Princeton University Athletics
Dream Match
September 13, 2001 | General
For college students, spring break is usually associated with wild excitement on a far off island. This year, for the Princeton football team, spring break was exactly that, except not in the traditional sense. On Saturday morning, March 17, Princeton traveled across the Pacific for a game that was billed as the "Dream Match to Kick off the 21st Century."
The Tigers played the Kwansei Gakuin University Fighters, who were this year's Japanese collegiate runner-up and who have also played in the championship game 42 of the past 50 years. On Saturday, March 24, the Osaka Dome hosted the battle between two schools rich in football tradition.
Football was the primary reason that the trip was made, but it was also an incredible opportunity for a cultural education in the meantime. Fifty-one players made the trip along with the coaching staff, support staff, athletic advisors, professors and academic fellows. The group traveled by bus around the Osaka area to historic sites, such as Himeji Castle and the Todai-ji Temple, and visited nearby cities including Kob?, Nara and Kyoto. The Kwansei Gakuin players were extremely welcoming and were even kind enough to take the players to some of their favorite hangouts. At times the language barrier between the players was difficult, but for the most part the KGU players had fairly decent command of the English language and were very eager to help communicate.
The cultural experience was tremendous, but the game offered a new level of excitement. Princeton scored on its first series, taking a 3-0 lead with Taylor Northrop's field goal. But KGU was a very well-prepared team and was quick to respond. On the same day that their seniors graduated and were playing in their last football game, KGU entered the locker room at halftime ahead 12-10.
The Tigers came out strong in the second half though, and with the aid of freshman David Splithoff's second and third rushing touchdowns, the Tigers were again in the lead. As the fourth quarter rolled on, the battle continued and with a little more than a minute left in the game, KGU threw a TD pass to take the lead 25-24 as the crowd of about 15,000 cheered with immense enthusiasm.
The Princeton offense marched down the field in a no-huddle, two-minute offense with two timeouts. With four seconds left on the clock, Northrop kicked his second field goal of the day. The final field goal of 35 yards gave the Tigers a 27-25 victory, and a tremendously exciting end to the "Dream Match" that highlighted the dream spring break.
by Brian Danielewicz '02