has been nothing short of historic this year.
They are the first men’s team in 75 years of Ivy League soccer to not concede a single goal in conference play, earning the No. 1 seed for the Ivy League Tournament, where they would become the first to ever win the regular season and tournament title.
The team has climbed up the rankings, leading the nation in RPI and NCAA mid-season rankings, and placing third in the United Soccer Coaches ranking. On Monday, Princeton earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the highest in Ivy League history.
Individual Tigers dominated as well. Senior forward Daniel Ittycheria won Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, junior goalkeeper Andrew Samuels won Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, head coach Jim Barlow ‘91 and his staff won Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year, and ten Princeton players were selected to All-Ivy Teams.
This was not always the case. Three years ago, the Tigers won only one Ivy game.
This year a combination of lineup continuity, individual talents, and a focused, mission-driven mindset has led the team to their NCAA second round match against Duke on Sunday.
Ten of eleven starters returned, rare in the NIL era where teams are both bringing in and losing out on transfers.
A result of that continuity is a team led by players with extensive minutes played on the field together for the Tigers. Seven players have been in the top ten minutes played in each of the last two seasons. Offensively, Ittycheria has led the Orange and Black in goals scored three years consecutively.
Another result, Barlow emphasized, is a strong team culture built off of the experience of older players.
“I think we have guys who went through a couple of tough years and learned a lot of lessons,” Barlow told The Daily Princetonian. “They all became super motivated to figure it out and to get better and to become a team that could win games that we weren't winning three years ago.”
The senior class did not always taste success at Princeton. Over their first two seasons, the team won less than a third of their games and only two Ivy League games.
Last season proved to be a turning point. The Tigers had some missteps in non-conference play but only dropped two Ivy matches in the regular season — to top-20 ranked Penn and Cornell.
The Ivy League Tournament was the breakout moment in 2024. Princeton pulled off a miraculous comeback against the Big Red and then dominated the highly ranked Quakers in the title game. Their run ended in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on a snowy night in Akron, but the streak of success was a sign of more to come.
“Towards the end of last season we started kind of figuring it out,” senior Guiliano Fravolini Whitchurch told the ‘Prince.’
Over the past seasons, the Orange and Black often lost games late in the second half off of lapses in focus on corners and other set pieces. From the long bus rides home emerged a grit and mentality that defines the squad now.
“It was that growth and development and just playing together,” that made all the difference, Samuels said.
This cohesion extends to the bench. Fans in Roberts will know that the team spirit is an integral part of the way the team functions.
“I can’t imagine that there’s a team in college soccer that is more together than our team,” said senior defender Jack Jasinski. “You’re taking classes together, doing work, hanging out, making jokes … it builds the culture. Everyone wants to win.”
Specific characteristics of the Tigers’ playstyle were equally important in driving their success this season. The defense was the cornerstone of many of the team’s wins, coming from players up and down the field.
“In past years, sometimes it kind of looked like there’s this line between the defense defending and then the attackers attacking,” Fravolini Whitchurch told the ‘Prince.’ “This year, I feel like everyone from the striker to the goalkeeper takes defending really seriously, and it takes a lot of the pressure off of the defense too.”
Barlow credits the cohesion built from playing together over a long period of time for creating a system where every player feels a responsibility to contribute defensively.
“It’s more a mentality,” Barlow told the ‘Prince.’ “They work for each other. They understand the importance that everybody has to defend. They take pride in defending all over the field.”
The lone misstep for Tigers came in their singular 1–0 loss to Hofstra early in the season. The grueling loss was important in shaping the team’s approach.
“I think the lessons we learned from the Hofstra loss was that it doesn't matter what ways we win, just that the most important thing is to win,” Ittycheria told the ‘Prince.’
In a gritty match, Hofstra took advantage of any set piece they could force. “They just did whatever it took to win […] and I think it was a good lesson for us to lose that game, because it helped us win even more,” Ittycheria added.
And win even more they did. Since that September night, the Tigers have not dropped a match, winning fourteen of sixteen.
“I think we know how to have a lot of 1–0 to 2–0 [wins]. And I think we know how to win games, and that’s our best trait,” Samuels said.
The players lauded the coaches for playing their part in making the team stronger and contributing to its success.
“Our training sessions are honestly fun,” Ittycheria said. “They give us a lot of freedom to just play and express ourselves. And it really helps us get those mental and physical reps in before the weekend and build confidence just through playing.”
The Tigers will look to continue to build on this historic season, beginning their title run against Duke. Despite their unprecedented season, the players are keeping focus.
“We have to keep winning,” Samuels told the ‘Prince.’ “We got to stay humble. I think that some teams are really successful in the beginning of the season, and then they fall off. We keep getting better.”
James Li is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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