Visiting Harvard was privy to a special treat Saturday evening at Lourie-Love Field — the men's soccer team at its finest.
The Tigers showed more hustle and created more opportunities than they had in any other game this season. Princeton (7-5-1 overall, 1-3-0 Ivy League) dominated the Crimson (6-5-2, 1-3-0) for the entire game and came away with a 3-0 win — the Tigers' first Ivy League victory this season.
"This was our best 90 minutes of the season," head Coach Jim Barlow '91 said. "We know that we're capable of putting together 90 minutes of good soccer, and tonight we established ourselves in terms of keeping the ball and spreading them out and getting dangerous."
Princeton was deadly on offense against a habitually stingy Harvard defense, especially at the end of the first half.
With nine minutes left in the half, freshman midfielder Gian-franco Tripicchio was sprinting with the ball down the right side of the field toward the Harvard net. Tripicchio managed to shake off two Harvard defenders using a clever ball fake and then used his speed to leave them in his wake. The freshman then quickly set himself, looked across the field to his left, and sent a beautiful cross sailing dangerously in front of the Crimson goal.
Tiger freshman midfielder Marty Shaw was there waiting. He moved into position in front of the net and got a leg on Tripicchio's cross. Shaw's shot ricocheted off a Harvard defender and jolted past Crimson keeper Dan Mejias to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
"We got a little bit of a break on the first goal with the deflection, but we didn't stop there," Barlow said.
Princeton re-took control of the ball shortly after Harvard's kickoff and began to advance down the field. Junior midfielder Matt Behncke found senior forward Matt Striebel with a ball at the top of the Harvard box, and Striebel fired the ball past Mejias, just 18 seconds after the Tigers' first goal.
Offensive explosion
Princeton's second goal, scored so quickly after Shaw's goal, was devastating for the Crimson.
"That was huge," Behncke said. "You get two goals within a minute or two, that's tough for the other team."
The first half belonged to the Tigers. From the initial kickoff, Princeton played smart soccer. Nearly every pass made it to the intended receiver, and players were constantly on the move to get open and create opportunities. The Tigers controlled the midfield with hustle and the defense was sharp, intercepting Harvard passes and preventing the Crimson from getting off many shots.
Senior defender Andre Forrester relentlessly chased down advancing Harvard forwards and managed to take the ball away countless times until he suffered a leg injury and had to come out in the second half.
"It started with defending and everyone working to win the ball back right away," Behncke said. "And then when we did get chances, that made the finishing a lot easier."
Another scoring opportunity came for the Tigers in the second half. Sophomore forward Matt Douglas broke away with the ball across the center line and dashed for the goal, making a beeline on the right side of the field for the net. But once the sophomore got inside the box and was about to shoot or cross the ball to the center, Mejias came sprinting out of his net toward Douglas, but didn't go for the ball — instead clearly opting to take out the sophomore forward.
Knockout blow
The foul in the box set up the penalty kick opportunity for the Tigers. Behncke set up to take the one-on-one shot. The goalie guessed wrong, diving to his left, while Behncke sent the ball flying into the opposite corner of the net. With less than 20 minutes to play and the score 3-0, Harvard found itself in a very deep hole.
"I thought in the second half we were pretty disciplined to not get too stretched out and let them get back into it," Barlow said. "I thought it was a really good effort for us. Obviously we're frustrated with how the league has gone, but we want to make sure that we play every game as if the tournament's on the line because you never know."
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