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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Fairleigh Dickinson
Men's Soccer Gets First Win, Defeats FDU 2-0
September 30, 2007 | Men's Soccer
To say the Princeton men's soccer team has recently been knocking on the door of its first win would be an understatement. Sunday night on Powers Field against Fairleigh Dickinson, the Tigers busted open that door.
Josh Walburn's goal on a free kick in the 63rd minute put Princeton on the board and Max Hare's header to finish a cross in the 85th minute added insurance as the Tigers defeated the Knights, 2-0, to get a win that Princeton certainly deserved after 90 minutes of solid soccer.
"It will feel good for a few hours," said sophomore Ben Harms, who assisted on Hare's goal, "but we have to use this as more than just a win. It has to be a springboard to be better in our next game and better for the Ivy League season that's coming up soon."
Princeton's Ivy season starts next Saturday at Brown, and the Tigers head into a non-conference game against Adelphi at Powers Field Wednesday night on a two-game unbeaten streak thanks to a tie against Monmouth Thursday night.
Walburn's goal with 26:16 remaining in the second half came after FDU (2-5-1) committed a foul well outside the Princeton box. His free kick was low runner toward the left post that got past shielded FDU goalie Majdi Zaineh and gave the Tigers (1-6-1) a 1-0 lead.
After staving off several game-tying chances from the Knights in the following 20 minutes, Princeton would put the game away with 4:36 left on a nice counterattack. Teddy Schneider flew down the left side and sent a pass all the way across the box to Harms. The Princeton sophomore then crossed the ball into the box to classmate Hare, who redirected the pass with his head under the crossbar.
Princeton limited FDU to just two shots in the first half and had seven corner kicks to just three for the Knights.
"It was another game where we did a nice job in the back containing them and Sean (Lynch) did well in goal," said Princeton coach Jim Barlow. "We've seen a lot of good things in the last couple weeks and we need to continue to get better."
The game was scoreless at halftime. Princeton's best first-half chance came when Zaineh dove to his left to save Devin Muntz's shot in the 17th minute. FDU had a pair of chances from Samson Malijani and Sergio Munoz late in the half as well.
The Tigers and Knights were meeting for the 13th straight season, with Princeton now holding an 8-3-2 advantage in those 13 games. Princeton also ended a two-game losing streak to FDU.
Both teams had 10 shots, with Hare contributing three off the bench for Princeton while playing the entire second half.