Ferreira earns his first goal in 1–1 draw against Columbia

Princeton men’s soccer (6–2–4 overall, 1–1–1 Ivy League) tied against Columbia (3–2–4, 0–1–2) last Saturday at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium in New York. After facing an early goal from the Lions, Princeton was able to balance the score before halftime and then entered a deadlock in the second half.

To start off the match, senior midfielder Bardia Hormozi returned to the starting eleven after his ankle injury against Seton Hall. 

Princeton received the opening kickoff and sent it past the back line twice giving Columbia a goal kick. The Lions kept the ball close and marched across the field despite the Tigers’ best efforts to steal the ball. 

Columbia raced toward their goal and sent the ball wide where Princeton’s captain senior goalkeeper Andrew Samuels was waiting. However, instead of taking the shot, Columbia’s midfielder Stepan Kapranov passed to his teammate Joshua Sosa for a cross that gave them the first goal of the match, only 2:10 into play.

Despite the Lions’ early goal, The Tigers wouldn’t allow another goal in for the rest of the match.

Within a few minutes, Columbia had two more shots: one saved by Samuels and another sent over the goal. From there, the tide shifted toward Princeton, starting with a corner kick in the ninth minute.

“Conceding early put us on the back foot right away, which wasn't the start we wanted,” first-year defender Lucas Ferreira wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “It took us a little while to settle into our rhythm and were chasing the result for a good portion of the first half.”

In the next 18 minutes, the Tigers had all of the momentum: They took three shots, received two more corner kicks, and fired off two more shots — one of which was saved by Columbia’s goalkeeper. The Orange and Black was fighting to get a ball in, but too few of their shots were on target.

Four of these five shots were taken by junior midfielder Garry Zhang who was subbed out in the 27th minute, shortly after taking two successive shots.

Around the 35th minute, neither team dominated possession and both teams made several substitutions. Eventually, Princeton’s back line received the ball, taking a slow approach to pass the ball across the field, when they were awarded a corner kick after Columbia’s keeper dove onto the ball too late.

Senior captain Liam Beckwith, midfielder, sent the ball over the men and connected with sophomore defender Frederik Sadjak for an on-target header that was saved by Columbia. The ball rolled out of bounds, and the Tigers received another corner kick.

Immediately after the ball was sent from the corner, Ferreira scored his first career goal with a header. Columbia’s defense had barely moved by the time the ball was already in the back of the net. With only five minutes of play left in the first half, the game was tied.

“It was a great cross from Roka, and I was in the right place to head it in,” Ferreira wrote to The Daily Princetonian, reflecting on his goal. “As a team, we reacted well to the early goal we conceded and tightened it up in the back. Having the quality of guys who play with me in the back — like [Sadjak] and Samuels — is reassuring.”

By halftime, the Tigers led with 9–6 shots and both teams had four shots on goal with three saves by each keeper. Princeton also received the most corners with six while only conceding two corner kicks to Columbia.

“We were able to bounce back from conceding an early goal and claw our way back into the game,” sophomore forward Jackson Martin told the ‘Prince.’ “After our goal, we gained a lot of momentum going into the half, which helped to turn the tide in our favor.”

Returning in the second half, Princeton maintained its attack, hoping to take the lead. Between the 53rd and 57th minutes, the Tigers took three shots but none were on target. After this burst of attacks, the momentum slowed down a bit. 

“We weren’t able to put enough pressure on their backline and midfield, which allowed them to retain the ball because they had so much time to play,” Martin said, when asked about the team’s struggles. “Since they had all of this possession, we were forced to defend a lot which tired us out.”

Even though the attacks slowed down, the Princeton defense was able to prevent Columbia from getting any more goals. Samuels made five saves throughout the match, keeping the goal secure for the second half. 

The Lions only had four shots in the second half while Princeton had six — after another burst in the last few minutes by the Tigers to seek a gamewinner. By the end of the match, Princeton received 12 corner kicks in comparison to only two for Columbia.

“If we are more spread out then we can create more in the attack,” Martin wrote. “When we defend, we need to be more compact and press together.”

Next Saturday, the Tigers will face Cornell at home on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium. The match will be the Salute to Service Night and will kick off at 7 p.m.

“Cornell is a quality team that has won all of their conference matches,” Ferreira told the ‘Prince.’ “We need to focus on starting strong right from the first whistle so we don't fall behind like we did against Columbia. We’ll need to battle for the full 90 minutes and sustain our pressure to get the result we want.”

Brooklyn Fraser is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince’. She can be reached at bf8103[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.