On Tuesday, under the bright lights of Roberts Stadium with a lunar eclipse overhead, Princeton men’s soccer (2–2 overall, 0–0 Ivy League) defeated the visiting Colgate Raiders (3–3–1 overall, 1–0 Patriot League) by a final score of 3–1. This marks the Tigers’ second victory of the season following a road win against St. John’s University last week.
Princeton kept up a relentless attack, never letting up the offensive pressure.
“From the beginning, we were locked in and were super motivated to get a result,” junior forward Will Francis wrote to The Daily Princetonian.
While Colgate created a few chances in the beginning of the first half, the Tigers quickly took command of the game.
Princeton’s hustle paid off in the 19th minute with a free kick that led to the first goal of the game. Junior midfielder Jack Jasinski took the kick from the far left side, forty yards out. Jasinski sent a swooping ball to first-year midfielder Dash Papez at the back post, who got a head on the ball to send it bouncing into the middle of the box. Francis pounced through the chaos and kicked the ball just over the reaching hands of junior goalkeeper Eric Widrick into the back of the net. This was Francis’ first goal of the season.
GOALLLLL! Will Francis knocks in a ball from Dash Papez and Jack Jasinski to put the Tigers up 1-0! 🤩#PrincetonSoccer #WhosNext pic.twitter.com/O0HkoBNPEL
— Princeton Men’s Soccer (@PrincetonMSoc) September 17, 2024
Princeton continued to come close to notching a goal, with incredible shots by sophomore midfielders Bardia Hormozi and Liam Beckwith that soared just over the crossbar in the 35th and 41st minutes of the game, respectively.
Not even minutes later, the first penalty booking of the night was shown to Colgate’s Cooper Cardenas to close out a strong first half for the Tigers. They totaled seven corners and five shots in the period.
Entering the second 45 minutes of play, Colgate came out strong, with a shot on goal in the 45th minute that was easily scooped up by senior goalkeeper Khamari Hadaway.
In the 50th minute, the Colgate’s Wade Johnson got a ball in the box and slipped it through to teammate Alejandro Coury who, with a bit of time on the ball, smoothly chipped it over the line and into the net to tie the game 1–1.
But Colgate’s brief spurt of momentum was quickly dampened in the 52nd minute, when Cardenas was awarded a second yellow card and was ejected from the game, leaving the Raiders with only 10 players left on the field. Princeton capitalized on this man-to-man advantage, building a surging attack throughout the rest of the half.
“We just grew more confident,” junior forward Danny Ittycheria shared with the ‘Prince.’ “Nothing really changed in terms of how we approach the game and stuff. We just kind of knew that now is the time to really take our advantage and kind of control the game,” he added.
Less than a minute of play later, junior midfielder Jack Hunt jumped up for a header just as Widrick went for the ball, resulting in Hunt receiving a split eyebrow and Princeton’s first and only yellow card of the night.
Not long after, Ittycheria was fouled in the box, earning Princeton a penalty kick in the 53rd minute.
Lining up to take the kick, Ittycheria’s initial shot to the bottom left corner was pushed away by Widrick, but sophomore forward Kevin Kelley sprinted for the rebound, blasting the ball into the lower right corner for his second goal in as many games. After failing to record a goal as a first-year, Kelley is now a permanent fixture on the Tiger attack.
“I love Kevin. He’s been an awesome addition so far to the team,” Ittycheria said about his fellow forward. “He’s really another huge attacking threat that we for sure need, and he’s super important to the team.”
From this point onward, Princeton monopolized the attack, pressuring the Raiders’ defense at every turn as the Tigers created opportunity after opportunity on goal.
Their efforts paid off again in the 57th minute after a combination of one touch passes through the midfield resulted in the ball falling at the feet of Ittycheria at the top left of the box. Ittycheria took a slicing leftward touch through two defenders before shooting the ball smoothly into the back right corner of the net for his third goal of the season, continuing his legacy as the tied-top goalscorer of all Ivy League players.
Despite now having a two-goal lead, Princeton did not relent, maintaining a forceful attack.
In the 66th minute, Hormozi dripped two defenders and the top right of the box and then took a stunning, perfectly curled shot towards the top left corner, which was punched over the bar in a brilliant save by Widrick.
With one man down and under a persistent Princeton attack, a frustrated Colgate squad was unable to create many opportunities. In the second half, the Raiders received over twice the number of yellow cards — seven — than shots attempted — three. Princeton finished out the game strong with 3-1 win to the Raiders.
With two consecutive wins under their belt, the Tigers hope to take this momentum on the road ahead of their game versus Georgetown (2–2–3, 0–0–0 Big East Conference) next Tuesday in D.C.
“This is the right time, you know, we’re starting to get hot,” Ittycheria told the ‘Prince.’ The Tigers as a squad are averaging two goals per game — they trail only Cornell in the category. After facing off against Georgetown, the Tigers will kick-off Ivy League play against the Harvard Crimson (0–1–3, 0–0–0 Ivy League).
“We start preseason later than most teams, so in the beginning we’re a little rusty, but now we’re a month in and really getting our groove on,” he added.
Leila Eshaghpour-Silberman is a Sports contributor at the ‘Prince.’
Head Sports editor Diego Uribe contributed reporting.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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