Men's Soccer: Senior’s goal highlights closing loss

In the silver lining of the men’s soccer team’s disappointing 2-1 loss to Yale on Saturday, senior forward Paolo Iaccarino scored his first career goal with junior goalkeeper Max Gallin notching the assist.

“It took long enough, but it felt incredible,” Iaccarino said. “All I remember is Max Gallin crushing the ball forward, [senior forward] Zach Wyzgoski miraculously getting a piece of it, seeing an opportunity and ripping it. It’s safe to say it was one of the best moments ever.”

Despite the early 1-0 lead, the Bulldogs kept Princeton from a victory on Senior Day. Yale goalkeeper Bobby Thalman wouldn’t be caught unsurprised again throughout the match, making six saves in the second half.

Of the nine shots Princeton took in the first half, seven were either high or wide. Senior forward Antoine Hoppenot made several brilliant breakaways past multiple defenders, but these chances failed to turn into goals. In the 23rd minute of play, Hoppenot’s footwork got him past three defenders, but the goal still wasn’t open. Again Hoppenot broke downfield with less than seven minutes in the half, but freshman forward Julian Griggs couldn’t catch up to score on the cross.

In the second half, Yale forward Peter Jacobson twice found the goal. In the 48th minute, Jacobson scored after a long pass from defender Milan Tica turned into a one-on-one situation with sophomore goalkeeper Seth MacMillan. Twenty minutes later, Jacobson again scored with a Tica assist. Jacobson ran the ball down the center of the field and forced MacMillan to dive left, but Jacobson converted for the game-winning score.

In the last seven minutes of play, Princeton took three header shots, but Thalman saved all of them. Freshman midfielder Andrew Mills took a header to the left corner of the goal after a free kick, but Thalman dove and caught it. As the clock wound down on the last two minutes of play, the Tigers intensified their offense. Iaccarino shot his first header into the hands of Thalman, and the second Thalman made another save on, sealing the victory.

The game on Saturday was the Tigers’ eighth one-goal loss this season. In contrast, last season the men’s soccer squad had seven one-goal wins.

“We had so many of these one-goal games, and it so often comes down to the little details in both boxes,” head coach Jim Barlow ’91 said. “While we had four or five really good chances to score, we either shot wide, right at the keeper or failed to connect on the final pass. On the other end, we allowed them behind us for the first goal and didn’t close down their option quickly enough on the second goal. So many games this year came down to these types of plays.”

Saturday’s game was the last for the seniors, who reached two NCAA Tournaments: Colby Hahn, Stephen Park, Wyzgoski, Hoppenot, Manny Sardinha, Iaccarino and Charles Lin.

“All of the seniors did a good job over the past couple of weeks, after we had been eliminated from the title race, of continuing to work hard and keeping the team together and making practice better,” Barlow said. “The seniors had a really good week of practice leading up to the Yale game, and it was great to see Paolo play well and score a really nice goal. It’s just frustrating that we couldn’t reward all of the seniors with a win in their last game.”

“As a senior class, you will never find a more diverse, interesting group of guys, and despite any differences we may have, we share a lifelong, unbreakable camaraderie,” Iaccarino said.

“Also, the men’s soccer tradition takes pride in being warriors on the field and genuinely good people off the field.”