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Princeton University Athletics
History Lesson
January 28, 2000 | Men's Soccer
Jan. 28, 2000
The old adage says that those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it. After repeating history in 1998, the Princeton men's soccer team was looking to make some new history in 1999. The teams from 1997 and 1998 finished their seasons with identical 8-8-1 records and head coach Jim Barlow brought his Tigers into the 1999 campaign with a different mentality.
Barlow and the rest of the team took a trip to England during the summer for several exhibition games. Spending hours on a plane and even more hours on a bus in a foreign country are good ways to bring a team together. The togetherness that a team needs was something that was lacking in those history-making years of 1997-98.
Lehigh came to Princeton to start the season. Last season's game with the Mountain Hawks was a defensive battle that the Hawks won 1-0. This season was no different. Lehigh got a goal in the just over 32 minutes into the game, and made it stand up. Sophomores Lucas Moskowitz and Matt Behncke had good scoring chances, only to have them batted away. Even thought they were 0-1 on the season, there was still hope for the Tigers when Cornell arrived to open the Ivy season. The Behncke brothers outscored the Big Red by themselves. Matt Behncke tied the game in the 24th minute and first-team All-Ivy player Griff Behncke got assists from Moskowitz and fellow senior Brien Wassner to give the Tigers the lead for good. Mike Nugent added his first goal of the season for the insurance.
Cross-county rival Rider was the Tigers' third straight home game. Senior captain Chad Adams let fly on a shot from about 40 yards out and found the back of the net for the only goal of the game. Freshman goalkeeper Jason White earned his second win and his first career shutout. He would go on to tie the school record for shutouts in a season with eight, win four rookie of the week awards, a Soccer America goalkeeper of the week honor and first-team All-Ivy.
With a 2-1 mark, Princeton hit the road for the first time this season. With a win at Dartmouth, the Tigers ran their league record to 2-0 thanks to the 2-1 win over the Big Green.
After a 6-2 loss at Seton Hall, Princeton got back on the winning track at Hartwick. White had to stop only one shot for his second career shutout. The Tiger defense took advantage of several Hawk mistakes and turned them into goals. Walker Wright tallied his first of the season, as did freshman Matt Douglas.
Soccer can be a funny game. Princeton outshot Columbia 19-4, had seven more corner kicks and forced the Columbia keeper to make 11 saves, but it was the Lions who got the only goal of the game and the win. The loss didn't mean that the Tigers were out of the Ivy race, it only meant that they had to run the rest of the league table without a blemish.
One of the toughest stretches of the schedule loomed ahead of the Tigers. Defending champion Brown was 6-2 on the year and ranked in the Top 20. Princeton passed the tough road test with flying colors. Greame Rein, who would be named to the All-Ivy second team at the end of the season, scored his first of two Ivy game winners and White made six saves for yet another shutout.
Thanks to the effects of Hurricane Floyd back in September, the Tigers were forced to play three games in five days. Princeton got offensive support from first-team All-Ivy forward Nugent and Douglas and easily handled American on Oct. 16. In a game originally scheduled for Sept. 16, Princeton and Fairleigh Dickinson played to a 0-0 tie. Two days later, Wassner led the Tigers to a 3-0 win over Villanova. Three games in five days turned out to be not so bad, in fact, White and the Tigers didn't even let up a goal.
Always an emotional game, the Harvard match up is was even. Each team took 10 shots, each team took five corner kicks and each goalie made four saves. After letting up an early goal, Adams, who was first-team All-Ivy for the first time in his career, notched the tying goal and assisted on Rein's game winner. Final score: 2-1. Princeton had the edge in the only statistic that mattered-the score.
Princeton brought a six-game unbeaten streak to Rutgers to play a high-powered Scarlet Knight team. The streak ended with a 4-2 loss, but the Tigers learned a lot from the hostile environment. The hostilities continued at Penn, where the Princeton escaped with a 1-0 win, thanks to Griff Behncke's penalty kick in the 89th minute. White earned his seventh shutout to move into second place on the program's list for most shutouts in a season. The win kept the Tigers in position for their first league crown since 1993.
A 5-2 punishing of Adelphi was the final tune up for what was the main event in the Ivy League season. With a win or a tie against Yale in the season finale, the Tigers would earn their first outright Ivy championship since the John F. Kennedy was in the Oval Office.
The stage was set for an senior night showdown with the Bulldogs. The 3,000 raucous fans that jammed the stands at Lourie-Love Field and were not disappointed. Princeton needed to win or tie get the championship and league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and because of a complex tiebreaker system, if Yale would win, the Tigers would have been left on the outside looking in,
Princeton had the only two legitimate scoring chances of the first half, but Yale had the best scoring chance of the game. With less than a minute remaining in the game, the Eli's sent a corner kick into the box. White made the initial save, but the rebound was headed to the back of the net until freshman defender Bob Nye cleared the attempt off the line to save the game. The teams went back and forth during both overtime periods. Seeing the championship in sight the bench, the coaches and the fans erupted as the time counted down. The scoreless tie clinched the Ivy League outright for the first time since 1960 and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
Princeton traveled to Charlottesville, Va., to play the Cavaliers in the first round of the NCAA tournament and fell 2-1 in triple overtime. The heartbreaking loss did not, however, dampen the spirits of the Tigers. They finished the season with an 11-5-2 record, four team members on the All-Ivy first team, an Ivy League championship and its own bit of history. Not bad, considering the team's recent history.