After being unable to capture victory in their season opener with a 1–1 draw against Villanova (3–0–1 overall, 0–0 Big East Conference), men’s soccer (1–0–1, 0–0 Ivy League) looked to rebound with a victory at home on Monday night. Against the No. 3 Portland Pilots (0–2–1, 0–0 West Coast Conference), however, the Tigers would need to overcome the odds in a marquee primetime matchup to find their first win of 2026. And, with a solid defensive performance and clinical striking in the late stages of the game, the Orange and Black came out with a statement victory at Roberts Stadium.
“Every game is very important and early in the season when you are still learning about your team and creating an identity you can’t afford to drop games,” head coach Jim Barlow told The Daily Princetonian. “It was nice to see our guys build off the Villanova game and improve while getting a win.”
With the home crowd on their side, the Tigers quickly piled on the pressure. Princeton had three corners in the opening minutes, already forcing a save out of Portland goalkeeper Miguel-Angel Hernandez. However, the Pilots would answer to early Orange and Black threats with their most sustained pressure of the first half. Portland fired at senior goalkeeper Andrew Samuels’ net three times in a five-minute span but were unable to capitalize on any of their approaches.
While the middle portion of the opening forty-five became a battle for territory and possession, both teams produced their most dangerous goal scoring opportunities of the half in that stretch. Tigers junior defender Roka Tsunehara fired a shot into the bottom right corner that was ultimately saved by Hernandez. A few moments later, in the 23rd minute of play, Samuels produced the save of the game as the Pilots played a through ball to the edge of the box before forcing the goalkeeper to make a diving save and parry the ball away from danger.
For the rest of the half, both teams defended sternly, holding shape and limiting any true attacking developments to form. And, as the buzzer sounded to bring the opening frame to a close, the game was at a 0–0 stalemate.
“After the first half, we didn’t really think we had to change much besides trust in our talent and work rate as a team, and look to punish them on both sides of the ball,” senior forward Bardia Hormozi told the ‘Prince.’ “We knew that if we kept working harder and played a little bit quicker, our moments would come.”
Not even a minute into the second half, Portland’s goalkeeper Hernandez was shown a yellow card for a delay of game, beginning a string of events that would prove to develop into an enthralling second half. In the 60th minute, first-year forward Julien Lacher forced yet another save from the Pilots before Hormozi fired off-target on the rebound attempt. Only seven minutes later, Portland produced what became their most clear goal-scoring opportunity, firing a shot off Samuels’ right post before the Tigers were able to clear the danger.
This miss proved to be the turning point of the game, as in the 74th minute the Orange and Black drove through the left side of Portland’s defense, with Hormozi eventually cutting inside the box and squaring the ball to first-year Noah Hammerschmidt who kept his composure and tapped home his first collegiate goal.
“I thought our team defending was solid last night against a very talented team,” Barlow said. “As the game went on, I think we felt more and more confident when we won the ball and we put some plays together going forward and created a good goal.”
With a late lead and a raucous environment at Roberts, all signs pointed towards a Tiger squad that would carefully see out the 1–0 win. However, the Orange and Black weren’t done there. Only three minutes later, Hormozi once again found himself on the right flank before cutting inside and threading a through ball to senior forward Kevin Kelley who found himself one-on-one with the keeper and struck the Tigers into a 2–0 lead.
With the two-goal lead and only 12 minutes to go, the Tigers were able to comfortably hold on and come out on top at fulltime. With the win, Princeton not only finds itself in the win column for the first time in 2026, but has also sent a message that they should return to the conversation as a serious threat on the national stage.
“Obviously it was a big win, so we want to continue that confidence in ourselves that we are one of the best teams in [the] country and continue to make teams hate playing us because of our work rate and efficiency,” Hormozi said. “We learned from this game what kind of team we are and how to fight through tough moments and take advantage of opportunities when we earn them, so just keeping that mentality going.”
“We know these games often come down to getting plays right in front of both goals,” Barlow stressed. “We definitely made some progress in these areas against Portland.”
With the victory and the clean sheet against top-tier competition, Princeton will strive to continue finding their rhythm and adding to their record. The Tigers will have an opportunity to build on this early season wave of momentum with another home game on Friday at 7 p.m. against the James Madison Dukes (1–2 overall, 0–0 Sun Belt Conference).
Lucas Nor is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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