On Saturday afternoon, the men’s soccer team (10–6 overall, 5–2 Ivy League) came just short of earning a point against the Ivy League leaders, the No. 12 Penn Quakers (13–2–1, 7–0), in their final home game of the season. After an intense back-and-forth affair, the Tigers conceded a goal with only five minutes of regular time left, resulting in a tough 1–0 loss.
Heading into the match, the Tigers sat second place in the Ivy League standings, just one win below the undefeated Penn. This meant that a Tigers win would not only clinch the conference title, but also the first seed and hosting rights for the Ivy League Tournament. Penn, meanwhile, would be content with just a draw.
“It’s special to be playing for the championship at home, and we had the mentality that we were going to go for it,” head coach Jim Barlow wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “The guys have treated each Ivy game like a final and have consistently brought a strong mentality to each game. Saturday was no different.”
The first half against Penn was indeed a determined see-saw struggle between both teams as each sought to secure their title. After 10 minutes, senior forward Nico Nee displayed his footwork near the box as he sent a pass to sophomore winger Kevin Kelley down the right side, which Kelley played back into the box just over the open Nee’s head for the first sign of Tiger pressure on the Quaker back line.
Penn responded with a dangerous through ball down the left side for Ben Do, which would have been a one-on-one had sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Samuels not come off his line to slide and intercept the ball at Do’s feet.
Immediately after, a Penn defensive mistake led to a triple connection of Princeton’s junior forward Daniel Ittycheria, Nee, and junior midfielder Sam Vigilante, whose shot from outside the box sailed just above Penn’s crossbar.
Now 20 minutes into the game, junior defender Jack Jasinski fired a dangerous free kick into the right post from the center circle, which junior defender Giuliano Fravolini Whitchurch sent just wide with a header. In the 34th minute, Kelley played a quick one-two with Nee to create an open shot for himself, but Nee was called offside before Kelley could shoot.
Two minutes later, Penn turned up the heat as they kept trying their luck through quick counterattacks. The Tigers’ defensive line — Jasinski, Whitchurch, first-year Dash Papez, and first-year Roka Tsunehara — worked particularly hard to intercept and clear these chances throughout the encounter.
“Dash Papez returned to the lineup after being out for a long time and had a strong game — he partnered really well with Giuliano [Whitchurch] to anchor the back line again,” explained Barlow.
In the 37th minute, Penn’s Patrick Cayelli thought he had a one-on-one with Samuels before being called offside. But the Tigers persisted just as hard. In the 40th minute, senior defender and captain Harry Roberts swung a corner near-post for Witchurch to once again head just over the crossbar.
At half-time, neither side had very clear chances, but both pressed and played end-to-end tirelessly.
“[Penn] are very organized and hard to score on, and they limited our chances. We weren’t sharp enough in and around the box,” wrote Barlow. “We had a lot of strong attacks that ended with our cross or final pass being cut off or a little inaccurate.”
The Tigers came out in the second half with even more determination, as they sent two dangerous crosses into the box in the first two minutes. In the 54th minute, Roberts had to make an impressive slide tackle near his goal to deny Penn a dangerous counterattack opportunity.
Three minutes later, the Tigers’ best opportunity of the game arrived as junior midfielder Gabriel Duchovny anticipated a pass in Penn’s midfield and played junior forward Will Francis down the left side. Francis cut inside near the box and curled a powerful shot inches away from the top-left corner, inspiring the rest of the Tigers to continue pushing for a breakthrough.
In the 60th minute, Jasinski shot his freekick over the goal, before sophomore forward Ian Nuñez had two shots consecutively saved by the Penn defense and goalkeeper. Up to this point, Princeton outshot Penn 5–0 in the second half, and it seemed like the Tiger pressure was building.
Tensions flared in the 82nd minute when junior midfielder Jack Hunt stole the ball away from Penn’s Gavin Seele near the sideline. Seele responded by bringing Hunt down with an aggressive tackle, to which Roberts reacted by getting in front of Seele’s face and getting shoved to the ground. Both teams and the Princeton bench erupted in anger, as the crowd called for Seele to be sent off, but he was only given a yellow card.
Regardless of emotions, the Tigers continued to play their game. Roberts fired up the crowd with two consecutive corner kicks, as the Tigers looked closer to score each play.
“[The guys] put forward an awesome effort. Lots of people came to support which we always appreciate," Roberts wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “The effort all around was great.”
But just when the Tigers’ hopes were at their highest, a ball sailed over the Tiger defensive line to Brandon Curran with five minutes left to play. The defenders lifted their arms asking for the sideline’s offside flag, as they were too late to reach the Penn attackers. Curran played it to Stas Korzeniowski for a tap-in and crushed the Tigers’ hopes for a late title win.
85' | #12 Penn 1, Princeton 0
— Penn Men's Soccer (@PennMSoccer) November 9, 2024
WHO ELSE BUT STAS⁉️
WE TAKE THE LEAD WITH FIVE LEFT OF REGULATION!#FightOnPenn🔴🔵⚽️ pic.twitter.com/rxZohd7z5e
Three more shots from Princeton were not enough to overcome the deficit in the remaining five minutes, as Penn celebrated their third straight regular season Ivy League title.”
“[We] just weren’t able to get it done,” said Roberts. “[We] played hard but it didn’t fall our way.”
“At the other end, we defended really well and limited Penn to a handful of half-chances,” Barlow wrote. “Our team’s defending was really good. Unfortunately we conceded at the very end.”
A win would have clinched the Ivy regular season title, however, the loss does not change the Tigers’ opponent in Friday’s Ivy League Championship semifinal, the No. 16 Cornell Big Red (12–2–2, 5–2). The two teams will battle it out in Philadelphia for a spot in the final on Sunday, the winner of which will earn a spot in the 2024 NCAA tournament.
“We are back to work today and excited to have this great opportunity,” Barlow finished.
Bryant Figueroa is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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