Coming off a disappointing 3–1 loss against Cornell (11–3, 3–1 Ivy) at home on Saturday, the Princeton men’s soccer team (6–5–2, 1–2–1) overcame an early deficit in the Bronx on Tuesday night to bring home a 3–2 victory over Fordham (3–3–9, 1–1–5 Patriot).
Fordham opened the scoring in the match with a goal in the 18th minute. Princeton answered minutes later in the form of a curling free kick by senior midfielder Mateo Godoy in the 25th minute to level the playing field. From about 20 yards out, Godoy sent a low ball around the wall and notched it into the bottom left corner of the goal to tie the game.
“We came into the Fordham game with every intention of rectifying the mistakes we made against Cornell,” Godoy wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “Namely, being more solid defensively, moving the ball with urgency to break lines and get forward, and finishing our chances.”
Just a minute later, Godoy scored again thanks to an assist from sophomore forward Nico Nee. Nee dribbled past a couple of Fordham defenders before dishing a short pass to his left which connected with Godoy, who powerfully deposited the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the night.
Later on, in the 38th minute, the Tigers doubled their lead on a corner kick taken by first-year midfielder Jack Jasinski. After the ball was bounced around a bit, junior defender Francis Akomeah eventually tapped it in for the Tigers’ third goal of the half.
“Thankfully we were able to put away some of our better opportunities late into the first half, but we very clearly have a lot to clean up if we are to win our remaining games,” Godoy said, referring to the team’s scoring on Tuesday night.
Head Coach Jim Barlow commented on the team’s ability to respond to the early goal by Fordham.
“Last night, when we conceded a goal on a restart, we bounced back, picked up our energy, became dangerous in the attack, and scored 3 before half[time],” Barlow told the ‘Prince.’ “It was a really good response and a lot of guys contributed to that.”
The score remained 3–1 throughout the second half until the 85th minute, when Fordham was able to narrow the deficit to one goal. The Fordham Rams’ comeback chances were stopped by a late save by sophomore goalkeeper Khamari Hadaway, who recorded four saves on the night.
“We rotated the line-up a little bit against Fordham,” Coach Barlow explained. “But I think what helped more than anything was we got back to doing some of the things that make us good — aggressive defending and pressing in the right moments, good ball movement and connections in transition, dangerous runs and service in the attack and on restarts.”
The Tigers have three games remaining, each against Ivy League opponents.
“We have to make the most of the very difficult games coming up — I think our guys are up for the challenge,” Coach Barlow said.
Princeton will look to build on this victory when they travel to Providence to play Brown (7–4–2, 0–2–2 Ivy) on Sunday, Oct. 30.
Kameron Wolters is a staff writer for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’ Please direct any corrections requests to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.
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